Uncovering and estimating complementarity in urban lives

Abstract We typically think of the demand volume for a business in a city as a function of basic characteristics, such as the type of business, the quality of the product or service offered and its pricing. In addition, factors related to the urban environment, such as population density and accessi...

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Main Authors: Xin Liu, Konstantinos Pelechrinis
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SpringerOpen 2025-02-01
Series:EPJ Data Science
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1140/epjds/s13688-025-00527-z
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author Xin Liu
Konstantinos Pelechrinis
author_facet Xin Liu
Konstantinos Pelechrinis
author_sort Xin Liu
collection DOAJ
description Abstract We typically think of the demand volume for a business in a city as a function of basic characteristics, such as the type of business, the quality of the product or service offered and its pricing. In addition, factors related to the urban environment, such as population density and accessibility are also crucial and have been considered in the literature. However, these considerations have typically been at the macro level. In this work we are interested in exploring the complementarity between specific (pairs) of venues. Simply put, venue B is complementary to venue A, if customers are more probable to visit venue B after being at venue A. This can increase the traffic for a business beyond the demand expected from the aforementioned factors, and it has been largely ignored in the literature. In this study we take a simulation-based approach to estimate this complementarity. We perform our simulations and analysis on two different spatial levels, namely, the venue level, as well as, the urban area level (e.g., zip code, neighborhood, etc.). The estimated complementarity provides insights for business owners and urban planners that can allow them to satisfy more demand, which consequently can increase the revenue for the businesses, but also can create more convenient urban navigation for city dwellers.
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spelling doaj-art-66b5ea696a4a4aac8d4f72ddefd61e7e2025-02-09T12:24:53ZengSpringerOpenEPJ Data Science2193-11272025-02-0114112810.1140/epjds/s13688-025-00527-zUncovering and estimating complementarity in urban livesXin Liu0Konstantinos Pelechrinis1School of Computing and Information, Department of Informatics and Networked Systems, University of PittsburghSchool of Computing and Information, Department of Informatics and Networked Systems, University of PittsburghAbstract We typically think of the demand volume for a business in a city as a function of basic characteristics, such as the type of business, the quality of the product or service offered and its pricing. In addition, factors related to the urban environment, such as population density and accessibility are also crucial and have been considered in the literature. However, these considerations have typically been at the macro level. In this work we are interested in exploring the complementarity between specific (pairs) of venues. Simply put, venue B is complementary to venue A, if customers are more probable to visit venue B after being at venue A. This can increase the traffic for a business beyond the demand expected from the aforementioned factors, and it has been largely ignored in the literature. In this study we take a simulation-based approach to estimate this complementarity. We perform our simulations and analysis on two different spatial levels, namely, the venue level, as well as, the urban area level (e.g., zip code, neighborhood, etc.). The estimated complementarity provides insights for business owners and urban planners that can allow them to satisfy more demand, which consequently can increase the revenue for the businesses, but also can create more convenient urban navigation for city dwellers.https://doi.org/10.1140/epjds/s13688-025-00527-zComplementarityUrban computingLocal businessMixed-effects modelGraph neural network
spellingShingle Xin Liu
Konstantinos Pelechrinis
Uncovering and estimating complementarity in urban lives
EPJ Data Science
Complementarity
Urban computing
Local business
Mixed-effects model
Graph neural network
title Uncovering and estimating complementarity in urban lives
title_full Uncovering and estimating complementarity in urban lives
title_fullStr Uncovering and estimating complementarity in urban lives
title_full_unstemmed Uncovering and estimating complementarity in urban lives
title_short Uncovering and estimating complementarity in urban lives
title_sort uncovering and estimating complementarity in urban lives
topic Complementarity
Urban computing
Local business
Mixed-effects model
Graph neural network
url https://doi.org/10.1140/epjds/s13688-025-00527-z
work_keys_str_mv AT xinliu uncoveringandestimatingcomplementarityinurbanlives
AT konstantinospelechrinis uncoveringandestimatingcomplementarityinurbanlives