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  • Reviews
    MENG Gui, WANG Kaiyong, WANG Fuyuan, DONG Yaojia
    PROGRESS IN GEOGRAPHY. 2025, 44(3): 445-459. https://doi.org/10.18306/dlkxjz.2025.03.002

    Administrative divisions are an important part of the national system of governance, and the related adjustments have become an important tool for optimizing the administrative management system, improving the effectiveness of national governance, and promoting regional spatial reorganization. Among these adjustments, county-to-district conversion, as an important part of China's county-level administrative division adjustment from 1997, has become a hot topic that has attracted much attention in the study of administrative division. Based on existing studies, this article analyzed the change of county (city) abolition and establishment of districts from the aspects of progress, occurrence logic, assessment method, and multiple impacts in a comprehensive manner. We found that the number of counties (cities) converted to districts in China experienced a fluctuating increase and then a rapid decrease, followed by a rapid increase and then a gradual decrease, with an overall M-shaped temporal pattern, and 2000-2002 and 2014-2016 were the two peak periods of conversion. National policies provided the necessary conditions for county-to-district conversion, local demands promoted the implementation of the conversion, and the final adjustment was often the result of the game between multiple actors. The research methods became more diversified, but the relevant basic theories and methodological studies are relatively weak, and there is still a big gap between the status quo and the requirements of governance modernization. The conclusions of the existing studies on the economic and social benefits of county-to-district conversion are inconsistent, while that on the impact of ecological benefits is relatively uniform, that is, the quality of the regional ecological environment has been improved by the county-to-district conversion. In summary, this article argued that in the future there is an urgent need to strengthen the theoretical and methodological research on the setting up of administrative districts, reveal in depth the positive and negative effects of county-to-district conversion on the development of cities and regions, strengthen the analysis of the driving mechanism of county-to-district conversion, and examine the triggering conditions of county-to-district conversion, in order to provide references for the scientific improvement of decision making of local governments as well as the optimization and adjustment of the national policies on county-to-district conversion.

  • Articles
    WU Yutong, PENG Chong
    PROGRESS IN GEOGRAPHY. 2025, 44(1): 185-198. https://doi.org/10.18306/dlkxjz.2025.01.014

    To support the safe and effective growth of regions, resilient city networks should be built in metropolitan areas. Current research is focused on understanding how disaster risk propagates in city networks and assessing network resilience. This study developed a multiplex city network model composed of facility and function based on the fundamental concept of the city network, and investigated the functional, physical, and geographic relationships across networks. Second, we examined the resilience of the multiplex city network in terms of both the structure and function and the network as a whole and local areas. Third, we illustrated how disaster risks spread in the multiplex city network from three perspectives—propagation path, propagation process, and propagation impact, which establish a logical relationship between disaster impact and network resilience. Lastly, we proposed a three-step framework for assessing the resilience of multiplex city networks: modeling the multiplex city network, simulating risk propagation of the network, and using indicastors to measure the network's resilience. The feasibility and validity of the framework were verified by the case study of resilience assessment of the "road-people's flow" multiplex city network in the Wuhan metropolitan area under the impact of flooding. The case results demonstrate that as disaster risks spread through the network, certain cities' structural and functional status will alter, drawing attention to these changes as a means of enhancing network resilience. For instance, some cities and network paths will have much less connectedness and as a result, these cities should improve their own preparedness during the latent phase of disasters and recovery capacity during the mitigation phase. Certain cities and paths have an absorptive capability during the risk outbreak period that helps keep the city network operating as intended. This research offered a fresh look at the theory and methodology of city network resilience assessment that considers disaster risk transmission. It concentrated on the real requirements for the development of regional network security. By examining and altering the interactions between cities, the suggested framework can contribute to making city networks more resilient.

  • Theory Discussion
    CHEN Mingxing, TANG Shujuan, LU Dadao, CHEN Liangkan, XIAN Yue
    PROGRESS IN GEOGRAPHY. 2024, 43(12): 2327-2336. https://doi.org/10.18306/dlkxjz.2024.12.001

    Space is a fundamental concept in geography and the traditions of geographical thought. With the continuous advancement of the information technology revolution, our understanding of space is also evolving, leading to the emergence of the concept of the space of flows. This concept has become a new perspective for understanding globalization, global cities, and the spatial organization of socioeconomic activities in the new era. This article reviewed and analyzed the proposition, evolution of the connotation, and expansion in the field of geography of the concept of space of flows. Through application cases at four different geographical scales—global, national, city, and individual—the article demonstrated the unique explanatory power of the space of flows in understanding real-world problems. The space of flows transcends the limitations of the space of places, emphasizing the importance of various "flows" in the spatial organization of urban systems and socioeconomic activities. It explores new epistemological and methodological innovations in understanding space, which is significantly essential for modern geography's innovative development. It also contributes to promoting the interdisciplinary integration of geographical science in the new era.

  • Special Column: Regional and Urban Spatial Reconstruction under the Influence of Flows
    ZHANG Yang, YANG Chengchao, WANG Xingping, ZHANG Guangxia, LI Juan
    PROGRESS IN GEOGRAPHY. 2025, 44(1): 34-48. https://doi.org/10.18306/dlkxjz.2025.01.003

    As China's economic and trade cooperation with Southeast Asia and other regions becomes increasingly close, accelerating the construction of the new western land-sea corridor and enhancing the quality and efficiency of logistics development is of great significance for promoting economic development and high-level opening-up in the inland areas of western China. This study focused on 30 urban units within the core coverage area of the new western land-sea corridor. Based on long-term statistical data, it employed the back propagation (BP) neural network model to predict the railway and highway freight volumes of each city after the completion of the main corridor. An improved gravity model was used to simulate the freight connections between cities under future corridor capacity conditions. Additionally, social network analysis was applied to compare the railway and highway logistics network structures before and after the completion of the corridor. The results indicate that: 1) The construction of the new western land-sea corridor helps reduce the railway and highway distances between cities in the core coverage area, increasing the total freight volume of each city. 2) Upon completion of the corridor, logistics connections between seaports and landports, such as Fangchenggang and Kunming facing Southeast Asia, and cities such as Chongqing and various provincial capitals, will be significantly strengthened. This will also promote the flow of goods to prefecture-level cities, leading to a hierarchical and integrated development pattern in the logistics network. 3) In terms of the distance reduction effect, changes in freight volume, and shifts in logistics network structure, the construction of the corridor has a stronger impact on the railway logistics network compared to the highway network. By comparing the changes in land logistics network patterns before and after the construction of the corridor, this study provides scientific insights for optimizing corridor layout, upgrading logistics networks, and promoting high-quality regional economic development.

