| Currently,with the continuous integration of the digital economy industry and “Internet +”,the express delivery industry has rapidly emerged and covers all aspects of production,distribution,circulation,and consumption,affecting every aspect of people’s lives.Therefore,scholars have begun to focus on research and analysis of the development of the express delivery industry,including the causes of regional differences and improvement methods,which provide support for high-quality regional economic development and industrial transformation.Exploring the theoretical support for spatial differences in the development level of urban express delivery and network structure in the region promotes high-quality development of the regional express delivery industry and is one of the important directions of future geography research.The Central Plains Urban Agglomeration has a developed railway and highway transportation system and is led by Zhengzhou Airport National Logistics Hub and Luoyang Production Service National Logistics Hub,which has prominent advantages in developing the express delivery industry.Therefore,exploring the development level and network contact pattern of the express delivery industry in the Central Plains Urban Agglomeration is of great significance for optimizing the layout of resources such as express logistics infrastructure,and it also helps to promote the high-quality development of the economy in the Central Plains Urban Agglomeration.This study is based on theories such as growth poles and point-axis theory,core-periphery theory,urban interaction theory,and flow space theory.The research area consists of 30 prefecture-level cities in the Central Plains Urban Agglomeration.The study constructs an evaluation index system and express delivery contact network for the development level of the express delivery industry in the Central Plains Urban Agglomeration,and analyzes the spatial differences and network contact patterns of the development level from three dimensions: “nodes”,“lines”,and “surfaces”.Spatial analysis and social network analysis methods are used to explore the influencing factors and propose relevant suggestions and a spatial optimization pattern to promote the development of the express delivery industry in the Central Plains Urban Agglomeration.The main conclusions are as follows:(1)From the perspective of the development level of express delivery industry,the level of each city in the Zhengzhou urban agglomeration is clearly divided into different levels.Zhengzhou City’s“monopoly” feature is particularly prominent,with high-level areas located in the middle of the research area,and the areas of medium and high levels extend in a cross-like pattern towards both ends along the Beijing-Guangzhou Railway and the Longhai Railway.The lower and lower-level areas are mainly distributed on the edge of the research area.The curve equations of both comprehensive and subsystem rank-size distribution curves comply with Zipf’s Law,with scattered initial points and concentrated end points in the scatter plot,and an obvious “ahead-looking” phenomenon.In terms of spatial connection patterns,only Hebi,Yuncheng,and Xinxiang have passed the significance test,with no obvious association pattern found;while in the spatial aggregation pattern,the pattern centered on Zhengzhou is very obvious,with the Zhengzhou metropolitan area showing a higher level of aggregation.Low-aggregation zones appear in the northwest and southeast parts of the research area,and there is a significant trend towards expansion from Zhengzhou to the surrounding areas.In terms of spatial evolution patterns,high-level and relatively high-level areas have not changed,while many cities have progressed from low-level to intermediate-level during the “13th Five-Year Plan” period,indicating that the development level of the express delivery industry in the Central Plains Urban Agglomeration has significantly improved.(2)From the perspective of the structure of the express delivery contact network,the overall density of the express delivery contact network in the research area is 0.3529,indicating that the express delivery contact network is relatively sparse,and the development level of the express delivery industry in each city is uneven.From the perspective of “nodes”,Zhengzhou exhibits high-level outdegree,indegree,and intermediary centrality,with good aggregation ability.There is a high similarity between static and dynamic network node centrality.From the perspective of “lines”,the flow structure in the research area shows a pattern of “high in the north and south,low on the east and west sides.” While the overall connection is quite frequent,few cities have high-level interaction,and the majority of cities belong to low-quality interaction.Moreover,there are fewer cities with high-intensity links in the static network and larger coverage of low-intensity contact lines.The core position of Zhengzhou is highlighted,with express delivery volume far exceeding that of other cities,and it has initial links with most other cities.From the perspective of “surfaces”,the core city of the Central Plains Urban Agglomeration exhibits a typical feature of being distributed along primary transportation routes,with peripheral areas located on the eastern and western edges of the urban agglomeration and in smaller cities.This is different from the core-periphery city classification in the planning scheme of the Central Plains Urban Agglomeration.The result of cohesive subgroups reflects closer connections among cities within each province than among cross-province cities,especially for the main body of Henan Province.(3)From the perspective of influencing factors,both the development level of the express delivery industry and the intermediacy centrality of express delivery contact networks serve as dependent variables.Indicators such as per capita disposable income,urban road mileage,value added of tertiary industry,the number of general higher education students per ten thousand people,the number of legal entities in transportation,warehousing and postal industries have passed significance tests and have attributed explanations to the current state of the express delivery industry.This reflects that the consumption level of residents,transportation environment conditions,the development level of modern service industries,population size and quality,as well as basic resource endowments,all have an impact on the development level and formation of contact networks of the express delivery industry.Among them,the explanatory power of the development level of modern service industries,population size and quality,and resident consumption level are relatively strong.Based on the main conclusions obtained from this study,effective and feasible countermeasures and spatial optimization paths are proposed to address the problems currently facing the development of the express delivery industry in the Central Plains Urban Agglomeration.These proposals not only provide a theoretical basis for exploring the development direction and positioning of the express delivery industry but also play a crucial role in enhancing the support and driving force of the urban system in the Central Plains Urban Agglomeration.They can also provide case support for the development of similar regions with similar backgrounds in central and western China,making a contribution to the healthy and sustainable development of the express delivery industry nationwide. |
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