Research on the relationship between Urban economic development level and urban spatial structure-A case study of two Chinese cities.

Jun Zhang,Xiao-Die Yuan,Xiong He,Bing Xue

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0235858

Abstract

The characteristics of urban spatial structure and the objective evaluation of the development level of urban economy have always been the concern of urban researchers, However, the spatial relationship between urban spatial structure and urban economic development level is often deliberately ignored. Through the point of interest (POI), the identification framework is constructed, the spatial structure of the city is identified and evaluated, and the Geographically Weighted Regression analysis is carried out with the distribution of unit GDP (Gross Domestic Product) in this study. The research shows that Kunming and Guiyang are polycentric spatial structures and Kunming's structure is more significant. Kunming's economic level is generally higher than Guiyang, but the unit area cannot be compared. The city center will promote the development of the central area in this city, and the more urban centers are distributed within the geographical and spatial range, the greater contribution would have to economic development. In addition, the results of this study will have a positive impact on urban planning and construction, and will also provide a new perspective for the study of cities and related disciplines.

Highlights

The process of urban diffusion and urban center formation in China is quite different from that in developed countries of Europe and the United States [1]
The advantages of urban development level methods reflected by different disciplines are different, and this study hopes to show the level of urban development within the fine range scale, so the paper will combine the economic level with the perspective of urban geography [40], and express the regional level of urban development objectively through the GDP per unit area [41]
The research holds that firstly the urban spatial structure identified by point of interest (POI) big data makes up for the inability and identify and judges accurately due to the subjective nature of the previous data, and avoids some errors in the previous research methods, it mainly focuses on the regional threshold and the scale effect under the spatial scale set by subjective arbitrariness, which makes the results of the recognition of urban spatial structure more credible

Summary

Introduction

The process of urban diffusion and urban center formation in China is quite different from that in developed countries of Europe and the United States [1]. There are two main reasons: one is that Chinese government plays a leading role in urban planning and development. Another reason is that China’s unique urban-rural isolation of the secondary land system is impeding spontaneous expansion of the cities [2]. The spatial structure formation process of China’s urban centers and its corresponding impact on cities have always been an important subject in academic fields such as urban planning and economic geography and so on [3,4]. The study of urban spatial structure and urban polycentric has been widely spread, it covers from the identification [5] and assessment [6] of urban polycentric to the formation and evolution of urban spatial structure, etc. [7,8].

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion