PROGRESS IN GEOGRAPHY ›› 2023, Vol. 42 ›› Issue (2): 209-220.doi: 10.18306/dlkxjz.2023.02.001

• Articles •     Next Articles

Spatial evolution and determinants of new infrastructure development in China

ZHANG Pei1(), WANG Jiao'e1,2,*(), XIAO Fan1,2   

  1. 1. Key Laboratory of Regional Sustainable Development Modeling, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, CAS, Beijing 100101, China
    2. College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
  • Received:2022-06-30 Revised:2022-10-13 Online:2023-02-28 Published:2023-02-24
  • Supported by:
    National Natural Science Foundation of China for Distinguished Young Scholars(42225106);China Postdoctoral Science Foundation Program(2022M713121)

Abstract:

New infrastructure has become an important support for China's economic transformation and high-quality development in the new era. In order to investigate the temporal and spatial evolution of China's new infrastructure development and its driving factors, this study first constructed a comprehensive evaluation index of the development level of new infrastructure based on the provincial panel data from 2013 to 2020. Then, it used the technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) entropy method and spatial econometric model to measure the development level of new infrastructure and analyze its driving factors. The results show that: 1) The development level of China's new infrastructure has increased year by year, and there is a trend of balanced development among provinces. 2) There is great spatial heterogeneity in the development level of China's new infrastructure. The new infrastructure development level is much higher in the eastern region than the central, western, and northeastern regions. The overall temporal and spatial evolution pattern showed an east-west expansion trend, and the center of gravity continued to move to the southwest. 3) The development level of new infrastructure is affected by many factors, among which the economic development level, financial development level, innovation foundation, urbanization process, and population size are the key driving factors. By examining the evolution of the spatial pattern of China's new infrastructure development level and its influencing factors, this article may provide a decision-making reference for its optimal layout and development.

Key words: new infrastructure, information infrastructure, convergence infrastructure, innovation infrastructure, development level, China