An Empirical Study on the Agglomeration Characteristics of China’s Construction Industry Based on Spatial Autocorrelation and Spatiotemporal Transition

The spatiotemporal agglomeration of industries is the most prominent geographical feature of economic activities. Based on the analysis of the spatiotemporal distribution of China’s construction industry agglomeration, this paper analyzes the characteristics and evolution trend of the spatiotemporal agglomeration of construction industry in 31 provinces and cities of China from 2010 to 2019 by using Moran’s index and the spatiotemporal transition measurement model. The findings are as follows: (1) China’s construction industry has experienced two stages in terms of time: steady rise and turbulent rise. Spatially, China’s construction industry, as a whole, the space takes the shape of one horizontal and two vertical, similar to the letter “H†being crossed. And the difference of “East-West†two ends of the industrial agglomeration level is obvious. (2) The Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomerations (Shanghai, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang), the Pearl River Delta Urban Agglomerations (Guangdong), Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Urban Agglomerations, and the western region (Xinjiang and Tibet) have significant local features. The four major types of China’s construction industry cluster, which are H-H, H-L, L-H, and L-L, are formed. (3) The time-space transition of China’s construction industry is dominated by the “stable transition†mode. The transition inertia is significant. The regional development has strong path dependence and spatial locking characteristics.