Study on urban form spatial differentiation based on road density analysis: a case study of Guangzhou, China

In essence, the urban form is the spatial movement of the city under the impetus of the transportation development. The spatial differences in urban form are the result of the spatial arrangement of the various elements on urban transportation network, which is closely related to the regional transportation infrastructure construction level. The density of urban road network is an important index to measure the level of urban transportation infrastructure construction, but also an important parameter to characterize transportation network. Therefore, this paper takes Guangzhou as a study area, takes the rule grid of 1×1 km2 as the research unit, and uses the Kinging spatial interpolation and spatial autocorrelation analysis model to explore the spatial distribution pattern of the road network density in Guangzhou. Furthermore, an analysis of the spatial differentiation of urban form in Guangzhou based on the perspectives of urban road network density analysis is implemented. The results show that the spatial distribution of road density in Guangzhou has obvious agglomeration characteristics and zonal natures in the year of 2015. The high density of road network in the central regions is clustered in the historical downtowns and the Tianhe Central Business District, but the road network density in the south, northeast and northwest is low. This reveals the uneven distribution of the urban road network density spatial distribution in Guangzhou. The density of the road network in the central regions is relatively high, with the difference between the surrounding areas being relatively significant, and the northern and southern parts are not connected or fully homogenized. The distribution of road network density is consistent with the regional trend of terrain and landform in the study area. Last, in the discussion of the urban spatial form planning and control, it is found that the distribution pattern of the road density in Guangzhou reflects the realization of urban spatial form planning control in Guangzhou in 2010. However, in the planning of the new urban function zones of Guangzhou in 2013, the northern functional areas not only need to be strengthened with the internal transportation infrastructure construction, but also need to be intensified to connect with the central regions to promote and support themselves’ development of the new functional areas.