https://doi.org/10.1140/epjst/e2013-01719-1
Regular Article
The structure and evolution of a skyway network
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
a e-mail: huang284@umn.edu
b e-mail: dlevinson@umn.edu
Received:
30
July
2012
Revised:
29
November
2012
Published online:
29
January
2013
We study the structure and evolution of the downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota skyway network. Developed by private building-owners, the network evolved from tree-like to grid-like over the course of 50 years. We find that decentralized forces with the goal of maximizing individual buildings' profitability shaped the network. Our analysis shows that a building with greater office size, a sign of greater accessibility, was more likely to be connected earlier. The distribution of existing skyway segments is found to follow a power-law function of the average degree, closeness, and eigenvector centralities of the vertices. We further explain and model the evolutionary process using an agent-based model. The simulation results suggest that the model replicates the network structure and its evolutionary process.
© EDP Sciences, Springer-Verlag, 2013