Advancing methods for comparative urban research: A city-centric protocol and longitudinal dataset for US metropolitan statistical areas.

ABSTRACT: Comparative urban research in the USA has an unacknowledged data and methodological problem at the metropolitan scale, rooted in geographic and definitional boundary changes of urban areas across time. In this article, we introduce a new spatial dataset, decision criteria, and methodological protocol for longitudinal and comparative research with US metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs)-known as 'metros'-in a way that centers a 'city-centric' approach to comparison while significantly reducing spatial error and bias. First, we review gaps and limitations of existing approaches and identify three major but previously unacknowledged sources of error, including a new source of bias we call 'spanning error.' Next, we explain our methodological protocol and decision criteria, which are guided b

SUBMITTER: Jurjevich JR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11957320 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature