Urban Spatial Interaction Analysis Using Inter-City Transport Big Data: A Case Study of the Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomeration of China

Ji Han and Jiabin Liu
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Ji Han: Global Institute for Urban and Regional Sustainability, Shanghai Key Lab for Urban Ecological Processes and Eco-Restoration, School of Ecological and Environmental Sciences, East China Normal University, Dongchuan Road 500, Shanghai 200241, China
Jiabin Liu: School of Ecological and Environmental Sciences, East China Normal University, Dongchuan Road 500, Shanghai 200241, China

Sustainability, 2018, vol. 10, issue 12, 1-16

Abstract: A better understanding of the urban spatial interaction is important for optimizing the spatial structure and layout of urban agglomeration (UA). We develop a crawler program to compile online big data for urban spatial interaction analysis. Differing from the previous studies, vectorial, realistic, and high spatiotemporal resolution inter-city, bus-passenger-flow big data instead of statistical and modeled data are used for urban spatial interaction analysis. The Yangtze River Delta (YRD) is selected as a case study region to test the big data approach and to gain insights into the cities’ interaction in China’s largest UA. The results testified the superiorities of the big-data method over the traditional gravity model, confirmed some phenomena discussed or mentioned in the literature and regional plans regarding the urban interaction in YRD, derived policy implications for enhancing the sustainability of UA, and suggested some potentials for improving the limitations of the big-data method.

Keywords: spatial interaction; urban agglomeration; big data; gravity model; passenger flow (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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