%0 Journal Article %A Xiaoshu CAO %A Tao LI %A Wenyue YANG %A Xiaoyan HUANG %A Jiangbin YIN %A Yongwei LIU %A Feiwen LIANG %A Wulin WANG %A Miaomiao WANG %A Huiling CHEN %A Baixian ZHANG %T Accessibility and urban spatial connections of cities in the Silk Road Economic Belt based on land transportation %D 2015 %R 10.18306/dlkxjz.2015.06.001 %J PROGRESS IN GEOGRAPHY %P 657-664 %V 34 %N 6 %X

Analyzing accessibility and urban spatial connection of the Silk Road Economic Belt is the basis for implementing the strategy of the Silk Road Economic Belt and facilitating cooperation and achieving mutual benefits of the region along the economic belt. Based on GIS spatial analysis technology, the spatial pattern of raster grid accessibility for the Silk Road Economic Belt is studied and the states of urban spatial relation are simulated using land transportation network in this research. The result shows that the spatial distribution of urban accessibility in the Silk Road Economic Belt presents clear spatial characteristics of aggregated distribution along the main corridors. Average accessibility of urban nodes as measured by travel time is 16.25 hours, and the areas accessible within 2 hours occupies 10.6% of the total area. Most of the areas with the lowest accessibility are found in the margins of the deserts, with the worst accessibility of 171 hours. Xi'an as the gateway city connects the five provinces of Northwest China and other countries, regions, and cities of the Silk Road Economic Belt. The spatial connections of Central Asian countries within e national boundaries and with cities outside are relatively weak. The Silk Road Economic Belt is forming four main axes. In the future strategic development of the Silk Road Economic Belt, it should consider to implement a "point-axis" growth structure to drive the development of corridors and central cities (dense urban area).

%U https://www.progressingeography.com/EN/10.18306/dlkxjz.2015.06.001