Rich clubs and control benefits: A resource-based perspective on core-periphery structures in human mobility networks

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• Dr Pietro Panzarasa, School of Business and Management, Queen Mary, London University
• Tuesday 13 December 2011, 12:00-13:00
• Dennis Gabor Seminar Room (611), EEE Department.

If you have a question about this talk, please contact Henrik J Jensen.

Research on core-periphery structures has converged on the idea that participation in core subgroups is associated with control benefits. However, the formalizations proposed for detecting the core of a system tend to focus on the topology of interactions among constituent elements, eschewing the assessment of whether these interactions secure control over the majority of the resources available in the system. To remedy this shortcoming, In this talk I adopt the framework of network theory and advocate a resource-based perspective on network partitioning into rich clubs. These are the subgroups into which the prominent elements of a system tend to coalesce by exchanging among themselves a larger proportion of resources than randomly expected. I situate the analysis in the context of human mobility patterns, and test the theoretical framework with data on daily commuting in a number of countries between 1999 and 2001. Results indicate a strong positive rich-club effect: the largest commuting hubs tend to control and direct towards each other the vast majority of commuters travelling in the system. The implications of the findings for research on complex networks and the management and distribution of traffic in transportation systems will be discussed.

This talk is part of the Complexity & Networks Group series.

This talk is included in these lists:

• Complexity & Networks Group
• Dennis Gabor Seminar Room (611), EEE Department

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