  • Articles
    Aihemaiti NAMAITI, ZENG Suiping, Tusunayi TUERHONG, ZENG Jian
    PROGRESS IN GEOGRAPHY. 2025, 44(1): 199-210. https://doi.org/10.18306/dlkxjz.2025.01.015

    Exploring the impact of urban morphology on the thermal environment is crucial for implementing sustainable urban planning and improving thermal conditions of cities. However, current research on the multiscale analysis of the heterogeneity in urban morphology's thermal environmental effects at the community scale is still insufficient, and the process of effectively integrating research findings into urban planning and management practices also faces numerous challenges. This study focused on the Nankai District, a typical high-density urban area in Tianjin Municipality, and used the building vector data and Landsat 8 remote sensing imagery to quantify urban morphology and land surface temperatures during the summer at the community scale. It integrated the multiscale geographically weighted regression and K-means clustering methods to investigate the spatial heterogeneity of urban morphology's impact on land surface temperatures and to perform cluster zoning. The results revealed that: 1) The summer land surface temperatures in Nankai District exhibited a high in the north and low in the south distribution with significant spatial autocorrelation, forming high-high and low-low aggregation patterns. 2) The multiscale geographically weighted regression model significantly outperformed ordinary least squares and geographically weighted regression models in fitting and explaining the relationship between urban morphology and land surface temperatures. 3) The impact of urban morphology factors on summer land surface temperatures showed multiscale spatial heterogeneity, with influences ranking from highest to lowest as follows: building density > normalized difference vegetation index > floor area ratio > building volume density, where building density and building volume density contributed to higher temperatures, whereas the normalized difference vegetation index and floor area ratio had a notable cooling effect. 4) Clustering based on the spatial heterogeneity of urban morphology indicators affecting summer land surface temperatures allowed the study area to be divided into three distinct regions, which enabled the formulation of differentiated planning strategies. The findings of this study provide a basis for optimizing community thermal environments. Moreover, effectively integrating multiscale geographically weighted regression and K-means clustering methods offers new perspectives and methodological frameworks for urban thermal environment research and related fields.

  • Reviews
    A Rongna, WANG Longjie, WANG Xueji, SUN Jiuxia
    PROGRESS IN GEOGRAPHY. 2024, 43(12): 2352-2364. https://doi.org/10.18306/dlkxjz.2024.12.003

    Rhythmmanalysis, as an important theory in geographic research, has received extensive attention in the international academic community, but has not yet been fully emphasized in the Chinese academic community. This article first defined the connotation of Henri Lefebvre's concept of rhythm, and explained the theoretical connotation and inner connection of polyrhytmia, arrhythmia, eurhythmia, dressage, and isorhythmia in the theory of rhythm analysis; second, it systematically reviewed the rhythm research of the international geography community in the dimensions of the subject, the place, and the mobility. The article further discussed the deep insight of rhythm analysis in understanding the interactions between human activities and geographical space. Third, the article explored two theoretical perspectives of rhythm analysis—a localized time and a temporalized place—and explained the differences and connections between them in terms of research focus. Ultimately, rhythmanalysis, as a humanistic research method, pays attention to the comprehensive development of individuals, offering new theoretical perspectives and research methodologies for issues such as life rhythm, cultural rhythm, and ecological rhythm within the context of contemporary China. The article posits that the localization and modernization of the theory of rhythm analysis will provide a scientific guidance for the theoretical innovation of human geography practice in China, and is of great significance for promoting the sustainable development of society and the comprehensive development of human beings.

  • Articles
    DING Cunzhen, JI Xiangyu
    PROGRESS IN GEOGRAPHY. 2025, 44(1): 103-116. https://doi.org/10.18306/dlkxjz.2025.01.008

    The world is currently experiencing unprecedented changes, with frequent geopolitical conflicts, major public health incidents, extreme natural hazards and disasters, and other emergencies. The risks of the global grain supply chain are becoming increasingly prominent, and enhancing the resilience of the global grain supply chain has become a fundamental way to ensure the security and stability of the global grain supply chain. This study measured the resilience of international grain supply chains by identifying multidimensional supply chain network resilience measurement indicators based on the perspective of complex network. The characteristics of change of resilience and node anti-interference ability were analyzed. The results show that: 1) The global supply chains of rice and corn have a higher level of resilience, followed by the global supply chain of wheat, and the global supply chain of soybean has the lowest level of resilience. 2) The global supply chain networks of the four types of grain products are all resilient networks with fast recovery capacity and adaptability and their resilience levels have all improved. However, there are differences in their improvement levels, with soybeans, rice, wheat, and corn in descending order. 3) In the global supply chain network of the four types of grain products, China's anti-interference level is higher than the world average, but lower than the United States, and the anti-interference level of wheat and corn needs to be improved. The results of this study have important practical and theoretical significance for clarifying the resilience level and characteristics of change of the global grain supply chain, which may help enhance China's position and anti-interference ability in the global grain supply chain network.

  • Special Column: Regional and Urban Spatial Reconstruction under the Influence of Flows
    CAO Xianzhong, LYU Lei
    PROGRESS IN GEOGRAPHY. 2025, 44(1): 1-16. https://doi.org/10.18306/dlkxjz.2025.01.001

    With the rapid development of the digital economy, it is of great significance to explore the impact of digital technology innovation networks on regional economic resilience. Taking 41 cities in the Yangtze River Delta as the example, this study used the data of digital technology innovation cooperation patents and economic and social development from 2010 to 2021, and the social network analysis method and economic resilience measurement index, to describe the temporal and spatial change characteristics of digital technology innovation networks and economic resilience in cities in the Yangtze River Delta, and empirically test the influence of the structural characteristics of digital technology innovation networks on urban economic resilience. The results show that: 1) The cooperation degree of digital technology innovation in the Yangtze River Delta was constantly increasing, and it has gradually evolved into a core-periphery structure and a cohesive subgroup structure. The economic resilience of the cities in the Yangtze River Delta has been steadily increasing through the study period, but the spatial differences were gradually increasing. 2) Degree centrality and closeness centrality of digital technology innovation networks in Yangtze River Delta cities had a significant positive effect on the promotion of urban economic resilience, while betweenness centrality had a negative impact on economic resilience. Robustness test also showed that this conclusion is valid. 3) Compared with the central cities, the digital technology innovation network in peripheral cities had a greater impact on their economic resilience, and the degree of intermediary centrality was more significant, which was quite different from that in core cities. This study is useful for clarifying the relationship between digital technology innovation networks and economic resilience, and exploring the path to enhance regional economic resilience.

