Understanding the structure and determinants of economic linkage network: The case of three major city clusters in Yangtze River Economic belt

Abstract

The economic linkages between cities within the Yangtze River Economic Belt city cluster are important for precisely implementing the Yangtze River Economic Belt strategy. Accordingly, this study used the revised gravity model, social network method, and spatial Durbin model to analyze the economic linkage strength, spatial-temporal differentiation, and driving factors of the three major city cluster in the Yangtze River Economic Belt from 2006–2020. The results confirm that the Chengdu-Chongqing urban agglomeration has formed a network structure with Chengdu and Chongqing as the two poles; the urban agglomeration in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River has formed a point-axis development pattern of Wuhan, Changsha and Nanchang. The Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration formed a multi-center radiation and sub-network development pattern. Additionally, the characteristics of network structure significantly affected the flow of factors, the level of economic development was the basis for strengthening communication and cooperation between cities. Meanwhile, the advanced industrial structures played an important role in promoting industrial linkages, and human capital exerts an obvious spatial spillover effect. Therefore, these three major urban agglomerations should implement differentiated development strategies and enhance the synergy of their linkage networks, thus promoting high-quality development.

The Efficiency Evolution and Risks of Green Development in the Yangtze River Economic Belt, China

“…Evidently, the three major city clusters have insufficient backward force to improve green development efficiency. The above findings also show that, although the strategic context of the Yangtze River basin's collaborative development has led to an increase in synergistic interactions among cities and a gradual narrowing of regional non-equilibrium development risk, the central cities within the city clusters have outstanding levels of green development efficiency development by virtue of their comparative advantages in factor concentration; however, problems such as their weak radiation-driving capacity to neighboring cities still exist [41], which are not conducive to the free flow and rational allocation of factors, resulting in increasing uncertainty of the green development efficiency improvement. In addition, the crest widths of the three major city clusters are narrowing, with the Yangtze River Delta showing the most pronounced trend of narrowing crest widths.…”

“…Within the middle reaches of the Yangtze River inter-cluster, under the strategic layout of Wuhan, Changzhutan, and the Nanchang urban areas, the three provincial capitals play a leading role, driving the synergistic development of the sub-centers. This role is the main reason for the narrowing of the green development efficiency gap within the middle reaches of the Yangtze River inter-cluster [41]. The overall lower level of reduction indicates the persistence of the gap between the city clusters in the Yangtze River basin and the unbalanced spatial distribution of green development efficiency (Table 2), and the steady-state development trend of the narrowing gap among the three major city clusters also reflects that, as the Yangtze River Economic Belt's development strategy is further developed and implemented, the gap is becoming less pronounced.…”

Research Progress of the Impacts of Comprehensive Transportation Network on Territorial Spatial Development and Protection

“…And at the same time, some studies have also taken safety and comfort as evaluation indexes [38,39]. As for location attractiveness, it is often measured using indicators such as the level of regional economic development and the number of populations [40]. Studies on the impacts of transportation construction on urban space cover regional and urban agglomeration, city, and station area scales [41], and it is generally believed that changes in spatial structure at macro-regional scales mainly originate from the construction of trans-regional transport corridors such as roads and railways [42,43].…”

Industrial agglomeration and PM2.5 pollution in Yangtze River Economic Belt in China: non-linear estimation and mechanism analysis

“…After years of progression and construction, the YEB has achieved a transformative shift from a "regional economy" to a "river basin economy." A dynamic scenario has unfolded, The average levels of industrial agglomeration of three major industries in the YEB in 2005-2019. Frontiers in Environmental Science frontiersin.org characterized by industrial agglomeration, intra-industry competition and the diverse spread of industries (Zhang et al, 2023a). Parallel to the economic advancement, the impact of industrial spatial arrangement on PM 2.5 pollution has garnered widespread attention in society.…”