Seasonal Variations in the Mechanisms Linking the Built Environment and Metro Station Area Vitality in Cold Regions: A Case Study of Harbin

Xiaolu Zhou and Jianfei Chen ()
Additional contact information
Xiaolu Zhou: School of Architecture and Design, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150006, China
Jianfei Chen: School of Architecture and Design, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150006, China

Land, 2025, vol. 14, issue 11, 1-27

Abstract: As urbanization advances toward refined territorial spatial governance, integrating comprehensive transportation and spatial vitality has become essential for sustainable urban development. Transit-oriented development (TOD) plays a key role in linking transportation infrastructure with the coordinated evolution of territorial space. However, the interaction mechanisms between the built environment and metro station area vitality in cold-region cities remain underexplored, particularly in relation to seasonal differentiation. Taking Harbin as a representative cold-region metropolis, this study investigates how built environment factors shape metro station area vitality across seasons and how their spatial mechanisms differ between winter and summer. An indicator system based on the “5D” framework was established, and K-means clustering was applied to classify stations into four coordinated spatial types. A composite vitality index integrating transportation, social, and economic dimensions was constructed to assess seasonal variations. Spearman correlation and XGBoost models identified dominant drivers at the global level, while the MGWR model revealed spatial heterogeneity. The results indicate that POI density exerts the strongest influence on metro station area vitality, contributing 47.95% in winter and 47.27% in summer. Residential density plays a more decisive role during summer, accounting for 18.90%. In contrast, winter vitality depends more on transportation accessibility, with the distance to parking facilities contributing 11.59%. Core urban stations consistently maintain high vitality, while peripheral areas have weaker performances, especially during winter. These findings clarify seasonally adaptive mechanisms linking the built environment and spatial vitality, providing evidence for coordinated optimization of metro systems and land-use planning in cold-region cities.

Keywords: transit-oriented development; built environment; territorial spatial vitality; cold-region city; coordinated planning; Harbin metro (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/14/11/2222/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/14/11/2222/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jlands:v:14:y:2025:i:11:p:2222-:d:1791419

Access Statistics for this article

Land is currently edited by Ms. Carol Ma

More articles in Land from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().