  • Special Column: Regional and Urban Spatial Reconstruction under the Influence of Flows
    SHAN Zhuoran, XU Miao, YUAN Man
    PROGRESS IN GEOGRAPHY. 2025, 44(1): 17-33. https://doi.org/10.18306/dlkxjz.2025.01.002

    With the in-depth development of a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation, intelligent manufacturing equipment has become an important force to promote the high-quality development of industry, and the study of its production and supply relationship is of great significance to optimize the distribution of new quality productivity.Based on the data of core enterprises and suppliers in China's intelligent manufacturing equipment industry from 2010 to 2023, this study explored the spatial change characteristics of production-supply relationships of China's intelligent manufacturing equipment industry from three dimensions: production and supply linkage, production and supply network, and production and supply cluster by Pareto analysis and k-kernel analysis. The results are as follows: 1) The number and intensity of enterprise connections were increasing, and 700-1800 km was the general distance of production and supply connection of intelligent manufacturing equipment enterprises. The pattern of intercity production and supply links evolved from the shape of dual core radiation, triangle, to bow and arrow in China, and there were similarities and differences in the dominant flow of intercity production and supply links. The strong production and supply links between enterprises gradually shifted from intracity to intercity, and the number of export-oriented cities increased rapidly. 2) For more than a decade, the structure of the intercity production and supply network of China's intelligent manufacturing equipment industry has become increasingly compact and complex. After 2015, the city hierarchy of the intercity production and supply network has moved from a "pyramid" to a flat structure. 3) The number of production and supply clusters of China's intelligent manufacturing equipment industry has increased from 21 to 29. The production and supply cluster of the Yangtze River Delta has always maintained a leading position, the production and supply clusters of the Pearl River Delta, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, and Shandong Peninsula have developed steadily, and the status of the production and supply clusters in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and the Chengdu-Chongqing region have significantly improved. The pattern of association of node cities within the clusters can be divided into five types: Single center, one core and multiple subordinates, two cores and multiple subordinates, multi-center, and low-level equilibrium, and the node association patterns within the clusters have showed spatiotemporal heterogeneity from 2010 to 2023.

  • Reviews
    WANG Hongyu, MA Liang, HUANG Yan, LIN Jian
    PROGRESS IN GEOGRAPHY. 2024, 43(12): 2365-2381. https://doi.org/10.18306/dlkxjz.2024.12.004

    With the increased rate of urbanization, health problems resulting from the distant separation of jobs and housing as well as increased reliance on motorized travel have become increasingly prominent. As a healthy and sustainable mode of transportation, active travel holds significant positive potential for achieving the peak emission and carbon neutrality goals and realizing the Healthy China strategy. The impact of active travel on residents' physical health has garnered significant interest among scholars in geography, transportation, and urban planning. However, research on its impact on psychological health and well-being is still in an early stage. This study aimed to contribute to this area by providing a systematic summary of the empirical effects surrounding the relationship between urban active travel and psychological health and well-being, drawing on relevant journal publications in China and internationally. The results of our review show that the majority of the studies have confirmed the positive impacts of active travel on psychological health and well-being. However, these impacts were also moderated by personal and spatial factors, resulting in heterogeneity. Furthermore, this study found that the impact path of active travel on psychological health and well-being is complex, involving the joint action of multiple direct and indirect factors. The main action paths include: the direct effect of intrinsic characteristics, the mediation effect of individual physiological functions, the moderating effect of the physical environment, and the mediation effect of the social environment. In addition, psychological health and well-being can also have a feedback effect on active travel behaviors by influencing travel willingness. Finally, based on the current status of the research conducted, this article also put forward relevant recommendations for improvement, especially to provide new ideas for conducting similar research in China. These findings offer insights for promoting active travel through policy measures and urban planning strategies, and facilitating the research and development of healthy cities in China.

  • Articles
    ZHAO Meifeng, YAN Qijiao, YANG Zhen, LI Junjia
    PROGRESS IN GEOGRAPHY. 2024, 43(12): 2395-2412. https://doi.org/10.18306/dlkxjz.2024.12.006

    Nearby urbanization is a new urbanization development path relative to remote urbanization, which refers to the process in which the rural population migrates to small and medium-sized cities and towns near their home areas for employment and residence rather than to distant places. Under the background of new-type urbanization, the regional difference of nearby urbanization constitutes a significant part of China's overall regional urbanization disparities, and it will profoundly affect China's urbanization process and the coordinated development of the economy and society. In this study, we used Theil index nested decomposition and the spatial Markov chain model to analyze the overall difference and decomposition of China's nearby urbanization development, and describe the regional convergence pattern of China's nearby urbanization development in detail, focusing on the impact of spatial effects on the nearby urbanization. The results show that: 1) From 2000 to 2020, the overall difference of nearby urbanization level in China showed a trend of continuous narrowing, consistent with the gradual narrowing of the development direction of the country's regional nearby urbanization gap. The overall difference of the urbanization rate within provinces was the largest, followed by the urbanization rate within counties, and the urbanization rate within towns was the smallest. 2) From the perspective of scale decomposition, local urbanization and its three subtypes (provincial urbanization, county urbanization, and town urbanization) showed the largest differences within provinces. By comparing the inter-provincial differences in the four regions, the western region had the largest inter-provincial differences, while the other regions showed relatively small differences. Comparing the intra-provincial differences of the four regions, the differences in the western and central provinces were large, while the differences in the eastern and northeastern provinces were small. 3) With regard to convergence patterns, there were spatial convergence clubs for nearby urbanization and its decompostions in China. The development of nearby urbanization in China showed obvious spatial linkage effect with the surrounding environment, and there was a certain spatial spillover effect. The results imply that the regional inequality of nearby urbanization in China follows the neoclassical convergence hypothesis and will narrow in the long term. Overall, the regional inequality of nearby urbanization in China from 2000 to 2020 stemmed mainly from inter-provincial inequality, especially in the central and western regions. With the improvement of the development level and radiation capacity of central cities in central and western China, we should strengthen support for the economic development of secondary regional node cities and improvement of public service facilities in small towns. This study provides a scientific support for comprehensively grasping the regional differences of urbanization in China and scientifically formulating the strategic measures of differentiated urbanization.

  • Reviews
    SUN Jun, LI Qiuying, YANG Yuling, XIAO Yiting, HE Fengyan, HE Wen
    PROGRESS IN GEOGRAPHY. 2025, 44(3): 429-444. https://doi.org/10.18306/dlkxjz.2025.03.001

