Abstract
Urban spatial structure reflects the organization of urban land use and is closely related to the travel patterns of residents. The characteristics of urban spatial structure include both static and dynamic aspects. The static characteristics of urban spatial structure reflect the morphological features of space, and the dynamic characteristics of urban spatial structure reflect intra-city functional linkages. With the continuous agglomeration of population and industries; megacities have become the core spatial carriers leading China’s social and economic development; and their urban spatial structure has also been reconstructed. However; there is still a certain lack of understanding of the characteristics of the spatial structure of China’s megacities. This study aimed to reveal characteristics of the spatial structure of Chinese megacities at different scales using jobs-housing big data. To achieve this goal, spatial autocorrelation and a geographically weighted regression (GWR) model were applied to reveal static polycentricity, and community detection was used to reveal dynamic commuting communities. The distribution of jobs in urban space and jobs–housing balance levels in commuting communities were further analyzed. Experiments were conducted in Tianjin, China. We found that: (1) the static characteristics of the spatial structure of megacities presented the coexistence of polycentricity and a high degree of dispersion at macro- and meso-scales; (2) the dynamic characteristics of the spatial structure of megacities revealed two types of commuting communities at macro- and meso-scales and most commuting communities had a good jobs-housing balance. These findings can be referenced by urban managers and planners to formulate relevant policies for spatial distribution optimization of urban functions and transportation development at different spatial scales.
Highlights
In recent decades, the agglomeration of population and industries in metropolitan areas has become a common phenomenon of urbanization worldwide [1,2,3], which is obvious in China [4,5]
We investigated the characteristics of urban spatial structure at two spatial scales: the metropolitan area as the macro-scale and the central area as the meso-scale (Figure 1)
Polycentricity in the Metropolitan Area In Tianjin metropolitan area, the Global Moran’s I (GMI) value obtained by job density was 0.56, when the obtained p-value was less than 0.05 (p < 0.05), and the obtained z-score was greater than 2.58 (z-score > 2.58)
Summary
The agglomeration of population and industries in metropolitan areas has become a common phenomenon of urbanization worldwide [1,2,3], which is obvious in China [4,5]. Megacities, as well as dense urban areas with megacities as the core, have undoubtedly become the core spatial carriers leading China’s social and economic development. The spatial structure of megacities has been reconstructed [6], leading to changes in the distribution of different types of urban land use, and changes in travel patterns of residents. These changes have led to a series of problems in the sustainable development of megacities, including jobs–housing segregation [7], excess commuting [8], air pollution [9], and a decline in the quality of life [10]. An investigation of the characteristics of the spatial structure of megacities would help to understand the current spatial development of Chinese cities, and provide corresponding urban transport and land use policies
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