The Regional Evolution of Connective Infrastructure in the Black Sea from 2020 to 2024
摘要
This paper applies a spatial network analysis approach to understanding the changing patterns of connective infrastructure throughout the littoral areas of the Black Sea from 2020 to 2024. The aim is to assess how large-scale patterns of connective infrastructure – e.g., transportation, communication, and energy – evolve over time while considering to what extent such regional-scale networks may or may not be altered by a disruptive event. Notably, this paper de-emphasizes any specific type of infrastructure for any given country and instead focuses on the littoral, region-wide multiplex network. Such an approach can be best characterized as a graph-theoretic infrastructure analysis that examines the connections and evolution of the entire system. Using historical OpenStreetMap data accessed via the ohsome platform, network results, along with centrality and density measures, show a noteworthy change following the start of the Russo-Ukrainian war in early 2022. This work contributes to a topological analysis of infrastructure networks in the region as they transform over time. The temporal approach contributes to a holistic understanding of infrastructure patterns across time for the Black Sea region, useful for researchers interested in understanding large-scale patterns of development and the changes following regional disruptions. From the results of this research, future studies will be equipped to test important questions for regional infrastructure transformation, such as how warfare reshapes regional connectivity, which types of infrastructure, and by extension sectors, rebound quickly, and how network losses translate into long-term growth differentials.