Understanding China’s urban system evolution from web search index data

The spatial inequilibrium phenomenon is apparent during China’s rapid urbanization in the past four decades. As the fertility rate decreases and the population ages, this phenomenon will become more critical. To accurately forecast the future economic development of China, it is necessary to quantify the attractiveness of individual cities. This study introduces web search data to quantify the attractiveness of cities with a fine spatial scale (prefecture-level city) and relatively long-term span (nine years). Results confirm that the estimated city attractiveness can unravel a city’s capability to attract labor force, and suggest that tourism and health care functions of a city have a positive effect to the city’s attractiveness. Additionally, China’s north-south gap in economic development has been widened in the past decade, and 11 cities with nationwide influence have prosperous development potential. This study provides a new lens for predicting China’s economic development, as well as its spatial patterns. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1140/epjds/s13688-022-00332-y.