Abstract:

High-speed rail as the infrastructure for material and information exchange is important channels in urban agglomerations that connect urban centers and facilitate urban expansion, and urban agglomeration is a greater metropolitan area whose internal separation is reduced by high-speed rail system. This study used passenger flow data of 380 sites in the Yangtze River Delta high-speed railway system to construct a 20 by 20 matrix for examining connections between cities in the Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomeration and its spatial structure. The results show that: (1) The density of network connection between the core cities in the Yangtze River Delta—Shanghai, Nanjing, Hangzhou, and Ningbo—is higher than between other cities; (2) Connections between the core cities of the Yangtze River Delta and cities along major transportation axes, such as Shanghai to Zhenjiang and Jiaxing, Nanjing to Danyang and Huzhou, and Suzhou to Changzhou and Kunshan, have been strong; (3) In terms of "spatial flow" stratification, the first level city network mainly consists of Shanghai-Suzhou-Wuxi-Changzhou and cites along the transportation routes between these cities; the second level city network is mainly composed of Shanghai and Ningbo and cities along the route; the third level city network is mainly composed of Shanghai-Hangzhou-Ningbo and cities along the transportation routes between them; the fourth level city network is mainly composed of Shanghai Jinhua and Yiwu and cities along the route.

Key words: spatial flow, high-speed railway, Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomeration, urban linkage, new urbanization