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  • Research Articles
    LIU Chengliang, YAN Shanshan
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    Patent transfer has been regarded as an important channel for the nations and regions to acquire external technology, and also a direct research object to depict the relationship between supply and demand of technology flow. Therefore, based on traceable patent transfer data, this article has established a dual-pipeline theoretical framework of transnational-domestic technology transfer from the interaction of the global and local (glocal) perspective, and combines social networks, GIS spatial analysis as well as spatial econometric model to discover the spatial evolution of China’s transnational technology channels and its determinant factors. It is found that: (1) The spatial heterogeneity of the overall network is significant while gradually weakened over time. (2) The eastward shift of the core cities involved in transnational technology channels is accelerating, from the hubs in North America (New York Bay Area, Silicon Valley, Caribbean offshore financial center, etc.) and West Europe (London offshore financial center etc.) to East Asia (Tokyo and Seoul) and Southeast Asia (Singapore), which illustrates China has decreased reliance on the technology from the USA and West Europe. (3) The four major innovation clusters: Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region (Beijing as the hub), Yangtze River Delta (Shanghai as the hub), The Greater Bay Area (Shenzhen and Hong Kong as the hubs) and north Taiwan (Taipei and Hsinchu as the hubs), are regarded as global technology innovation hubs and China’s distribution centers in transnational technology flow. Among those, Chinese Hong Kong’s betweenness role of technology is strengthened due to linkage of transnational corporations and their branches, and low tax coverage of offshore finance, thus becoming the top city for technology transfer. Meanwhile, Chinese Taiwan’s core position is diminishing. (4) The breadth, intensity, and closeness of domestic technology transfer are conducive to the expansion of transnational technology import channels. Additionally, local economic level has positive effect on transnational technology transfer channels while technology strength and external economic linkage have multifaceted influences.

  • Research Articles
    LIU Zhewei, LIU Jianxiao, HUANG Xiao, ZHANG Erchen, CHEN Biyu
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    With the rise of smart phones, mobile applications have been widely used in daily life. However, the relationship between individuals’ mobile application usage and cities’ economic development has yet to be investigated. To study this question, this work utilizes a dataset containing users’ history of mobile application usage records (MAURs) and investigates how MAURs are related to Chinese cities’ economic development. Our analysis shows the cities’ GDP and number of MAURs are highly correlated, and at the individual level, people in wealthier cities (higher GDP per capita) tend to have more active mobile application usage (MAURs per capita). The results also demonstrate the relevance between cities’ GDP and MAURs varies significantly among different demographic groups, with male users’ relevance consistently higher than female users’ and working-age people’s relevance higher than other age groups. A boosted tree regression model is then applied to predict cities’ GDP with MAURs and proves to achieve high goodness-of-fit (over 0.8 R-square) and good prediction accuracy, especially for the economically developed and populous regions in China. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that the relationship between MAURs and cities’ economic development is revealed, which contributes to novel knowledge discovery for regionalization and urban development.

  • Research Articles
    SUN Yifang, WANG Ninglian
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    High-quality industrial development (HID) is a requirement of the modern economy and regional development. This paper designed a four-dimensional HID evaluation framework according to the logic of “development foundation-development theme-development subject-development guarantee.” Specifically, momentum cultivation as the foundation, efficiency improvement as the theme, and quality promotion as the subject are the three pivots driving the industrial transformation from high-speed development to high-quality development. A stable economic environment and a harmonious social environment are the guarantees of HID. Choosing the π-shaped Curve Area of the Yellow River basin in China as the study area, this paper measured the spatiotemporal pattern of HID and its four dimensions using the entropy-weighted TOPSIS method based on relevant economic indicators. Besides, the obstacle recognition model was adopted to identify the obstacles to HID. Findings include: From 2005 to 2019, the HID in the Curve Area was characterized by spatial unevenness and relative stability. The industrial structure and industrial layout were more rational in provincial capitals and large cities than in other cities. The spatial organization of the industrial economy presented an incompact polycentric structure, and the industrial association was relatively weak in the curve’s upper reaches. Almost all cities have experienced an increase in single-factor productivity, and technological progress contributed most to the total factor productivity growth. During the study period, the development momentum stabilized at high levels in Inner Mongolia while at low levels in resource-based cities. The development environment in most cities has remained stable, and the social welfare has increased and distributed more equitably in the Area. The technological introduction and the rationalization of the industrial structure were the primary obstacle factors for the Area in realizing HID, and the upgrading of the industrial location index was critical to the upper reaches of the curve. This paper was expected to provide new ideas for studying industrial transformation and practical policy proposals for regional development in the Curve Area.

