Abstract
From the viewpoint of Graph Theory this paper builds a town road network graph of regional scale, and proposes numerical vertex degree (D i ), rank vertex degree (D r ) and population size vertex degree (D p ) on the base of vertex degree (D). Then the indicators of D i , D r , D p and mathematical statistics methods are applied to investigating scale-free structure of town road networks in the southern Jiangsu Province. The results show that the distribution of D i does not exhibit scale-free properties, but D r and D p do. Additionally the correlation coefficient between D p and D i is only 0.569, but the spatial correlation between D p and D r is very evident on the base of correlation analysis and spatial analysis of GIS. The mutual mechanism between D p and D r spatially represents a “Core-Belt” model of town development of regional scale. The town development model is open and clustered, and beneficial to both economic development and ecological protection. And then we suggest that Suzhou City, Wuxi City, Changzhou City and Wujin City control towns’ high-density pattern by conducting centralization and consolidation policies, and properly controlling and planning higher rank roads; whereas Nanjing City, Zhenjiang City, Jintan City and Liyang City must strengthen the development of towns along higher rank roads.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Barabasi A L, Albert R, 1999. Emergence of scaling in random networks. Science, (286): 509–512. DOI: 10.1126/science.286.5439.509
Barabasi A L, Jeonga H, Neda Z et al., 2002. Evolution of the social network of scientific collaborations. Physica A, (311): 590–614. DOI: 10.1016/S0378-4371(02)00736-7
Erdos P, R’enyi A, 1959. On random graphs-I. Publications Mathematicae, (6): 290–297.
Girvan M, Newman M E J, 2002. Community structure in social and biological networks. PNAS, (99): 7821–7826. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.122653799
Gu Chaolin, 1990. Hierarchical size distribution model of urban system of China and its structure. Economic Geography, 10(3): 54–56. (in Chinese)
Gu Chaolin, 2005. Urban System Planning: Theories, Methods and Examples. Beijing: China Architecture & Building Press. (in Chinese)
Jeong H, Mason S P, Oltvai Z N et al., 2001. Lethality and centrality in protein networks. Nature (London), (411): 41–42. DOI: 10.1038/35075138
Liu Jisheng, Chen Yanguang, 1999. A study on fractal dimensions of spatial structure of transport networks and the methods of their determination. Acta Geographica Sinica, 54(5): 471–478. (in Chinese)
Lu Kaicheng, 2002. Graph Theory and Its Application. Beijing: Tsinghua University Press. (in Chinese)
Miller H J, Shaw S L, 2001. Geographic Information Systems for Transportation: Principles and Applications. New York: Oxford University Press.
Sidney R, 1998. How popular is your paper? An empirical study of the citation distribution. Eur. Phys. J. B, (4): 131–134. DOI: 10.1007/s100510050359
Stephen E, Hasan Guclu, Anil Kumar V S et al., 2004. Modeling disease outbreaks in realistic urban social networks. Nature, (429): 180–184. DOI: 10.1038/nature02541
Wu Jin, 1990. Urban Form of China: Structure, Characteristics and Its Evolution. Nanjing: Jiangsu Science and Technology Publishing House. (in Chinese)
Xu Jun, Luo Songling, 2000. A study of connectness for the highway network. China Journal of Highway and Transport, 13(1): 95–97.
Xu Xueqiang, Zhou Yixing, Ning Yuemin, 1997. Urban Geography. Beijing: Higher Education Press. (in Chinese)
Yang Wuyang, Liang Jinshe, 1997. Higher Geography of Economic. Beijing: Peking University Press. (in Chinese)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Foundation item: Under the auspices of National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 40435013, No. 40535026)
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Su, W., Yang, G., Yao, S. et al. Scale-free structure of town road network in southern Jiangsu Province of China. Chin. Geogr. Sci. 17, 311–316 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11769-007-0311-7
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11769-007-0311-7