    In view of the fact that there is no systematic summary of recent studies on the history of geography in China except in some selected fields, based on a literature review and the change of thoughts in research on the history of science, this study examined the major progress of recent research on the history of geography and related works in China, and discussed the issues that deserve further attention in the future. The literature review found that: 1) The history of geography is an independent academic field in Chinese geography, characterized by fruitful research results, wide field coverage, and stable research groups. 2) The system of the field has been tentatively constructed, forming a research system that covers disciplinary history, intellectual history, social history, and research on compiling history, which largely corresponds to the research field of the history of science. 3) There are many thoughts in the study of the history of geography, which largely aligns with the main trends of contemporary history of science. However, due to insufficient reference to the new trends in the history of science such as the social history of knowledge, contextualism, conceptual history, and reading history, there are only few research achievements under the recent trends of geographical thoughts. 4) The spatial scope, subfields, and subjects of the research objects are different, mainly reflected in the focus on the study of the history of Chinese geography, and studies on the history of cartography and modern historical geography in China, famous geographical research institutions, societies, and scholars in contemporary China have made fruitful achievements. In contrast, the corresponding research on other spatial scopes, sub-areas, and subjects is weaker. 5) Specialized research on the history of Chinese geography has focused on the ancient period, with a gradual emergence of the modern period, and modern and contemporary research is mainly a review of progress and a synthesis of the literature. The main issues worthy of attention in future research include: 1) Focusing on weak areas of research, and presenting a more comprehensive development trajectory of Chinese geography, especially the disciplinary history in the last hundred years. 2) Strengthening the reference to the trends of the social history of knowledge, contextualism, conceptual history, and reading history, and paying more attention to research on the history of geography under modern and contemporary geographical thoughts. 3) Paying attention to the interpretation of the social value of the history of modern and contemporary Chinese geography and expanding the societal cognition of geography. 4) Emphasizing dialogue with international research and enhancing the international discourse of research on the history of Chinese geography.

  • Articles
    CUI Yanjuan, LI Xianglin, LIU Yan, ZHANG Tingting
    PROGRESS IN GEOGRAPHY. 2025, 44(1): 144-156. https://doi.org/10.18306/dlkxjz.2025.01.011

    Green finance is also called environmental finance or sustainability finance. As an important kind of financial development, green finance focuses on the win-win situation between the environment and economic growth by supporting the environmental protection industry. On the other hand, the green low-carbon transformation development can form diversified green capital needs, which will induce financial institutions to adjust products and services structure, innovate green finance service models and application scenarios with ecological concepts, and this will promote the development of green finance. Therefore, the concept and practice of green financial development and green low-carbon transformation are highly consistent, and there is an inherent logic of coordination and mutual promotion. However, there is limited literature on the coupling and coordination relationship between green financial development and green low-carbon transformation, and the research on influencing factors needs more in-depth discussions. To reveal the status of coupling and coordination between green financial development and green low-carbon transformation, this study used the entropy method to measure the level of green financial development and green low-carbon transformation, and introduced the coupling and coordination degree model, geodetector, and ArcGIS technology to explore the spatial and temporal variation characteristics and influencing factors of coupling and coordination between green financial development and green low-carbon transformation based on the data of Hunan Province from 2013 to 2021. The results show that the coupling and coordination degree between green financial development and green low-carbon transformation in Hunan Province was on the rise year by year, and continued to improve over time. The status was transiting to a coordinated stage step by step. The coupling and coordination degree in various regions showed a relatively consistent trend with the entire province. The coupling and coordination degree exhibited spatial agglomeration characteristics and presented a green development pattern radiating from Changsha City to the surrounding areas. The spatial differentiation of the coupling and coordination degree was obvious, greater in the eastern region than the western region, and in the northern region than the southern region. However, the growth speed in the western and southern regions was higher than that in the eastern and northern regions. The geodetector test results show that the coupling and coordination degree was influenced by factors of economic development, financial development scale, green R&D investment, digital infrastructure, and regional openness. Among them, the explanatory power of green R&D investment and financial development scale was greater than other factors, and both of them were the driving factors for the coupling and coordination between green financial development and green low-carbon transformation. The research may enable governments to clearly understand the integrated pattern of green financial development and green low-carbon transformation, so as to provide a decision-making reference for the integrated development of green financial development and green low-carbon transformation, and a reliable theoretical basis for cultivating new quality productivity according to local conditions to promote high-quality development.

  • Reviews
    WU Junbo, LUO Zhendong, QIAO Yibo
    PROGRESS IN GEOGRAPHY. 2025, 44(1): 88-102. https://doi.org/10.18306/dlkxjz.2025.01.007

    The economic space of urban-rural interface is an important topic that has long been concerned by geography, sociology, urban and rural planning, and other disciplines. This study adopted a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods: we read the classic literature to examine the research lineage; and we downloaded the Chinese and English publications from China National Knowledge Infrastructure and the Web of Science databases and quantitatively analyzed the data by using the CiteSpace 6.26 software, which was used as supporting evidence for the division of the research phases. This study examined the three stages of international research related to the economic space of the urban-rural interface: the emergence of early exploration in Europe and the United States, the development of attention to less developed regions, and the emergence of the post-industrial era. Then it examined the three stages of Chinese research: the reference of foreign theories at the beginning of urbanization, the concern of real problems during the acceleration of urbanization, and the exploration of multiple values in the middle and late stages of urbanization. It also concluded that the economic space of the urban-rural interface presents three characteristics: inclusive mixing of economic types, dynamic fragmentation of morphological evolution, and dualistic coexistence of economic dynamics. There are two paths in the evolution of economic space in the urban-rural interface: one is led by top-down forces, showing the path of peri-urban agriculture-centralized large-scale industry-high-tech industry; the other is driven by bottom-up forces, showing the path of peri-urban agriculture-township industry in the early stage, and then different branches with regional differences in the later stage. Urbanization is the fundamental driving force for the economic space evolution of the urban-rural interface; technological factors are the core factors for this evolution; and the government, the market, and the society all play a key role in the change. Based on the above review, we proposed four directions for future research on the economic space of the urban-rural interface in terms of scale and regional differences, post-industrial characteristics, cross-border network characteristics, and governance guidance.

  • Articles
    LI Bo, WANG Yiwen, LI Xinyuan, SUN Si
    PROGRESS IN GEOGRAPHY. 2024, 43(12): 2457-2469. https://doi.org/10.18306/dlkxjz.2024.12.010

    Resilience is a hot topic in global change and environment and development research, providing a new research framework and practical analytical tool for regional sustainable development studies. This study combined the human-sea regional system with resilience to construct a theoretical framework for the resilience of the human-sea regional system. It integrated internal factors and external disturbances, obtained multi-source data, combined hierarchical analysis, kernel density analysis, and GIS spatial analysis methods to construct an indicator system, and used exploratory data analysis (ESDA) methods to analyze the spatiotemporal change of resilience and the characteristics of land-sea gradient. The main results are as follows: 1) The resilience of the human-sea regional system in Dalian City presents a spatial distribution characteristic of low in the middle and high in the south and north, and low along the coast and high inland, and it increases year by year. The coastal and inland regions exhibit distinct regional differences. 2) The resilience of the system has a spreading effect, with new hot spots sporadically appearing around the continuous hot spots. 3) The resilience of the system has clear land-sea gradient characteristics. The resilience of each criterion layer is ranked in descending order as the resilience of the ecological environment, the resilience to climate change, the resilience of the resources as well as the resilience of human activities; overall resilience presents the gradient characteristic of the further away from the sea, the higher the resilience level. Therefore, the resilience regulation of coastal cities can be combined with the characteristics of the land and sea gradient for detailed governance at the micro level, and improve the level of development of the marine economy at the macro level by developing a low-carbon economy, and formulate a blueprint for the development of a blue-carbon economy.

