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Volume 5, Issue 4, 2026
Open Access
Research article
Morphology-Aware Identification of Shared Bicycle Parking Hotspots for Urban Public-Space Management: Evidence From Guangzhou
dexin wu ,
liang zhang ,
yi dou ,
minxian yuan ,
yuejiang su ,
xiaoyu li ,
lei pan ,
liuhua zhang ,
nanfeng zhang
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Available online: 09-28-2026

Abstract

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The rapid expansion of dockless shared bicycle systems creates persistent challenges for parking management and the efficient use of urban public space, particularly around transport hubs and major commuting corridors. Conventional hotspot-identification methods mainly indicate where parking demand is concentrated but provide limited information on the spatial form and potential public-space impact of bicycle accumulation. This study develops a morphology-aware framework using shared bicycle order and trajectory data from Guangzhou. After removing operational repositioning events, dense parking cores were extracted through grid-based connected components. Principal component analysis and robust spread measures were then used to quantify cluster orientation, length–width ratio, and bandwidth. Road proximity and orientation consistency were incorporated to distinguish roadside-band (RB), intersection-corner (IC), designated-parking-area-like (DPA), and scattered points (SP) morphologies. Short-duration demand surges during morning and evening peaks were identified separately and combined with high demand and band-shaped morphology to screen priority governance locations. Analysis of 6.902 million orders identified 27,687 dense parking cores, with the top 1% accounting for 43.7% of within-cluster orders. Band-shaped clusters represented 13.4% of all cores but accounted for 32.1% of orders. Among 26,142 strictly classified cores, RB clusters accounted for 3.23%, and only 21.8% were aligned within 30° of adjacent roads, indicating that oblique and multi-row occupation was more common than simple linear roadside parking. Among 1,842 high-demand cores, 320 showed morning-peak surges and 80 evening-peak surges. High-demand locations within 200 m of metro entrances recorded 1.7 times the mean order volume of those outside the metro buffer. The combined surge–demand–morphology criterion identified 240 priority governance points, 64.6% near arterial or sub-arterial roads and 50.0% near designated parking facilities. The findings show that parking pressure is shaped by both demand intensity and accumulation morphology, providing a practical basis for differentiated parking management, pre-peak dispatch, and improved use of urban public space.

Abstract

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Rapid urbanization and the expansion of artificial intelligence, digital platforms, connected infrastructure, and automated public services are reshaping how urban governments plan, coordinate, and deliver public services. In Indonesia, selecting an appropriate digital governance strategy remains challenging because expected service improvements must be considered alongside digital inclusion, public trust, algorithmic fairness, institutional capacity, environmental resilience, privacy risks, and implementation costs. This study investigates how alternative digital urban governance strategies can be evaluated within a transparent multi-criteria decision-support framework. Ten candidate strategies were evaluated against fifteen technical, social, institutional, environmental, and economic criteria using constructed role-based picture fuzzy assessments. Mutual information (MI) was applied to identify overlapping criteria and reduce redundancy, after which the Logarithmic Percentage Change-driven Objective Weighting (LOPCOW) method was used to derive objective criterion weights. Ranking Comparison (RANCOM) weights were then generated from the LOPCOW-based criterion ordering and combined with the objective weights before the alternatives were ranked using the Measurement of Alternatives and Ranking according to Compromise Solution (MARCOS) method. Ranking robustness was examined through parameter sensitivity analysis, 10,000-run Monte Carlo simulations, and comparisons with seven established multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) methods, including the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS), VIseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje (VIKOR), Multi-Objective Optimization on the Basis of Ratio Analysis (MOORA), Multi-Attributive Border Approximation Area Comparison (MABAC), Weighted Aggregated Sum Product Assessment (WASPAS), Evaluation based on Distance from Average Solution (EDAS), and Additive Ratio Assessment (ARAS). The results showed that mobile-first public services for remote and island communities ranked first, with a MARCOS appraisal score of 0.734412, followed closely by citizen participation and e-consultation at 0.723203. Privacy-preserving urban data exchange ranked third at 0.686119. The leading strategy remained stable across the tested parameter settings within the proposed MARCOS framework, although alternative weighting and ranking specifications produced greater variation in the identity of the first-ranked strategy. This result, together with the narrow gap between the two highest-ranked alternatives, indicates that local priorities, assessment inputs, and modelling choices can materially influence the final decision. The findings demonstrate that the proposed framework provides a traceable basis for comparing competing digital urban governance strategies while making the assumptions, trade-offs, and uncertainty underlying the ranking explicit. The approach offers urban authorities a structured decision-support tool for planning inclusive, accountable, resilient, and institutionally feasible public-service transformation.
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