Exploring the Element Integration of Urban and Rural“Space of Flows”in the Context of Consumption Upgrading:A Case Study of Changsi Village in Anhui Province

The mobility and interaction between urban and rural areas are becoming more and more intensive,and their links and exchanges are increasingly closer due to constant flow of factors such as information,capital,personnel and technology.In this context,the element integration of urban and rural“space of flows”can promote the integrated development of urban and rural areas,improve the consumption environment and experience,and promote the industrial upgrading and technological progress.To realize the element integration of urban and rural“space of flows”,it is necessary to explore and innovate in infrastructure construction,information technology application,industrial cooperation and cultural exchanges.Government departments,enterprises and social organizations also need to work together to give play to their respective advantages and jointly promote the process of element integration of urban and rural“space of flows”.

Spatial Structure of China's E-commerce Express Logistics Network Based on Space of Flows

The intermediate link compression characteristics of e-commerce express logistics ne tworks influence the tradition al mode of circulation of goods and economic organization,and alter the city spatial pattern.Based on the theory of space of flows,this study adopts China Smart Logistics Network relational data to build China's e-commerce express logistics network and explore its spatial structure characteristics through social network analysis(SNA),the PageRank technique,and geospatial methods.The results are as follows:the network density is 0.9270,which is close to 1;hence,indicating that e-commerce express logistics lines between Chinese cities are nearly complete and they form a typical network structure,thereby eliminating fragmented spaces.Moreover,the average minimum number of edges is 1.1375,which indicates that the network has a small world effect and thus has a high flow efficiency of logistics elements.A significant hierarchical diffusion effect was observed in dominant flows with the highest edge weights.A diamond-structured network was formed with Shanghai,Guangzhou,Chongqing,and Beijing as the four core nodes.Other node cities with a large logistics scale and importance in the network are mainly located in the 19 city agglomerations of China,revealing the fact that the development of city agglomerations is essential for promoting the separation of experience space and changing the urban spatial pattern.This study enriches the theory of urban networks,reveals the flow laws of modern logistics elements,and encourages coordinated development of urban logistics.

Research on the Development of “Greater Bay Area” from the Dual Perspectives of “Space of Places” and “Space of Flows”:A Case Study of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area

This paper makes a systematic analysis on the development characteristics and evolution process of the built-up areas,as well as the sub-structure of the network connectivity and the functional division,of core cities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao region from the dual perspectives of "space of places" and "space of flows." It does so by using data of satellite remote sensing and industrial census to describe the spatial development trend and to establish an urban connectivity network based on the headquarter-branch data of enterprises.It also reveals the development differences within and outside of the Bay Area in Guangdong Province.The research shows that,firstly,since the new century,the integration of the Bay Area has become more obvious for Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao region,as it has developed in a highly-concentrated way around the Bay Area of the Pearl River Estuary.Secondly,Guangdong,Shenzhen,Hong Kong,and Macao exhibited a more obvious regional division of labor,and their functions have been increasingly complementary to each other.Thirdly,a regional hub of "two sectors"–linking outside to the world city network and driving internal development of regional hinterland has been formed.Finally,based on the conclusion of the empirical research,development and planning implications of the Bay Area are discussed.

Understanding spatial structures and organizational patterns of city networks in China: A highway passenger flow perspective

The use of multi-perspective and multi-scalar city networks has gradually developed into a range of critical approaches to understand spatial interactions and linkages. In particular, road linkages represent key characteristics of spatial dependence and distance decay, and are of great significance in depicting spatial relationships at the regional scale. Therefore, based on highway passenger flow data between prefecture-level administrative units, this paper attempted to identify the functional structures and regional impacts of city networks in China, and to further explore the spatial organization patterns of the existing functional regions, aiming to deepen our understanding of city network structures and to provide new cognitive perspectives for ongoing research. The research results lead to four key conclusions. First, city networks that are based on highway flows exhibit strong spatial dependence and hierarchical characteristics, to a large extent spatially coupled with the distributions of major megaregions in China. These phenomena are a reflection of spatial relationships at regional scales as well as core-periphery structure. Second, 19 communities that belong to an important type of spatial configuration are identified through community detection algorithm, and we suggest they are correspondingly urban economic regions within urban China. Their spatial metaphors include the administrative region economy, spatial spillover effects of megaregions, and core-periphery structure. Third, each community possesses a specific city network system and exhibits strong spatial dependence and various spatial organization patterns. Regional patterns have emerged as the result of multi-level, dynamic, and networked characteristics. Fourth, adopting a morphology-based perspective, the regional city network systems can be basically divided into monocentric, dual-nuclei, polycentric, and low-level equilibration spatial structures, while most are developing monocentrically.