  • Reviews
    YANG Qingyuan, SUN Zhaohui, WANG Di, LU Jiyi, YANG Renhao
    PROGRESS IN GEOGRAPHY. 2025, 44(4): 657-669. https://doi.org/10.18306/dlkxjz.2025.04.001

    With the ongoing advancement of digital technology and its application in rural areas, "digital village" has become one of the focal points in the field of geography. This study provided a definition and connotation of "digital village" based on a summary and analysis of existing literature. It reviewed the frontiers of research in China and internationally and offered a comparison from the perspective of knowledge production. The findings include: 1) In China, research predominantly focuses on normative studies aimed at addressing real-world issues in rural development and promoting policy optimization. The construction of digital village is seen as a means to facilitate high-quality rural development, with a concentration on how to leverage digital village initiatives to support rural revitalization and the rural restructuring resulting from the development of digital village. 2) The international studies are primarily empirical and tend to explain micro social phenomena. By examining specific issues such as the digital divide between urban and rural areas, these studies highlight various dimensions of digitization in the rural transformation process, particularly focusing on the formation of the urban-rural digital divide and its impact on coordinated urban-rural development. From a geographical perspective, future research could further address the following aspects: Re-thinking of the concept of digital village from the perspective of human-environment relationship, quantitative measurement of the urban-rural digital divide from a multi-spatial scale perspective, examination of digital village from the micro-actor perspective, and investigation of the positive and negative externalities of digital village construction based on a comprehensive research paradigm in geography.

  • Articles
    HU Jing, OUYANG Chenxing, LI Yajuan
    PROGRESS IN GEOGRAPHY. 2025, 44(2): 373-389. https://doi.org/10.18306/dlkxjz.2025.02.012

    Festival tourism strengthens the modern construction of ethnic festivals. This article started from the perspective of modernity, examined the translation thinking of actor network theory, and used field research data and spatial analysis to clarify the culture reconstruction processes, characteristics, and logic of Daughter's Festival. The results show that: 1) The cultural reconstruction modes of Daughter's Festival driven by tourism have typical modernity practice characteristics, and they can be divided into three different types: "local" based on their original place, and "remote" and "mobile" based on the city. The culture reconstruction processes and characteristics of different modes present typical heterogeneity. 2) The three types of modernity practices in ethnic festivals have undergone a series of processes such as interest granting, alliance absorption, and action mobilization of modern actant, presenting a cultural reconstruction in terms of material, institutional, and spiritual dimensions. 3) Three different modes of festival respectively show different modernity practice characteristics, including the continuation of life by "eliminating" out of norms, the traditions' return of "following" subjectivity, and individuality presentation of "tending" romanticism. 4) Under the dynamics of modernity, including spatiotemporal separation, disembedding, and knowledge reflection, the physical space, festival rules, festival functions, and meanings of ethnic festivals have been updated and reshaped, and there are differences in the cultural reconstruction logic between rural and urban areas. This research can provide theoretical and empirical references for understanding the relationship between modernity and cultural reconstruction, modernity and locality, and solving problems such as the traditional culture inheritance in the context of modernity.

  • Reviews
    CAO Guangzhong, HU Mingfeng, LIU Tao
    PROGRESS IN GEOGRAPHY. 2025, 44(1): 77-87. https://doi.org/10.18306/dlkxjz.2025.01.006

    In the context of China's rapid urbanization, the migration of ethnic minority population is becoming increasingly more active, and has become an important component of China's migration groups, which has attracted widespread attention. This article reviewed the existing studies from the perspective of geography, which is conducive to enhancing interdisciplinary dialogue and expanding the research direction of ethnic minority population migration in China. Based on the reality of ethnic minority migration in China, this study incorporated the relevant migration theories on the basis of Chinese ethnicity theories, and established a macro-micro analytical framework. The study found that the migration of ethnic minority population has entered an active period, and the overall pattern of migration was from rural to urban areas, mainly within the provinces and across provinces from west to east; China's ethnic minority migration was also affected by factors that are common for the overall migration of the country, including ethnic minority languages, specific cultural practices, and co-ethnic network connections. Other factors related to ethnic culture also played an important role, but existing studies are weak in examining the mechanism of cultural factors; Ethnic minority migration in China not only promotes urbanization but also facilitates a wide range of interaction, communication, and integration among all ethnic groups, and its impact on urban-rural integration and the protection and revitalization of ethnic villages in ethnic minority areas requires the joint attention of different disciplines. Looking forward to future research, the study can be expanded in terms of the dispersal pattern and characteristics of change of ethnic minority migrants in urban scale hierarchies, the examination of the role of cultural factors in whether and how to migrate, and the effects of migration on the development of urban-rural transformation in ethnic minority areas and on ethnic minority individuals, respectively.

  • Articles
    XU Xiuchuan, WANG Haoli, WU Yande, HUANG Qinghua, TU Jianjun, LI Yuechen, LUO Chaoping
    PROGRESS IN GEOGRAPHY. 2025, 44(4): 699-715. https://doi.org/10.18306/dlkxjz.2025.04.004

    Based on the agricultural product e-commerce data of Taobao and Jingdong from 2012 to 2022, this study analyzed the development trend and spatial distribution pattern of China's agricultural product e-commerce industry by using kernel density analysis, average nearest neighbor index, and standard deviation ellipse. It also explored the driving factors and formation mechanisms by using multiscale geographically weighted regression in combination with the macro economic data of prefectural-level cities. The results of the study show that: 1) The spatial distribution pattern of agricultural product e-commerce industry is highly consistent with China's human and natural geographic factors, and shows the characteristics of regional agglomeration. 2) The spatial direction of industrial development shows a pattern of northeast-south (slightly eastward), forming a multicore circular structure with gradient diffusion from the center to the periphery, and the change and layout of the industry show a dependency on the established development path, presenting an unbalanced spatial distribution. 3) There is an obvious spatial heterogeneity in the driving effects of various factors for the agricultural product e-commerce industry, and there is a general tendency for the driving role of industrial structure factors, economic and social development factors, market potential factors, and government support factors to gradually decrease from east to west, and the driving role of infrastructure factors shows a tendency of gradual decrease from south to north. Based on the above conclusions, this article put forward the following policy recommendations: 1) Each region should primarily focus on exploring the market and stabilize the relationship between production and marketing for the development of agricultural product e-commerce. 2) The positive role of policy guidance should be further utilized to provide more positive externality inputs for the development of e-commerce in the western region. 3) Infrastructure development of agricultural products logistics should be further strengthened. 4) In the development of the industry, different regions need to take into account their own actual situation and implement targeted measures to avoid wasting resources.

