Study On The Influence Of High-speed Railway On Spatial Structure Of The Yangtze River Delta Region

With the revolution of transportation mode, great changes will take place in regional spatial structure. High-speed railway, which is characterized by its convenient, fast and mass transport volume, is under construction in China right now. Hence, it will have great impact on the evolvement of regional spatial structure.The Yangtze River Delta Region, as the most prosperous and strongest economic strength region, plays an induced role in national economic development and modernization drive. It becomes the most important engine for accelerating national comprehensive strength and international competitiveness, so that promoting sound and rapid development of the national economy. With the opening of Shanghai-Nanjing, Shanghai-Hangzhou and Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway, the Yangtze River Delta Region will gradually enter the "high-speed railway era". Therefore, the research focuses on the Yangtze River Delta Region as study area to analysis how the high-speed railway impact on the spatial structure in this area.The paper includes seven chapters. Chapter 1 is actually introduction which includes background, purpose, meaning, research review and relevant concepts. Chapter 2 is relevant theories about regional spatial structure and relationship between transportation and regional spatial structure. Chapter 3 is the selection of high-speed lines and database construction. Chapter 4 is based on hourly communication area theory to analysis the how high-speed railway impact on the spatial expansion of the central cities such as Shanghai, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Hefei and Ningbo. Chapter 5 is based on accessibility theory to analysis the accessibility spatial distribution of Yangtze River Delta Area after the high-speed railway opening. Two methods are carried out in this chapter which are shortest travel time and weighted travel time. Chapter 6 references POLYNET's functional polycentric measurement approach to discuss the functional polycentric in Small Yangtze River Delta Region (only including the 16 cities) based on high-speed and motor coach railway travels. Chapter 7 is conclusion and limitation of the research.The main conclusions are as following:the spatial expansion direction of central cities is along the high-speed railway; the daily communication areas of different cities show somewhat overlapping as well as vacancy; the accessibility spatial distribution of Yangtze River Delta Region is characterized by irregular circle structure; it is more functional polycentricity after the opening of Shanghai-Nanjing and Shanghai-Hangzhou high-speed railway based on high-speed travel; with the development of high-speed railway network, the functional polycentricity of Yangtze River Delta will improve much.