Urban networks among Chinese cities along "the Belt and Road": A case of web search activity in cyberspace

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0188868

	Urban networks among Chinese cities along "the Belt and Road": A case of web search activity in cyberspace
	Zhang, Lu 1,2,3,4,5; Du, Hongru 1; Zhao, Yannan 3,6; Wu, Rongwei 1,3; Zhang, Xiaolei 1
刊名	PLOS ONE
	2017-12-04
卷号	12 期号:12 页码:20
ISSN号	1932-6203
DOI	10.1371/journal.pone.0188868
通讯作者	Du, Hongru(duhongru@sina.com) ; Zhang, Xiaolei(zhangxl@ms.xjb.ac.cn)
英文摘要	"The Belt and Road" initiative has been expected to facilitate interactions among numerous city centers. This initiative would generate a number of centers, both economic and political, which would facilitate greater interaction. To explore how information flows are merged and the specific opportunities that may be offered, Chinese cities along "the Belt and Road" are selected for a case study. Furthermore, urban networks in cyberspace have been characterized by their infrastructure orientation, which implies that there is a relative dearth of studies focusing on the investigation of urban hierarchies by capturing information flows between Chinese cities along "the Belt and Road". This paper employs Baidu, the main web search engine in China, to examine urban hierarchies. The results show that urban networks become more balanced, shifting from a polycentric to a homogenized pattern. Furthermore, cities in networks tend to have both a hierarchical system and a spatial concentration primarily in regions such as Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta region. Urban hierarchy based on web search activity does not follow the existing hierarchical system based on geospatial and economic development in all cases. Moreover, urban networks, under the framework of "the Belt and Road", show several significant corridors and more opportunities for more cities, particularly western cities. Furthermore, factors that may influence web search activity are explored. The results show that web search activity is significantly influenced by the economic gap, geographical proximity and administrative rank of the city.
资助项目	Main Service Project 3 of Characteristic Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences[TSS-2015-014-FW-3-3]
WOS关键词	WORLD CITY NETWORK ; INTERCITY LINKAGES ; INTERNET ; GEOGRAPHY ; TELECOMMUNICATIONS ; BACKBONE
WOS研究方向	Science & Technology - Other Topics
语种	英语
出版者	PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE
WOS记录号	WOS:000417033200018
资助机构	Main Service Project 3 of Characteristic Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences
内容类型	期刊论文
源URL	[http://ir.igsnrr.ac.cn/handle/311030/60755]
专题	中国科学院地理科学与资源研究所
通讯作者	Du, Hongru; Zhang, Xiaolei
作者单位	1.Chinese Acad Sci, Xinjiang Inst Ecol & Geog, State Key Lab Desert & Oasis Ecol, Urumqi, Peoples R China 2.Univ Ghent, Dept Geog, Ghent, Belgium 3.Univ Chinese Acad Sci, Beijing, Peoples R China 4.Sinobelgian Joint Lab Geoinformat, Urumqi, Peoples R China 5.Sinobelgian Joint Lab Geoinformat, Ghent, Belgium 6.Chinese Acad Sci, Inst Geog Sci & Nat Resources Res, Beijing, Peoples R China
推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714	Zhang, Lu,Du, Hongru,Zhao, Yannan,et al. Urban networks among Chinese cities along "the Belt and Road": A case of web search activity in cyberspace[J]. PLOS ONE,2017,12(12):20.
APA	Zhang, Lu,Du, Hongru,Zhao, Yannan,Wu, Rongwei,&Zhang, Xiaolei.(2017).Urban networks among Chinese cities along "the Belt and Road": A case of web search activity in cyberspace.PLOS ONE,12(12),20.
MLA	Zhang, Lu,et al."Urban networks among Chinese cities along "the Belt and Road": A case of web search activity in cyberspace".PLOS ONE 12.12(2017):20.