  • Reviews
    ZHU Lidong, WANG Ji, YU Ruifei, LI Fengquan, YOU Yijing, LU Haixin
    PROGRESS IN GEOGRAPHY. 2025, 44(2): 211-225. https://doi.org/10.18306/dlkxjz.2025.02.001

    Continental chemical weathering is one of the key processes shaping the Earth's surface morphology, influencing the global material cycle and regulating the global climate. Effectively tracing surface weathering processes has consistently been a focal point within geosciences. Lithium and its isotopes, distinguished by their unique chemical properties, exhibit great potential in tracing continental silicate weathering. This article systematically reviewed the literature and analyzed the fractionation behavior and patterns of lithium isotopes during chemical weathering processes in experimental simulations, weathering profiles, and at the watershed scales. Based on this analysis, the following insights are obtained: 1) The continental weathering process in surface environments is complex, exhibiting a nonlinear relationship between chemical weathering intensity and the δ7Li value. 2) Integrative studies of published data indicate that the relationship between the δ7Li values of weathered materials and lithium content in highly weathered regions exhibits two patterns (The variation in Li content is limited, yet the δ7Li values exhibit significant differentiation; conversely, there is a certain degree of variation in Li content when the differentiation of δ7Li values is limited), with the underlying causes requiring further investigation. 3) The red earth region in southern China is an ideal area for weathering research, showing potential in exploring the mechanisms and patterns of lithium isotope fractionation. This article argues that there are still issues in using lithium isotopes as a tracer for chemical weathering, such as insufficient quantitative studies of complex processes, limited multi-scale integrated research, unclear mechanisms of lithium isotopes in highly weathered products, and the lack of a global weathering estimation model. Future efforts should focus on enhancing laboratory simulations, empirical studies, and multi-scale integrated research to further explore the potential of lithium isotope mechanisms in underexplored areas and validate the effectiveness of lithium isotope tracing in chemical weathering through the combined use of multi-isotope systems.

  • Reviews
    LONG Jingran, ZHANG Yingnan, ZHANG Xubo, LI Jing
    PROGRESS IN GEOGRAPHY. 2025, 44(4): 670-683. https://doi.org/10.18306/dlkxjz.2025.04.002

    Nature-based solutions (NbS) represent an efficient approach to utilizing natural resources while simultaneously protecting ecosystems, addressing the social, economic, and environmental challenges we face today. Recognized internationally as a cutting-edge method for ecosystem management, NbS can be effectively applied to the restructuring of rural spaces. This approach not only mitigates the ecological and environmental crises hindering rural development, but also unlocks the potential for rural growth, fostering comprehensive revitalization of rural areas. This study outlined the conceptual evolution of NbS, and explored the conceptual connotation of rural spatial restructuring based on NbS from the perspectives of various stakeholders, including local governments, village committees, rural business entities, and rural residents. The analysis was structured around four dimensions: ecological space, physical space, economic space, and social space. The research systematically examined the progress in restructuring the ecological space, physical space, economic space, and social space of rural areas through NbS, focusing on ecological conservation and landscape optimization, the optimization of production and living spaces, land consolidation and agricultural transformation, the commodification of natural landscapes, and balancing the needs and expectations of different stakeholders. The study concluded by suggesting future research directions, emphasizing the localization of NbS concepts, the establishment of multi-sectoral collaborative mechanisms, optimization strategies for resource and capital allocation, phased assessments of socioeconomic impacts, and the application of quantitative methods to measure socioeconomic benefits.

  • Articles
    WEN Ding, XU Li, WANG Chunyan, ZENG Jiaji, HE Nianpeng
    PROGRESS IN GEOGRAPHY. 2024, 43(12): 2520-2529. https://doi.org/10.18306/dlkxjz.2024.12.015

    Urban afforestation has been a significant artificial forestation approach in China. In theory, it serves as a crucial sink for urban carbon emissions, but it remains challenging to quantitatively assess the current status and potential of carbon sequestration of urban forest vegetation. This study, based on the biomass-age relationship in forest succession theory (FCS model), used 30-m high-resolution remote sensing imagery data and integrated IPCC climate scenario data to assess and predict the current status and potential of carbon sequestration in newly added forest vegetation in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei urban area from 1985 to 2020. The research findings indicate that the total carbon sequestration in newly added forest vegetation in the area from 1985 to 2020 is approximately 14.28 × 104 t, with Beijing urban area having the highest carbon sequestration amount of about 10.34 × 104 t, possibly due to the largest growth rate of urban forest area in Beijing. By 2060, the potential carbon sequestration of this newly added forest vegetation is expected to be close to 39.72 × 104 t, with Beijing urban area still having the highest potential of around 25.93 × 104 t. From the perspective of city or district-level administrative units, in the period from 1985 to 2020, the district with the highest carbon sequestration in newly added forest vegetation in Beijing urban area was Shijingshan District, while in Tianjin urban area it was Jizhou District, and in Hebei urban area it was Chengde City. However, carbon sequestration potential differs, with Shunyi District becoming the area with the highest potential in Beijing urban area, Jizhou District remaining the highest in Tianjin urban area, and Langfang City becoming the highest in Hebei urban area. It is evident that there are significant differences in historical carbon sequestration and future carbon sink potential among different urban areas, which also suggests that future management of urban forest carbon sinks needs to integrate the current status and potential of carbon sinks comprehensively. This study innovatively proposed an accurate assessment method for quantifying urban forest carbon sinks, and its research findings provide important references for the scientific management and optimization strategies of urban forest carbon sinks.

  • Articles
    LI Bohua, HUANG Canyin, DOU Yindi
    PROGRESS IN GEOGRAPHY. 2025, 44(2): 343-358. https://doi.org/10.18306/dlkxjz.2025.02.010

    Under the background of rapid urbanization and living heritage tourism development, traditional ethnic minority villages, as a unique geographical unit that nurtures ethnic regional cultures, have become increasingly hollowed out, showing multi-dimensional spatial change with both common and individual characteristics. Based on this phenomenon, this study took Pingtan Village of the Xiangxi Dong ethnic community in Hunan Province as an example, and applied the framework of quantitative assessment of hollowing out status quo-analysis of spatial variation of hollowing out-exploration of hollowing out formation mechanism by using index construction, qualitative research, and the institutional analysis and development (IAD) framework, to explore the status quo, spatial variation characteristics, and formation mechanism of hollowing out in Pingtan Village. The study found that: 1) From the quantitative results, the external appearance of traditional buildings in the village is still well preserved, but population hollowing out and building hollowing out are significant, and the degree of hollowing out of the new village, commercial streets, and traditional village shows the characteristics of microscopic geographic differentiation. 2) In terms of the specific features of hollowing out, residents' non-farming employment and conservative mobility have increased, the architectural space shows fragmentation of the spatial texture at the macro level and low-energy development of residential buildings at the micro level, and the cultural space faces the challenges of the loss of local representation and inheritance. 3) With regard to the hollowing formation mechanism, the hollowing out of Pingtan Village is a complex process of alienation of the village territorial spatial system driven by the macro social environment and the micro confined space, as well as by the combination of exogenous and endogenous subjects. The study aimed to explore the general patterns of the characteristics and formation mechanism of the hollowing out of traditional ethnic minority villages, to provide a scientific basis for the effective implementation of urban-rural integration and rural revitalization in the same types of micro territorial space, and to promote the survival of traditional ethnic minority villages in a living state.

