| With the emerging of urban network research and the rapid development of China's railway,recent study has focused on exploring the evolution and development of network structure of city-regions from the perspective of railway flow.On September 18,2019,President Xi Jinping hosted a symposium on ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River Basin in Zhengzhou,noting that the ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River Basin,together with the coordinated development of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei,the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt,the construction of the Guangdong,Hong Kong and Macao Great Bay Area,and the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta,are major national strategies.As an important national-level urban agglomeration along the Yellow River,the Central Plains and its integrated development are crucial to the high-quality development of the Yellow River Basin.In recent years,the Central Plains has made great efforts to develop a pozidriv type high-speed railway network to promote regional accessibility.However,due to the stage characteristics of railway construction,the railway network structure of the Central Plains in different periods shows diversified characteristics.How to analyze the characteristics of cities of the Central Plains and its network structure evolution,as well as determine the factors affecting intercity railway connections,has become an urgent problem to be solved for the future spatial and railway development of the Central Plains.Using the data of daily railway frequency in 1997,2007 and 2017,this paper divides the railway network of the Central Plains at two scales: regional and national.By adopting the methods of social network analysis,rank-size distribution regression analysis,coefficient of variation and correlation analysis,the paper explores cities' functional characteristics and network structure evolution of the Central Plains at multiple scales based on cities' s centrality.Besides,the paper tries to use the concepts of “local buzz and global pipeline” to understand cities' functional characteristics at different scales,and explore the main factors affecting the railway network structure by multiple regression analysis.The main conclusions are as follows:1.The cities' functions of the Central Plains show different distribution characteristics on different scales.Cities with higher centrality at the national scale are more likely to promote its centrality at the regional scale.(1)At the regional scale,the corridor effect of cities' centrality in the Central Plains is significant.Cities on trunk railway tend to establish closer links with other cities along the route,and thus they are at the core position of the railway network of the Central Plains,which is conducive to obtaining more ‘buzz' to promote their own knowledge creation.(2)At the national scale,the core and border cities of the Central Plains have higher centrality.These cities often establish and maintain railway links with more cities outside the Central Plains.More ‘pipelines' mean that these cities can gain more new knowledge to increase their position in the railway network.(3)Different railways play different roles in improving cities' centrality in the Central Plains.Among them,the Beijing-Guangzhou Railway has a greater impact on regional cities' centrality,and the Lianyungang-Lanzhou Railway significantly affects national cities' centrality.(4)Cities with higher centrality at the national scale are more likely to promote its centrality at the regional scale.By establishing a systematic and close relationship with external sources of information,these cities have ensured that new technologies and knowledge can be introduced into the Central Plains,thereby enhancing their own regional functions accordingly.2.The network structure of the Central Plains shows a flatter development trend at different scales.(1)According to the current situation,the Central Plains exhibits opposite network structure characteristics at different scales.At the regional scale,the network structure of the Central Plains presents a flat feature,the rank-size distribution of cities' centrality shows a power-law pattern.At the national scale,the hierarchical feature of the network structure is significant,the rank-size distribution of cities' centrality still shows the pattern of primate city.(2)From the perspective of the evolution of the whole network structure,the railway network structure of the Central Plains is flatter at the regional and national scales,but the ways to reduce spatial inequality are different.At the regional scale,the flatter development of the network structure of the Central Plains is due to the reduction in the gap between small and medium cities.More and more small and medium-sized cities have begun to bypass regional core cities for the exchange of knowledge,information and other elements.At the national scale,the flatter development of the network structure of the Central Plains is more reflected in the balanced development among large cities.Xinyang,as a railway hub city,gradually occupies the main position in the railway network of the Central Plains,and forms a dual-core network structure with Zhengzhou,which relatively reduces the regional spatial inequality.(3)From the perspective of the evolution of the subregion network structure,the developmental characteristics of the flattened network structure of the Central Plains are more pronounced in some specific subregions.Within the Central Plains,the central,eastern and southern subregions all exhibit hierarchical characteristics at different scales,with spatial differences gradually increasing;while the western subregion exhibits flat characteristics,with spatial differences gradually decreasing.In addition,the network structure of the northern subregion shows an opposed development at the regional and national scales.The network structure of the northern subregion is flatter and spatially more balanced at the regional scale;the hierarchical feature of the network structure is more pronounced at the national scale,with spatial differences gradually increasing.3.The intercity railway connection of the Central Plains is mainly affected by historical railway connections,the number of railway station and provincial borders at the regional scale,and is mainly affected by historical railway connections,distance and cultural affinities at the national scale.(1)Both the number of railway station and historical railway connections have a significant positive impact on inter-city railway connections at different scales,of which historical railway connections have strongly shaped intercity connections without considering the scale effect.(2)Provincial borders have a negative impact on intercity connections at the regional scale.it shows that the administrative barriers within the Central Plains are still one of the key factors impeding the flow of elements.(3)GDP,distance,administrative hierarchy and cultural affinities have had a positive impact on intercity connections at the national scale.The results,on the one hand,verify the validity of the gravity model which is often used to simulate intercity connections;on the other hand,it shows the positive role of provincial capital cities and culture in shaping the network structure of the Central Plains.Above all,the paper puts forward preliminary policy advices for the development of the Central Plains from three aspects: giving full play to the location advantages of railway hub cities,strengthening the construction of the railway network in a targeted approach and promoting the flow of intercity elements through multiple dimensions. |
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