This paper discusses whether urban agglomeration can promote urban growth from the perspective of network externalities. Although agglomeration externalities play an important role in promoting regional development, improved accessibility makes urban network externalities an influential force in reshaping regional economic growth. This paper identifies the urban network based on the data of train frequency and travel time data among 271 cities in China. Then, the spatial Durbin model is used to investigate the effect of urban agglomeration on economic growth from the perspective of urban network externalities. The results demonstrate that there are significant network externalities among cities in China, which play a pivotal role in boosting urban growth. Interactions among cities produce cross-regional spillovers, causing network externalities to no longer be dependent on geographical proximity. This is significantly different from agglomeration externalities that are limited to a certain regional scale. As the scope of the urban network expands, network externalities become more pronounced. Different regional characteristics all lead to heterogeneous results of network externalities. The construction of high-speed railways, as well as the well-developed urban network system, strengthen the positive impact of network externalities. Smaller cities benefit more from higher-level urban networks than regional networks.

Based on the panel data of 278 cities in China from 2010–2019, this paper uses the spatial Durbin model to investigate the effect of urban agglomeration on urban economic development under the distance factor. The results show that the impact of urban agglomeration on urban development is sensitive to geographic distance. A moderate geospatial scale can help cities overcome scale deficiencies and the problem of overcrowding. The spillover effect of urban agglomeration is no longer limited to geographical proximity, showing an inverted U-shaped curve with the expansion of distance. It also exhibits heterogeneity across different regions, and integrated development reinforces the positive impact of agglomeration spillovers. The economic distance moderation effect and the core-periphery structure suggest that the direction of spatial interaction is more reflected between high-ranking cites and low-ranking cities, while cities with similar development levels show competitive effects. Specialized agglomeration and diversified agglomeration have differential influences on urban growth. From the perspective of network externalities, the spillover effect of urban agglomeration increases significantly with the expansion of spatial scale, which is distinct from the results using geographical distance.

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