Quantitative Analysis of Spatial Heterogeneity and Driving Forces of the Urban Spatial Structure’s Development Level Based on Multi-Source Big Data: A Case Study of Beijing, China

Abstract

Many developed cities in the world put forward a spatial development strategy in their construction planning. Analyzing the development level of the urban spatial structure and the influence of driving factors has become a hot topic. Based on 709,232 points of interest data in Beijing, China, this paper integrates nighttime light data and population density data to select eight key driving factors from three perspectives: urban function configuration, economic activity intensity and population spatial distribution. Geodetector is used to optimize data discreteness and highlight the spatial heterogeneity of the development level. We use the technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) model improved with the entropy weight method to grade the spatial differentiation characteristics of the comprehensive development level. The driving factors and their effects on space are further discussed using Geodetector. The results are as follows: (1) The quartile method can achieve the optimal dispersion of all urban functions. The standard deviation can achieve the optimal dispersion of economic activity intensity and population spatial distribution; (2) A comparison with the “Beijing Urban Master Plan (2016–2035)”, finds that the optimized evaluation system can effectively reflect the spatial heterogeneity of urban spatial structure development. It verifies the rationality of the evaluation methods and factors; (3) The driving force of the population under single-factor driving is 0.8428. The dual-factor driving force with population participation ranges from 0.8992 to 0.9550. The results of the study are significant and reflect the prominent role of population on the development level of spatial structure in Beijing. This paper aims to provide a new idea for the study of the interior space planning of large inland cities.