Analyzing the Direction of Urban Function Renewal Based on the Complex Network

Abstract

Urban function renewal is essential for modern megacities’ urban planning and economic developments. This paper investigates the urban function renewal in Shenzhen, China based on a complex network method. According to the points of interest and the location quotient, the dominant urban functions in each district are discussed. After computing conditional probability, the interdependence of urban functions is analyzed. The complex networks of the functions and the corresponding clusters are presented to examine the relationship and the overall features of the functions, and the features of the function clusters, respectively. The average degree and average weighted degree of the main function categories of the functions are computed to explore the features of the function classification. The urban functions’ renewal potential index is calculated to show the potential of the non-dominant functions renewing to the dominant ones in the coming years. The difficulty index of the urban function renewal in each district is presented, and the difficulty degree of the original d-ominant function group renewing to a new one is obtained. The results show that more dominant urban functions have a significant probability of being dominant ones in a district; the functions of hotels and life services are essential in the planning and development in Shenzhen; and the districts with better economic levels have greater values of the difficulty of the urban function renewal. Then, the function renewal direction in Shenzhen is analyzed, and some policy implications are given.