  • Research Articles
    YANG Qingke, WANG Lei, LI Yongle, FAN Yeting, LIU Chao
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    Over the past 20 years, China has experienced multiple economic transitions characterized by marketization, globalization, decentralization, and urbanization; as a result, urban land development intensity (ULDI) has become a significant issue for sustainable development. As China’s largest globalized urban area, the rapid socio-economic development of the Yangtze River Delta has created a huge demand for urban land. We apply a theoretical framework for a four-dimensional analysis tool to understand the dynamic evolution of the ULDI in the context of economic transition. It reveals that marketization, globalization, decentralization, and urbanization affect the ULDI in the economic transition of Yangtze River Delta. Marketization, especially the continuous improvement of land marketization, optimizes the spatial allocation of land resources and encourages urban land users to improve ULDI. Globalization promotes the rapid growth of economy and population through an increase in foreign direct investment. In the process of decentralization, local governments rely on developing a mode of land finance, resulting in a disordered urban space and low ULDI. Population growth and agglomeration during urbanization stimulates residents’ consumption capacity and promotes economic growth, thus creating a greater demand for urban land. However, a low level of development and utilization restricts the improvement of development intensity. Economic development can improve the level of land-intensive use by promoting the adjustment, optimization, and upgrade of urban industrial structures.

  • Research Articles
    WANG Degen, XU Yinfeng, ZHAO Meifeng
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    A transportation hub is the key link in the construction of the comprehensive three-dimensional transportation corridor of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, and is the basic factor responsible for the promotion of this belt. A high-speed railway hub has the “last kilometer of time-space compression” effect and is the key to building an efficient, convenient, modern, and comprehensive transportation system. This study constructed a model for measuring the connection-distribution performance of the high-speed railway hub, determined the connection-distribution performance of the urban high-speed railway hub in the Yangtze River Economic Belt, and analyzed its spatial differentiation characteristics, further revealed the influencing mechanism of the connection-distribution performance of the high-speed railway hub. The main results are as follows: (1) The connection-distribution performance of the high-speed railway hub in the Yangtze River Economic Belt presented an “olive-shaped pattern” grade structure with two small ends and a large middle section, that is, the number of high-speed railway stations with high performance and average performance was small, and the number of high-speed railway stations with good performance and medium performance was large. (2) The connection-distribution performance of the high-speed railway hub in the Yangtze River Economic Belt showed a regional differentiation pattern of “high in the east and low in the west” and “high in the north and low in the south”, and showed an urban agglomeration differentiation pattern of “high in the core areas but low in the marginal areas”; moreover, spatial differences were prominent in the distribution of nine evaluation indexes of the connection-distribution performance of the high-speed railway hub. (3) GDP, urbanization rate, city level, station passenger flow and frequency of shuttle bus were key driving factors affecting the connection-distribution performance of the high-speed railway hub. At the same time, there were significant differences in the key driving factors for the connection-distribution performance grades of high-quality, good, medium and average.

  • Research Articles
    WANG Xinming, QI Wei, LIU Shenghe, LIU Zhen, GAO Ping, JIN Haoran
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    China has entered the middle-to-late stage of urbanization. The scale of urban- to-urban migrants, which more refers to the urban-to-urban floating population (UUFP) across China, has significantly increased. UUFP settlement intention is a crucial issue for urbanization development. This study examines the spatial pattern and factors influencing the settlement intention of the UUFP in China based on data obtained through its dynamic monitoring in 2017 and the binary logistic model. The results show that most members of the UUFP were married, older, better educated, and had a higher income than the average person with extensive migration experience. We correlated a high settlement intention with developed economies, coastal areas, good environmental conditions, and more amenities in cities such as Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Zhuhai. Amenities were more impactful on settlement intention than economic factors, from individual and regional perspectives. The UUFP more often sought equality of education for children and social integration in its choices of destinations. However, the distance was not a hindrance to intention to settle but played a substantial role in influencing it. We suggest optimizing the stock of the UUFP in large cities, improving public education services, and promoting remote urbanization. Likewise, industrial transfer and enhanced public resources may ease the pressure of large UUFP flows into large cities.

  • Research Articles
    YE Chao, YANG Dongyang, ZHAO Jiangnan
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    From 2020 to 2030, accelerating the “citizenization” of the migrant population is key to promoting urbanization and achieving common prosperity. The urbanization rate of the registered population in China is roughly 18% lower than that of permanent residents. The pressure of the ageing population and the lack of a labor force have caused big cities to introduce relevant policies to attract talent, and the citizenization process needs to be improved urgently, with a particular focus on megacities. The transformation in the number of registered residents in megacities varies greatly, and there is a lack of research on this topic, which makes it an important academic issue. Using both natural and social perspectives, we selected concise indicators and combined the possibility-satisfiability model to estimate the urbanization transformation gap of annual household registration. Further, we constructed a panel data model to empirically analyze the different factors leading to the gap of household registration in megacities. The main factors affecting the transformation of the registered population in megacities are medical services, as well as educational resources and the urban water supply. It is urgent for urban and rural administrators to change the current passive and rigid institutional mechanisms and to ensure flexible, normal governance.

