Has the Digital Economy Changed the Urban Network Structure in China?—Based on the Analysis of China’s Top 500 New Economy Enterprises in 2020

Bo Chen,Huasheng Zhu

doi:10.3390/su14010150

Abstract

The rapid development of the new generation of information technology makes digital enterprises and the digital economy important forces in promoting the sustainable growth of the world economy. Under the influence of the digital economy, the original urban network may undergo drastic changes. There have been studies that have arrived at conflicting conclusions. This paper primarily illustrates whether or not the digital economy has changed the urban network structure. China’s digital economy is developing rapidly, becoming a new engine for the high-quality development of the Chinese economy. Therefore, this paper demonstrates the impact of China’s digital economy on the urban network structure by using data from China’s Top 500 New Economy Enterprises in 2020 and the headquarter–subsidiary ownership method. The results show that (1) China’s urban network has changed significantly. Compared with APS enterprises and listed companies, the urban network of the digital economy has become more polarized, and Beijing has become the absolute control center. (2) Chinese cities have been reshuffled in the era of the digital economy. Beijing, Hangzhou, and Chengdu, with their industrial foundations in the digital economy, have performed better within the network. Simultaneously, some heavily industrialized cities, such as Wuhan, Shenyang, and Chongqing, have been declining due to the difficulties associated with transformation. (3) Although the digital economy has reshaped China’s urban network structure to a certain extent, the original urban pattern still plays a dominant role in the new system. The network spatial pattern of dense east and sparse west still exists, and provincial capitals and subprovincial cities still play a more significant role in the network than ordinary cities. (4) Network diffusion is typically a hierarchical diffusion between core nodes. Geographical proximity has a low constraint on network diffusion, and subsidiaries expand outward through hierarchical diffusion.

Highlights

As globalization increases connections among cities worldwide, these cities have become increasingly dependent on their relationships with other cities [1]
This paper explores the network structure of China’s digital economy city
By comparing it with advanced producer services (APS) enterprises, Fortune 500 enterprises, and listed companies [29,47,48], it is found that the digital economy has reshaped the characteristics of China’s urban network, the network is more polarized, some cities begin to rise, and some cities show a decline trend; this is one of the main contributions of this study

Summary

Introduction

As globalization increases connections among cities worldwide, these cities have become increasingly dependent on their relationships with other cities [1]. Some cities with global influence, such as New York and London, have been linked to a world city network [2]. The last several decades have witnessed a shift in urban studies reflected by a growing research focus on urban networks. Cross-regional firms are important actors in the formation of urban networks, and their internal organization relationships provide a perspective for urban network research. Firms’ expansion to some burgeoning industries are considered as an important actor for the dynamics of a city so as to provide a signal of the dynamics of urban networks [10,11]

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion