Coupling Relationship of Freight Transportation Activities and Transport Infrastructure: Case Study of Yunnan, China
Publication: Journal of Urban Planning and Development
Volume 146, Issue 4
Abstract
Transportation infrastructure has a positive impact on freight transportation activities when it has excellent economic and social performances. At the current stage of economic development in China, sustainable development of the region is facing the imbalance of transport supply and transport demand. With the growing flow of freight transportation, it is essential to explore the relationship between freight transportation activity and transport infrastructure, which helps to guarantee that the development of transport infrastructure matches freight transportation demand growth. In contrast to the existing literature, this study describes freight transportation activities as a network. The degree, and freight degree of the freight transportation network (FTN) and development level of the transport infrastructure were first analyzed considering intercity freight flow. Then, the coupling relationship between them was tested using a coupling coordination degree model (CCDM) focusing on the hysteresis status, and the link strength model was established to further reveal the causal mechanisms behind the coupling relationship. The results revealed that the interaction between freight transportation activities and transport infrastructure development was significant, and there was a relatively coordinated relationship between freight transportation activities and transport infrastructure overall. The contribution of freight transportation activities to transport infrastructure development was less than the contribution of transport infrastructure development to freight transportation activities in most cities of Yunnan, which ultimately causes the advanced development in transport infrastructure and freight transportation activities to become the key factor to promote the coordinated development of Yunnan's transport. In addition, we found that a good coupling coordination degree existed in cities with increased freight transportation activities and high transport infrastructure development, as well as in cities with less active freight transportation activities and a low level of transport infrastructure development. From the perspective of coordinated development, the results indicated that without planning a large number of transport facilities devoted to an increase in transport infrastructure construction might not necessarily be good for its development
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code generated or used during the study were provided by the Department for Road Transportation Administration of Yunnan Province under license and, therefore, cannot be made freely available. Direct requests for these data should be made to the Department for Road Transportation Administration of Yunnan Province.
Acknowledgments
The research was funded by the National Key R&D Program of China (No. 2017YFB1200702), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 61873216; No. 71563023).
References
Achour, H., and M. Belloumi. 2016. “Investigating the causal relationship between transport infrastructure, transport energy consumption and economic growth in Tunisia.” Renewable Sustainable Energy Rev. 56: 988–998. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2015.12.023.
Allen, J., and M. Browne. 2010. Considering the relationship between freight transport and urban form. green logistics report. London: Univ. of Westminster.
Allen, J., M. Browne, and T. Cherrett. 2012. “Investigating relationships between road freight transport, facility location, logistics management and urban form.” J. Transp. Geogr. 24: 45–57. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2012.06.010.
Ameen, R. F. M., and M. Mourshed. 2019. “Urban sustainability assessment framework development: The ranking and weighting of sustainability indicators using analytic hierarchy process.” Sustainable Cities Soc. 44: 356–366. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2018.10.020.
Beyzatlar, M. A., M. Karacal, and H. Yetkiner. 2014. “Granger-causality between transportation and GDP: A panel data approach.” Transp. Res. Part A 63: 43–55. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tra.2014.03.001.
Blocha, F., and B. Dutta. 2009. “Communication networks with endogenous link strength.” Games Econ. Behav. 66 (1): 39–56. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geb.2008.03.007.
Canning, D., and E. Bennathan. 2000. The social rate of return on infrastructure investments. Washington, DC: Development Research Group, Public Economics and Private Sector Development and Infrastructure Group, World Bank.
Castells-Quintana, D. 2017. “Malthus living in a slum: Urban concentration, infrastructure and economic growth.” J. Urban Econ. 98: 158–173. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jue.2016.02.003.
Department for Road Transportation Administration of Yunnan Province. 2016. 2015 Annual report of road transportation in Yunnan Province, Beijing, China: China Communications Press.
Démurger, S. 2001. “Infrastructure development and economic growth: An explanation for regional disparities in China?” J. Comp. Econ. 29 (1): 95–117. https://doi.org/10.1006/jcec.2000.1693.
Fan, S., and C. Chan-Kang. 2008. “Regional road development, rural and urban poverty: Evidence from China.” Transp. Policy 15 (5): 305–314. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tranpol.2008.12.012.
Foster, S., L. Wood, J. Francis, M. Knuiman, K. Villanueva, and B. Giles-Corti. 2015. “Suspicious minds: Can features of the local neighbourhood ease parents’ fears about stranger danger?” J. Environ. Psychol. 42: 48–56. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2015.02.001.
He, M. L., J. R. Shen, X. H. Wu, and J. Q. Luo. 2018. “Logistics space: A literature review from the sustainability perspective.” Sustainability 10 (8): 2815. https://doi.org/10.3390/su10082815.
Holguín-Veras, J., L. J. Amaya, and B. B. Seruya. 2017. “Urban freight policymaking: The role of qualitative and quantitative research.” Transp. Policy 56: 75–85. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tranpol.2017.02.011.
Hong, I., and W. S. Jun. 2016. “Application of gravity model on the Korean urban bus network.” Physica A 462: 48–55. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physa.2016.06.055.
Hong, J., Z. Chu, and Q. Wang. 2011. “Transport infrastructure and regional economic growth: Evidence from China.” Transportation 38 (5): 737–752. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11116-011-9349-6.
Hunt, A., and D. Blake. 2018. “Identifiability, cointegration and the gravity model.” Insurance: Math. Econ. 78: 360–368. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.insmatheco.2017.09.014.
Jenelius, E. 2009. “Network structure and travel patterns: Explaining the geographical disparities of road network vulnerability.” J. Transp. Geogr. 17 (3): 234–244. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2008.06.002.
Jiwattanakulpaisarn, P., R. B. Noland, D. Graham, and J. W. Polak. 2009. “Highway infrastructure investment and county employment growth: A dynamic panel regression analysis.” J. Reg. Sci. 49 (2): 263–286. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9787.2008.00579.x.
Li, C., X. Gao, B. J. He, J. Wu, and K. Wu. 2019. “Coupling coordination relationships between urban-industrial land use efficiency and accessibility of highway networks: Evidence from Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei urban agglomeration, China.” Sustainability 11 (5): 1446. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11051446.
Li, H., Y. Liu, and K. Peng. 2018. “Characterizing the relationship between road infrastructure and local economy using structural equation modeling.” Transp. Policy 61: 17–25. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tranpol.2017.10.002.
Li, Y. C., L. Zhao, and J. J. Suo. 2014. “Comprehensive assessment on sustainable development, of highway transportation capacity based on entropy, weight and TOPSIS.” Sustainability 6 (7): 4685–4693. https://doi.org/10.3390/su6074685.
Lindsey, C., H. S. Mahmassani, M. Mullarkey, T. Nash, and S. Rothberg. 2014. “Industrial space demand and freight transportation activity: Exploring the connection.” J. Transp. Geogr. 37: 93–101. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2014.04.009.
Liu, D., and F. J. Jin. 2014. “Development level and coordination of highway networks of prefecture-level administrative regions in China.” Prog. Geogr. 33 (2): 241–248.
Liu, W. J., F. C. Jiao, L. J. Ren, X. G. Xu, J. C. Wang, and X. Wang. 2018. “Coupling coordination relationship between urbanization and atmospheric environment security in Jinan city.” J. Cleaner Prod. 204: 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.08.244.
Mardani, A., E. K. Zavadskas, Z. Khalifah, A. Jusoh, and K. Nor. 2016. “Multiple criteria decision-making techniques in transportation systems: A systematic review of the state of the art literature.” Transport 31 (3): 359–385. https://doi.org/10.3846/16484142.2015.1121517.
Matsumoto, H. 2004. “International urban systems and air passenger and cargo flows: Some calculations.” J. Air Transp. Manage. 10 (4): 239–247. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jairtraman.2004.02.003.
Meng, D. Y., Y. Q. Lu, X. S. Fan, and B. L. Shi. 2013. “Coordination degree between transportation and regional economic development based on projection pursuit model in Henan.” Geog. Res. 32: 2092–2106.
Mesa-Arango, R., and S. V. Ukkusuri. 2013. “Benefits of in-vehicle consolidation in less than truckload freight transport operations.” Transp. Res. Part E 60: 113–125. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tre.2013.05.007.
MOT (Ministry of Transport). 2019. “Transportation Industry Development Statistics Annual Report 2018.” Accessed July 2, 2019. http://xxgk.mot.gov.cn/jigou/zhghs/201904/t20190412_3186720.html.
Ng, C. P., T. H. Law, S. V. Wong, and S. Kulanthayan. 2017. “Relative improvements in road mobility as compared to improvements in road accessibility and economic growth: A cross-country analysis.” Transp. Policy 60: 24–33. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tranpol.2017.08.004.
Ni, X. M., H. W. Wang, C. C. Che, J. Y. Hong, and Z. D. Sun. 2019. “Civil aviation safety evaluation based on deep belief network and principal component analysis.” Saf. Sci. 112: 90–95. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2018.10.012.
Park, J. S., and Y. J. Seo. 2016. “The impact of seaports on the regional economies in South Korea: Panel evidence from the augmented Solow model.” Transp. Res. Part E 85: 107–119. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tre.2015.11.009.
Pradhan, R. P., and P. B. Bagchi. 2013. “Effect of transportation infrastructure on economic growth in India: The VECM approach.” Res. Transp. Econ. 38 (1): 139–148. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.retrec.2012.05.008.
Sahu, P. K., A. Padhi, G. R. Patil, G. Mahesh, and A. K. Sarkar. 2017. “Spatial temporal analysis of major seaport freight flows in India.” In Proc., Transportation Research Board 96th Annual Meeting, 1–18. Washington, DC: Transportation Research Board.
Sun, D., and S. T. Guan. 2016. “Measuring vulnerability of urban metro network from line operation perspective.” Transp. Res. Part A 94: 348–359. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tra.2016.09.024.
Sun, Y., and Y. Cui. 2018. “Evaluating the coordinated development of economic, social and environmental benefits of urban public transportation infrastructure: Case study of four Chinese autonomous municipalities.” Transp. Policy 66: 116–126. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tranpol.2018.02.006.
Zhang, L., J. J. Hao, and X. F. Ji. 2019a. “Network characteristics and spatial organization optimization of intercity freight transportation connection.” J. Highway Transp. Res. Dev. 13 (1): 68–78. https://doi.org/10.1061/JHTRCQ.0000668.
Zhang, L., J. J. Hao, X. F. Ji, and L. Liu. 2019b. “Research on the complex characteristics of freight transportation from a multiscale perspective using freight vehicle trip data.” Sustainability 11 (7): 1897. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11071897.
Zhou, D., J. Xu, and Z. Lin. 2017. “Conflict or coordination? assessing land use multifunctionalization using production-living-ecology analysis.” Sci. Total Environ. 577: 136–147. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.10.143.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Urban Planning and Development
Volume 146 • Issue 4 • December 2020
Copyright
© 2020 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jan 18, 2019
Accepted: Apr 24, 2020
Published online: Aug 6, 2020
Published in print: Dec 1, 2020
Discussion open until: Jan 6, 2021
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.