  • Research Articles
    LIU Ye, HUANG Cuiying, WU Rongwei, PAN Zehan, GU Hengyu
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    Although China was one of the countries with the fastest-growing aging population in the world, limited scholarly attention has been paid to migration among older adults in China. The full picture of their migration in the entire country over time remains unknown. This study examines the spatial patterns of older interprovincial migration flows and their drivers in China over the period 1995 to 2015, using four waves of census data and intercensal population sample survey data. Results from eigenvector spatial filtering negative binomial regressions indicate that older adults tend to migrate away from low cost-of-living rural areas to high cost-of-living urban and rural areas, moving away from areas with extreme temperature differences. The location of their grandchildren is among the most important attractions. Our findings suggest that family-oriented migration is more common than amenity-led migration among retired Chinese older adults, and the cost-of-living is an indicator of economic opportunities for adult children and the quality of senior care services.

  • Research Articles
    LI Ting, LIU Tao, LIU Jiajie, CHENG Tianyi
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    Household structure is an important aspect of family change during China’s modernization process. Existing literature has demonstrated significant associations between various factors and household structure, but the spatial variation in these relationships has not been examined. Using the 2010 Chinese population census data and geographically weighted regression (GWR) model, this study explored the spatial patterns of three-generation lineal households, a functionally important household type in China, and its influencing factors. There was significant heterogeneity in the distribution of three-generation lineal households. Socioeconomic, demographic, and cultural factors were all significantly related to the proportion of three-generation lineal households, but the relationships are place-specific in terms of direction and magnitude. These results suggest that the distribution of Chinese household structures cannot be explained by a single framework of family modernization theory but is determined by the interplay of various local characteristics. Especially, population migration plays an equally important role in affecting household structure than socioeconomic development in China. This work contributes to the family literature by highlighting the spatial heterogeneity in the impact of varying factors on household structure. Beyond the classic modernization theory, it sets a contextualized framework for understanding how Chinese household change in response to the rapid social transformation.

  • Research Articles
    TAO Zhuolin, CHENG Yang, BAI Lingyao, FENG Ling, WANG Shaoshuai
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    Improving maternal health is one of the Sustainable Development Goals. Hospital service areas (HSAs), which contain most hospitalization behaviors at the local scale, are crucial for health care planning. However, little attention has been given to HSAs for maternal care and the hierarchy structure. Considering Hubei, central China, as a case study, this study aims to fill these gaps by developing a method for delineating hierarchical HSAs for maternal care using a network optimization approach. The approach is driven by actual patient flow data and has an explicit objective to maximize the modularity. It also establishes the hierarchical structure of maternal care HSAs, which is fundamental for the planning of hierarchical maternal care and referral systems. In our case study, 45 secondary HSAs and 22 tertiary HSAs are delineated to achieve maximal modularity. The HSAs perform well in terms of indices such as the Localization Index and Market Share Index. Furthermore, there is a complementary relationship between secondary and tertiary hospitals, which suggests the need for referral system planning. This study can provide evidence for the validity of the HSA and the planning of maternal care HSAs in China. It also provides transferable methods for planning hierarchical HSAs in other developing countries.

  • Research Articles
    YANG Ren
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    This paper examines the process and internal mechanisms of rural ecommerce industry agglomeration and space reconstruction in metropolitan fringe areas, employing Lirendong village in Guangzhou, China, as a case study. Questionnaire surveys and in-depth interviews were utilized and interpreted through the perspective of the actor-network theory. The results show that, in Lirendong village, local government, processing enterprises, rural collectives, e-commerce entrepreneurial talent, and other key actors participate in the pursuit and realization of suburban land value according to their action logic. Actors jointly evolved and constructed the phased industrial processes and space value accumulation process of the e-commerce industry. The reconstruction process experienced three stages, including the government-led agricultural decentralization stage, the market-oriented industrialization stage, and the Internet+ stage dominated by the social network of fellow villagers. The development process has evolved from the dominance of exogenous forces to that of endogenous forces, and, as a result, the types and structures of rural land use are diversified. The spatial texture and rural environment of the traditional country gradually disappeared, forming a diversified mixed form of urban-rural land and mixed-use landscape of industrial, commercial, and residential land in vertical space. At the same time, the social network changed from a single and homogeneous social network of acquaintances to a multiple network of strangers.

  • Research Articles
    ZHANG An, SONG Liuyi, ZHANG Fan
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    The urban environment affects human behavior and health. Most studies on the feelings of street spaces have not considered a specific kind of realistic scene, such as running. To overcome this limitation, we explored the relationship between the urban environment and the pleasure of running. We collected 8260 street view images from 153 running routes in Beijing and invited more than 400 volunteers of different genders and ages to rate their sense of pleasure in street view images of the urban running environment through an online survey. Then, the proportion of visual elements in street images was extracted based on semantic segmentation, and the landscape was divided. Finally, a linear mixed model was used to predict the pleasure scores of different gender and age groups for different landscapes. The results show significant differences in the pleasure scores for different landscapes and age groups. Middle-aged people's sense of pleasure was lower than that of the young and the elderly. More greenery was associated with a higher pleasure score, while the proportion of urban elements such as buildings was negatively correlated with the pleasure score. The results indicate that running in a natural landscape is pleasurable and beneficial for mental health.