Disparity and Spatial Heterogeneity of the Correlation between Street Centrality and Land Use Intensity in Jinan, China

In the existing literature on the correlation between street centrality and land use intensity (LUI), only a few studies have explored the disparity of this correlation for different types of LUI and the differences across various locations. In response to the above shortcomings, in this study, the main urban area of Jinan, China, was taken as an example, and the disparity and spatial heterogeneity of the correlation between street centrality and LUI were explored for different categories of land use. The multiple centrality assessment (MCA) model was used to calculate the closeness centrality, betweenness centrality, and straightness centrality of the traffic network. Based on the floor area ratio (FAR) of each parcel, the utilization intensities of the residential, industrial, commercial, and public service land uses were measured. Employing the kernel density estimation (KDE) method, the street centrality of the traffic network vis-à-vis the urban LUI was rasterized into the same spatial analysis framework. The Pearson correlation coefficient and geographically weighted regression (GWR) were used to measure the correlation between the two variables and the spatial heterogeneity of the correlation, respectively. The results showed that traffic network street centrality strongly correlated with the LUI of the residential, commercial, and public service land use types, but it had a very weak association with the LUI of industrial land use. The GWR results also confirmed the spatial heterogeneity of the correlation. The results of this research highlighted the important role of traffic network street centrality in understanding the urban spatial structure. The study also helped to explain the dynamic mechanism of the road network form and the topological structure of urban spatial evolution.