  • Articles
    ZHANG Yan, WANG Huanjiong, GAO Chengxi, LIN Shaozhi, ZHOU Wencun
    PROGRESS IN GEOGRAPHY. 2024, 43(12): 2507-2519. https://doi.org/10.18306/dlkxjz.2024.12.014

    Vegetation phenology is a critical indicator reflecting the impact of climate change on ecosystems. Northeast China boasts rich vegetation types and has experienced stronger warming than the national average, thus research on its vegetation phenological responses to climate change is particularly significant for providing scientific underpinnings for ecosystem management under global change scenarios. This study used the MODIS Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) and Solar-Induced Chlorophyll Fluorescence (SIF) data from 2000 to 2020 to extract greenness and photosynthetic phenology in Northeast China. It analyzed the spatial-temporal variations of spring phenology in the region and combined meteorological data to diagnose the dominant factors that affect spring phenology across different vegetation types. The results revealed that: 1) From 2000 to 2020, the spring phenology of vegetation in Northeast China exhibited an advancing trend. Specifically, the start of growing season derived from the EVI data (SOSEVI) advanced significantly at an average rate of 0.657 days per year (P < 0.05). Similarly, the start of growing season derived from the SIF data (SOSSIF) showed a statistically significant advance at an average rate of 0.443 days per year. Spatially, 76.8% and 88.5% of the pixels displayed an advancing trend for SOSEVI and SOSSIF, respectively. 2) Among the environmental factors, spring temperature (temperature of air at 2 m above the surface) and soil moisture (volumetric soil water in the surface layer) content exerted a strong influence on the spring phenology in Northeast China. For SOSEVI, approximately 44.5% of the pixels were primarily dominated by spring temperature, while about 24.5% were governed by soil moisture content. For SOSSIF, spring temperature played a dominant role in around 61.5% of the pixels, and soil moisture content was the primary driver in about 20.0% pixels. Thus, rising spring temperatures and increased soil moisture levels were identified as the main factors driving the earlier onset of spring phenology. 3) The dominant factors influencing spring phenology varied among different vegetation types. The spring phenology of deciduous broadleaf forests was mainly affected by spring temperature, whereas the spring phenology of grassland was predominantly more sensitive to soil moisture conditions. This study disclosed the spatial-temporal patterns and dominant factors of spring phenological changes of various vegetation types in Northeast China, providing robust evidence for the understanding of climate change impacts on regional vegetation dynamics.

  • Articles
    LI Shuangshuang, HU Jialan, DUAN Shengyong
    PROGRESS IN GEOGRAPHY. 2025, 44(1): 170-184. https://doi.org/10.18306/dlkxjz.2025.01.013

    In the context of global warming, there is a higher probability of occurrence of the summertime compound hot extremes when daytime and nighttime heat sustains, which lead to the reduction of continuous precipitation and increase of precipitation with short duration and high intensity, resulting in changes of diurnal precipitation pattern at summertime in the Northern Hemisphere land area. Compared with the well-understood summer precipitation on the annual scale, current knowledge about combined daytime and nighttime precipitation remains too scarce for the Loess Plateau of China. Based on the daily precipitation and maximum temperature dataset from 1970 to 2020 released by the National Meteorological Information Center and using the empirical orthogonal function (EOF) and Mann-Kendall trend analysis method, we investigated the spatiotemporal variations of rainfall amount, days, and intensity for four types of diurnal precipitation process on the Loess Plateau in summertime (from June to August), including sunny days and rainy nighttime, hot daytime and rainy nighttime, rainfall days for diurnal composite precipitation, as well as rainy daytime and rainless nighttime. The results are as follows: 1) From 2000 to 2020, the Loess Plateau witnessed a significant increase of precipitation amount in summertime and nighttime, which had not changed the spatial pattern characterized by a decreasing gradient of precipitation from southeast to northwest. 2) Consistent with the fluctuating precipitation amount and decreased precipitation days, there was a significant increasing trend for the precipitation intensity in sunny days and rainy nighttime, rainfall days for diurnal composite precipitation, rainy daytime and rainless nighttime from 2000 to 2020, while for hot daytime and rainy nighttime the precipitation intensity maintained stable fluctuations after the 1990s. 3) Areas in the central arid zone of Ningxia, eastern part of the Hetao Plain, northern Shanxi Province, and from the Fen-Wei Plain to the Yiluo River Plain were sensitive to the variations of sunny days and rainy nighttime. However, the Earth-Rock Mountain and high-altitude regions of the southwestern Loess Plateau are sensitive to hot daytime and rainy nighttime changes. Meanwhile, we observed a high sensitivity for the variations of rainfall days for diurnal composite precipitation, as well as rainy daytime and rainless nighttime in the valley and plain areas of the southeastern part of the Loess Plateau. The findings highlight that the increased intensity of daytime precipitation and diurnal composite precipitation is changing the patterns of diurnal extreme precipitation on the Loess Plateau, inspiring to enhance the research regarding the variations and mechanism of diurnal extreme precipitation in summertime.

  • Frontier Exploration
    WEI Ye, MA Yuwei
    PROGRESS IN GEOGRAPHY. 2025, 44(5): 869-879. https://doi.org/10.18306/dlkxjz.2025.05.001

    At present, global and regional security issues are complicated and volatile, and as a frontier field of strategic games between major powers, geopolitical competition in the Asia-Pacific region has shown a multidimensional trend, and the construction of a new security pattern has become a strategic cornerstone of China's modernization and development. As the core carrying area of the "five major securities" (national defense, food, ecological, energy, and industrial securities), the Northeast region's strategic barrier function and geopolitical pivot role are irreplaceable for the country's overall security. However, there are three limitations in the existing research on the spatial practice of security governance: first, the cross-scale transmission mechanism of security elements has not yet been deconstructed, resulting in the disconnection of the governance chain of "national strategy-regional function-local practice"; second, the analysis of the coupling effect of multiple security elements is insufficient, and there is a lack of spatial interaction models based on geographic embeddedness; third, the lack of spatial and temporal refinements in risk simulation makes it difficult to support the dynamic optimization of the resilience system. In view of these, this study attempted to break through the obstacles and address deficiencies of existing studies from a geospatial perspective based on the disciplinary characteristics of geography and the geographic embeddedness of the "five major securities". On the basis of summarizing and analyzing the existing studies, this study constructed an exploratory analysis framework mainly based on core structure identification-regional dominant security function division-multiscenario and security risk simulation, and suggested that the Northeast region should comprehensively evaluate the security function system and leading role of each regional unit based on the core structure of "one side, one corridor, one network, one zone, three belts, three bases, and four channels", and simulate the security geographic spatial pattern of the Northeast region under different development scenarios and security risks from a dynamic perspective, in order to discover the dynamic changes in security service value. Finally, this study proposed optimized governance strategies focusing on the three aspects of giving full play to the regional advantages, coordinating regional development, and integrating policy objectives, so as to provide useful references for the concrete implementation of the "five major securities" in the Northeast region.

