Spatial Coupling of Mass Transit Networks and Business Centers in China's Megacities: A Complex Network Theory Approach

As fundamental nodal elements in urban spatial structures, the coupling and coordinated development of urban business centers and urban rail transit contributes to the optimization of these structures. Utilizing complex network theory, a model for the urban rail transit network was constructed. The importance and hub nature of urban rail transit stations were evaluated from different angles, including degree centrality, closeness centrality, betweenness centrality, and eigenvector centrality. These metrics examined the station’s degree, closeness to other nodes, number of shortest paths, and centrality of neighboring nodes. The coupling relationship between urban rail transit and urban business centers was taken into account, leading to the creation of a coupling and coordination degree model for urban rail transit stations and urban business centers. An analysis of the spatio-temporal evolution of the coupling relationship between urban rail transit and business centers in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou from 2000 to 2020 was conducted. The findings indicated an interactive and mutually influencing coupling relationship between the urban rail transit network and urban business centers. Over time, the coupling and coordination degree of urban rail transit stations and urban business centers trended from being uncoordinated towards preliminary, moderate, and good coordination. Spatial heterogeneity existed in the coupling and coordination status of different circles, with the best coupling and coordination conditions being in the core area. There was a degree of variance in the coupling and coordination development situation of rail transit stations and business centers in the core areas of different cities. Among them, Shanghai’s core area had the best spatial coupling and coordination development situation, Beijing’s core area lagged in business center development compared to the construction of the urban rail transit network, while Guangzhou’s core area saw urban rail transit network development lag behind its mature business centers. The application of these research findings aids in promoting sustainable urban development. While this study primarily measured the importance of urban rail transit network stations from the node centrality perspective, future studies could further examine the spatial coupling of urban rail transit and business centers from the viewpoints of accessibility and passenger flow.