Polycentric urban development and urban amenities: Evidence from Chinese cities

Abstract

The recent literature on the “consumer city” and the “love of variety” argues that the provision of urban amenities makes a city more attractive. Meanwhile, polycentric urban development has been highlighted by academics and policymakers as a sustainable urban development regime, although its purported benefits need to be further investigated. Against this background, this paper empirically examines the relationship between polycentricity and the provision of urban amenities in 309 Chinese cities. After controlling for the size, population density, wage, and human capital, this paper finds that a higher degree of intra-urban polycentricity is associated with a larger number of urban amenities. Additionally, when all the covariates above are held, a higher degree of intra-urban polycentricity is associated with a greater diversity of urban amenities. Robust checks show that these findings are consistent with different polycentricity indices and diversity measures. Finally, possible explanations of the relationship between intra-urban polycentricity and urban amenities are provided from both the producer and consumer perspectives.

Built environment and early infection of COVID-19 in urban districts: A case study of Huangzhou

“…Three latent variables of perceived urban facilities are presumed to be measured by the corresponding indicators referring to h1-h10. The number of POIs is used to reflect urban vitality and commercial prosperity ( Wang, 2020 ), which often includes food services, markets, hair salons, convenience stores, public toilets, and ATM in 1000 m radius around each COVID-19 cluster ( Mitchell & Bendixson, 2015 ). Each commercial POI is the possible venue where people are gathering with close exposures and contacts in daily life.…”

Advances in urban informatics

“…Wang (2021) empirically examined the relationship between polycentricity and the provision of urban amenities in cities, finding that a higher degree of intra-urban polycentricity is associated with a larger number of urban amenities. Further, Wang (2021) explained such phenomena from the producer and consumer perspectives.…”

“…Wang (2021) empirically examined the relationship between polycentricity and the provision of urban amenities in cities, finding that a higher degree of intra-urban polycentricity is associated with a larger number of urban amenities. Further, Wang (2021) explained such phenomena from the producer and consumer perspectives. In the existing studies, conventional urban structure refers to the spatial layout of land uses, such as zonal (Burgess, 2008), sectoral (Hoyt, 1939) and multiple nuclei models (Harris and Ullman, 1945).…”

“…To meet these challenges, data-oriented strategies are receiving more and more attention (Couclelis, 2021), which naturally stimulates the fusion between urban science and urban informatics. Wang (2021) empirically examined the relationship between polycentricity and the provision of urban amenities in cities, finding that a higher degree of intra-urban polycentricity is associated with a larger number of urban amenities. Further, Wang (2021) explained such phenomena from the producer and consumer perspectives.…”

“…Batty (2013) proposed that an urban system should be regarded as 'systems of networks and flows', and many researchers have conducted empirical studies to explore the 'dynamics' of the spatial structure of an urban region by taking the spatial interaction network approach. Wang (2021) provided a new way to understand urban structure and its relationships with urban functions.…”