  • Special Column: Regional and Urban Spatial Reconstruction under the Influence of Flows
    MA Yuwei, HAO Feilong, WEI Ye, WANG Shijun
    PROGRESS IN GEOGRAPHY. 2025, 44(1): 49-63. https://doi.org/10.18306/dlkxjz.2025.01.004

    Functional polycentricity is a reflection of the essential attributes of urban agglomerations, and an important way to build a new urbanization pattern of division of labor and cooperation with improved functions.Based on Tencent's population movement data from 19 urban agglomerations of China, this study analyzed the spatiotemporal change characteristics of population flow networks at the national and regional scales and functional polycentricity in urban agglomerations, and further explored the influencing factors of functional polycentricity. The results show that: 1) The regional functional polycentricity index of urban agglomerations of China as a whole is larger than the national functional polycentricity index and evolves toward stronger polycentricity, and there is a large gap between the national and regional functional polycentricity indices of the three types of urban agglomerations. 2) The regional functional polycentricity index of most urban agglomerations is larger than the national functional polycentricity index, which is in line with the general pattern that the larger the scale, the smaller the polycentricity index. The functional polycentricity type of each urban agglomeration is stable, but the direction of change differs. There is no obvious relationship between the functional polycentricity type of urban agglomerations and the type of urban agglomerations' development, and the type of urban agglomerations' functional polycentricity shows complexity. 3) The increase in GDP per capita reduces the national functional polycentricity index and shows a "U"-shaped correlation with the regional functional polycentricity index. The increase in the ratio of the total value of the secondary and tertiary industries promotes the increase of the national functional polycentricity index, and the increase in the size of the resident population and the decrease in the proportion of Internet users promotes the increase of the regional functional polycentricity index. The results of this study can provide relevant references for the development strategy of the spatial structure of urban agglomerations.

  • Special Column: Regional and Urban Spatial Reconstruction under the Influence of Flows
    ZHOU Ying, ZHENG Wensheng, WANG Xiaofang
    PROGRESS IN GEOGRAPHY. 2025, 44(1): 64-76. https://doi.org/10.18306/dlkxjz.2025.01.005

    Under the background of globalization, informatization, industrialization, and urbanization, the hierarchical structure of China's urban system and its flow networks are intertwined and interact with each other. Based on the improved gravitational field model and the spatial econometric model, this study analyzed the economic efficiency of the Wuhan metropolitan area under the interaction of urban hierarchy and population flow (hierarchy-flow). The study found that the economic performance of cities and towns in the Wuhan metropolitan area showed a significant center-periphery pattern, and the Wuhan-Ezhou-Huangshi-Huanggang axis of economic efficiency is initially formed. The total economic volume of cities and towns grew super-linearly with the increase of urban population scale, but the gap between them tended to narrow. Population flows across scales promoted the growth of urban economic efficiency, and there was heterogeneity in the effects of different dimensions of urban hierarchies on urban economic efficiency. The influence of scale hierarchy on urban economic efficiency was negative, while increased population flows to large cities reduced scale diseconomies. Functional hierarchies contributed to the economic efficiency of cities and towns, and they further promoted agglomeration economies through cross-scale population flow. The administrative hierarchy promoted efficient economic growth in cities and towns, and growth in the scale of urban mobility at high administrative tiers promoted hierarchical diffusion. The interaction of hierarchy-flow expands the research perspectives of urban economic growth, deepens the understanding of the mechanism of high-efficiency growth of cities with different hierarchies, and lays the foundation for the coordinated and high-efficiency development of urban economy in metropolitan areas.

  • Original article
    YIN Zhenxuan, WANG De, ZHAI Baoxin, ZHANG Tianran, YAN Longxu
    PROGRESS IN GEOGRAPHY. 2025, 44(3): 583-593. https://doi.org/10.18306/dlkxjz.2025.03.011

    Mobile phone signaling data have been widely used in spatiotemporal behavior research, but their potential application in urban planning is limited due to the lack of information on activity purposes. To address this issue, this study proposed a method to infer the purposes of non-work activities from mobile phone signaling data. The method integrates multisource data, and employs a multinomial logit model to explore the relationship between activity purposes and individual attributes, temporal characteristics, and spatial properties of activities. The key innovation lies in the introduction of a location visit frequency variable that reflects long-term behavioral patterns. Empirical results show that incorporating visit frequency significantly improves the model's goodness of fit from 0.265 to 0.442, and increases the overall prediction accuracy from 58.0% to 69.2%. While maintaining interpretability, this method substantially enhances the accuracy of non-work activity identification, providing new insights into residents' spatiotemporal behavior patterns. The findings offer valuable data support and decision-making references for public facility planning, traffic demand forecasting, and business spatial layout optimization.

  • Original article
    HUANG Yingmin, ZHANG Xu, ZOU Xiaohua
    PROGRESS IN GEOGRAPHY. 2025, 44(3): 492-507. https://doi.org/10.18306/dlkxjz.2025.03.005

    The burgeoning digital economy is a key driver in shaping urban and regional landscapes. The digital transformation of value chains is crucial for promoting high-quality growth in the digital creative sector. Based on the spatiotemporal production and service data of China's online gaming industry from 2010 to 2022, this study analyzed the spatial characteristics of China's online gaming industry network from the perspective of the digital creative value chain, and revealed its influencing factors using the valued Exponential Random Graph Models (ERGMs). The research findings provide several significant insights. First, the Chinese online gaming industry network features a hierarchical pyramid structure and a distinctive spatial configuration of "strong triangle" and "weak diamond". This is characterized by strong core connections and the integration of small to medium-sized cities. The network also displays path dependency and hierarchical attraction traits across cities. Second, there are distinct differences in the spatial layouts of industrial networks at different stages of the value chain. The production-operation network adopts a triangle + diamond configuration, while the operation-publishing network shifts to a radial structure centered around the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. Last, the network can be influenced by factors such as administrative hierarchy, the growing new economy, institutional and social proximity, and contagion effects. It is important to recognize that these factors can vary across different developmental phases and segments of the value chain. This study contributes to the academic discussion by providing a strong theoretical framework and empirical evidence for analyzing urban networks in the digital era. It also offers strategic insights for the optimized allocation of the digital creative industry, promoting synergistic interactions, and facilitating the evolution and enhancement of value chains.