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Monocentric or Polycentric? The Urban Spatial Structure of Employment in Beijing

Author

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  • Daquan Huang

    (School of Geography, Beijing Normal University, No. 19, XinJieKouWai Str., HaiDian District, Beijing 100875, China)

  • Zhen Liu

    (School of Geography, Beijing Normal University, No. 19, XinJieKouWai Str., HaiDian District, Beijing 100875, China)

  • Xingshuo Zhao

    (Urban-Rural Planning Administration Center, Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of China, No.9 San Li He Road, Beijing 100835, China)

Abstract

The spatial structure of Beijing has changed dramatically since the reforms of the late 1970s. It is not clear, however, whether these changes have been sufficient to transform the city’s monocentric spatial structure into a polycentric one. This paper uses 2010 enterprise registered data to investigate the spatial distribution of employment in Beijing. Using a customized grid to increase the spatial resolution of our results, we explore the city’s employment density distribution and investigate potential employment subcenters. This leads to several findings. First, Beijing still has strong monocentric characteristics; second, the city has a very large employment center rather than a small central business district; third, five subcenters are identified, including four in the suburbs; and fourth, a polycentric model that includes these subcenters possesses more explanatory power than a simple monocentric model, but by only four percentage. We conclude that the spatial structure of Beijing is still quite monocentric, but may be in transition to a polycentric pattern.

Suggested Citation

  • Daquan Huang & Zhen Liu & Xingshuo Zhao, 2015. "Monocentric or Polycentric? The Urban Spatial Structure of Employment in Beijing," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(9), pages 1-25, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:7:y:2015:i:9:p:11632-11656:d:54739
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    18. Nikolay Kurichev & Ekaterina Kuricheva, 2020. "Interregional migration, the housing market, and a spatial shift in the metro area: Interrelationships in the case study of Moscow," Regional Science Policy & Practice, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(4), pages 689-703, August.
    19. Kim, Hyungkyoo & Lee, NaYeon & Kim, Seung-Nam, 2018. "Suburbia in evolution: Exploring polycentricity and suburban typologies in the Seoul metropolitan area, South Korea," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 92-101.

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