Spatial Network Structures of Urban Agglomeration Based on the Improved Gravity Model: A Case Study in China’s Two Urban Agglomerations

Research on urban agglomerations from the perspective of network spatial structure is important to promote their sustainable development. Based on online and traditional data, this paper first improves three aspects of the traditional spatial gravity model—city quality, the gravitation coefficient, and city distance—considering urban center functional intensity and population mobility tendencies. The resulting improved directional gravity model is applied to analyze the structure of the city network for two urban agglomerations in China, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei urban agglomeration (BTHUA) and the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration (YRDUA). The results of the study are as follows: (1) the existing urban connections have obvious hierarchies and imbalances, with the YRDUA urban hierarchical connections being of larger scale. (2) Cities are closely connected, but city networks are unbalanced, though the YRDUA has more balanced urban development. (3) Each node city has a clear radiation range limit, and spatial distance remains an important constraint on urban connections. The backbone network of the BTHUA has a triangular shape and trends toward a “sparse north and dense south,†while the YRDUA is characterized by multiple axes and an overall distribution that trends toward a “dense north and sparse south.†(4) Cities with poor comprehensive strength are more likely to be captured, forming an attract and be attracted relationship. (5) The BTHUA and the YRDUA each form three communities.