Measuring the spatiotemporal variation and evolution of transport network of China＇s megaregions

Megaregion has become a prominent feature of modern China. Reflecting upon China＇s recent path of transport infrastructure construction, this research examines the spatiotemporal characteristics of transport network development and its accessibility impacts in China＇s ten megaregions from 1982 to 2010. Using historical transport network data and multiple national censuses （1982, 1990, 2000 and 2010）, we computed two levels of indicators of megaregional transport network： megaregion level and county level, and analyzed the intra-megaregion and inter-megaregion disparities of transport network of the ten megaregions of China. Transport networks at the megaregion level are measured by three indicators： 1） transport network density; 2） infrastructure endowment per capita; and 3） size of transport network＇s standard ellipse. Two accessibility indicators for measuring transportation network at the county level are calculated： weighted average travel time and potential accessibility. The research results show the following： 1） Road and rail network densities witnessed the greatest growth during the 2000-2010 period, and growth was more significant for railway network. 2） By 2010, average road endowments per capita in inland megaregions became higher than in coastal megaregions, while average rail endowments per capita in coastal megaregions became higher than in inland megaregions. 3） The sizes and directions of the standard deviational ellipses of road and rail network changed continuously during the study period. However the changes of road network ellipses were relatively small, while the changes of railway network ellipses were more significant. 4） Megaregions have all benefited significantly from transportation infrastructure improvement in the past few decades in terms of WATT and potential accessibility, but the three giant megaregions benefited most.

Assessing the Impacts of High Speed Rail Development in China’s Yangtze River Delta Megaregion

This paper assesses the impacts of high speed rail (HSR) development in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) Megaregion, China. After giving an introduction and conducting a literature review, the paper proposes a pole-axis-network system (PANS) model guiding the entire study. On the one hand, the HSR projects in the YRD Megaregion are expected to generate significant efficiency-related transportation and non-transportation benefits. As a result, the spillover effects from Shanghai and other major cities (poles) will greatly promote the urban and regional developments along the major HSR corridors (axes), and the entire megaregion will become more integrated economically, socially, and culturally. But, on the other hand, the HSR projects will also create serious social and geographic inequity issues, which need to be addressed as soon as possible in a proper way. This empirical study confirms the PANS model proposed.

Global urbanization as a shifting context for applying ecological science toward the sustainable city

There is an abundance of conceptual frameworks relevant to sustainability in urban systems.However,to advance urban ecological science and its application to sustainable urban transformations,key existing frameworks must be synthesized.This paper is a conceptual synthesis cast in essay form in order to encompass a broad range of relevant ideas.It starts from the premise that the familiar models of metropolitan and megalopolitan urban structure,of industrially driven urban development,and of the contrasts between urban and non-urban lands are manifestly inadequate representations of evolving global reality.Such inadequacy is illustrated with examples from the United States and from China.Both the form and the interactions involved in contemporary urbanization and urban change suggest the need for a new integrated framework synthesizing two existing yet still evolving concepts:(1)The urban megaregion framework accommodates the spatial extent,interdigitation of contrasting land uses,and the linked spatial relations between nominally urban and nominally rural areas.(2)The new concept of the continuum of urbanity emphasizes the shifts in livelihood and lifestyle driven by regional and global teleconnections and their joint effects on local environments and landscapes.Together these frameworks suggest a common conceptual structure for addressing urban areas of different ages,sizes,forms,and dynamics in both urbanizing and urbanized areas in developing and developed countries and regions.The synthesis of frameworks points to empirical research needs,and has the potential to better match sustainability plans and actions with the diverse urban forms and dynamics now appearing around the world.