Exploring the Geography of China's Airport Networks: A Hybrid Complex-Network Approach

Zhengbin Dong and Wenjie Wu
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: 武文杰

SERC Discussion Papers from Centre for Economic Performance, LSE

Abstract: Air networks are normal examples of transportation systems among ubiquitous big data networks in the dynamic nature. This is particularly the case in developing countries with rapid airport network expansions. This paper explores the structure and evolution of the trunk airport network of China (ANC) in major years during 1980s-2000s. We generalise the complex network approach developed in existing studies and further test for statistical properties of weighted network characteristics by using pair-wise traffic flows. The spatiotemporal decomposition of network metric plots and the visualization maps leads to a rich harvest of stylized ANC structures: (i) national hub-and-spoke patterns surrounding mega-cities; (ii) regional broker patterns surrounding Kunming and Urumqi, and (iii) local heterogeneous disparity patterns in isolated geographical cities, such as Lhasa, Lijiang, Huangshan, etc. These findings have important implications towards understanding the geo-political and economic forces at stake in shaping China's urban systems.

Keywords: Airport system; complex network; regional development; China (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C55 O18 P25 R12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cna, nep-geo, nep-net, nep-tra, nep-tre and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Working Paper: Exploring the geography of China's airport networks: a hybrid complex-network approach (2015)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cep:sercdp:0173

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