The Relationship between Urban Population Density Distribution and Land Use in Guangzhou, China: A Spatial Spillover Perspective

Urban population density distribution contributes towards a deeper understanding of peoples' activities patterns and urban vibrancy. The associations between the distribution of urban population density and land use are crucial to improve urban spatial structure. Despite numerous studies on population density distribution and land use, the significance of spatial dependence has attained less attention. Based on the Baidu heat map data and points of interests data in the main urban zone of Guangzhou, China, the current paper first investigated the spatial evolution and temporal distribution characteristics of urban population density and examined the spatial spillover influence of land use on it through spatial correlation analysis methods and the spatial Durbin model. The results show that the urban population density distribution is characterized by aggregation in general and varies on weekends and weekdays. The changes in population density within a day present a trend of rapid growth-gentle decline-rapid growth-rapid decline . Furthermore, the spatial spillover effects of land use exist and play the same important roles in population density distribution as the direct effects. Additionally, different types of land use show diverse direct effects and spatial spillover effects at various times. These findings suggest that balancing the population density distribution should consider the indirect effect from neighboring areas, which hopefully provide implications for urban planners and policy makers in utilizing the rational allocation of public resources and regarding optimization of urban spatial structure.

Automated summary

The distribution of urban population density plays a crucial role in understanding urban vibrancy. Research on this topic has shown that population density tends to aggregate and fluctuates between weekdays and weekends, with a pattern of rapid growth and decline within a day. Additionally, the spatial spillover effects of land use have significant impacts on population density distribution, suggesting the need to consider indirect effects from neighboring areas in urban planning and policy making.