The Duet of Ice and Snow: How the Ice‐Snow Economy Is Reshaping China's Urban Network?

Jiaming Hao, Songsong Li, Yiwa Xu and Weiqian Zhang

Growth and Change, 2025, vol. 56, issue 4

Abstract: Against the backdrop of global climate change and industrial restructuring, the ice‐snow economy, as a dual‐driven industry characterized by “resource‐consumption,” is emerging as a crucial engine for regional development in China. Based on panel data from 15 national‐level urban agglomerations in China between 2012 and 2021, this study employs a three‐dimensional analytical framework encompassing the dimensions of resources, consumption, and policy to empirically examine the impact mechanisms of the ice‐snow economy on urban network evolution, the moderating role of policy coordination, and the contribution of network structure to regional economic growth. The findings reveal that the ice‐snow economy facilitates the formation of both localized and globalized networks through dual mechanisms of “resource‐dependent agglomeration” and “consumption‐driven diffusion,” with the magnitude of these effects differing across different types of urban agglomerations. Policy coordination significantly enhances the network externalities of the ice‐snow economy, promoting localized networks in cold‐region urban agglomerations and globalized networks in non‐cold‐region urban agglomerations. While localized networks contribute more to current regional economic growth, globalized networks exhibit increasing growth potential as infrastructure improves and policy coordination deepens. This study provides theoretical foundations and practical insights for understanding urban network evolution and regional policy design in resource‐based characteristic industries in China.

Date: 2025
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