Abstract
The fast development of urbanization has led to imbalances in cities, causing congestion, pollution, and urban sprawl. In response to the growing concern over the distribution of demand and supply, a more coordinated urban structure is addressed in comprehensive planning processes. In this study, we attempt to identify urban structure using a Network–Activity–Human model under the Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) concept, since TOD is usually regarded as an urban spatial planning tool. In order to explore the strengths and weaknesses of the urban structure, we define the TOD index and unbalance degree and then classify the urban areas accordingly. We take the city of Beijing as a case study and identify nine urban types. The results show a hierarchical urban structure: the city center covers most of the hotspots which display higher imbalances, the surroundings of the city center are less developed, and the city edges show higher potentials in both exploitation and transportation development. Moreover, we discuss the extent to which the spatial scale influences the unbalance degree and apply a sensitivity analysis based on the goals of different stakeholders. This methodology could be utilized at any study scale and in any situation, and the results could offer suggestions for more accurate urban planning, strengthening the relationship between TOD and spatial organization.
Highlights
There are three core concepts of urban systems: urban form, urban interaction, and urban spatial structure [1]
The target of the paper was to identify urban structure based on a Network–Activity–Human model
By ranking the Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) index, we first had an overview of the hierarchical structure of the city, distinguishing the urban vitality and the urban growth poles
Summary
There are three core concepts of urban systems: urban form, urban interaction, and urban spatial structure [1]. The urban spatial structure is defined as the geo-location and integrated relationship of different urban elements [2,3], and it is the internal mechanism between urban form and urban interaction. Policy makers and the government always attach great importance to urban structure since it reflects both physical and dynamic contexts [4]. Identifying urban structure can give planners a deeper insight into the evolution of the city. The rapid development of urbanization has resulted in a prominent aggregation of people and buildings among metropolises, creating new urban growth poles or subcenters. From a monocentric to a polycentric model, always emerges along with the economic development and the growth of urban scale
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