Temporal and spatial dynamics of China's energy industry agglomeration network and city network: Perspective of input–output and social networks

The recalibration of roles and statuses within energy clusters elucidates a novel dimension for analyzing the growth variance between the energy sector and energy-centric urban regions. This research develops input–output-based models of energy industry agglomeration and urban networks, examining the structural attributes and economic implications of these network types. The results demonstrate that (1) From 2010 to 2015, the intensity of inter-city business flows grounded in energy industry clusters increased by 106.9 %; however, in 2020, due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a decline of 201.1 %. (2)Most cities exhibited relatively small radiative effects from their energy industries, forming tightly interconnected networks centred around a few key cities characterised by strong intermediacy (with maximum values of 1399, 2779 and 1553), high centrality (maximum values of 0.69, 0.63 and 0.65) and pronounced coreness (maximum values of 0.186, 0.161 and 0.157). (3) The coefficient of variation for subgroup density within the energy city network decreased from 1.037 to 0.767, while the average density increased from 0.388 to 0.601, indicating a trend towards a more balanced configuration of energy city clusters.