Received date: 2003-11-05
Revised date: 2004-03-25
Online published: 2004-05-25
Supported by
National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 40171030
Advanced information and telecommunication technology has brought human being into a new information age, resulting in the emerging of an informational, global, and networked society. In the 1990s, the rapid growth of the Internet not only had strong impacts on the social and economic fields, but also restructured the organizations of global physical and virtual spaces. In recent years, the scholarly research on Internet has rapidly increased in many fields such as urban geography in the western developed countries. However, little research on the cities of developing countries exists in the Internet studies literature, and almost none addresses the topic of China, despite of their obvious implications for urban development in China. This paper seeks to fill this gap and understand the impact of Internet on the urban system in China. Based on the measurement of Internet backbone networks, it analyses the spatial structure of the Internet city network and ranks these cities in China. Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou and their linkages constitute the core level of long-distance telecommunication network. The investments in infrastructure are rewriting the map of competitive advantage of cities. An urban network of the information network cities is emerging in which the geographical factor plays an important role.
Key words: Internet; infrastructure; network cities; China
WANG Mingfeng, NING Yuemin . The Internet and the Rise of Information Network Cities in China[J]. Acta Geographica Sinica, 2004 , 59(3) : 446 -454 . DOI: 10.11821/xb200403015
[1] Graham S, Marvin S. Telecommunications and the City: Electronic Spaces, Urban Places. London: Routledge, 1996.
[2] Baris H, Lu Zi. The change from the geographical space to geocyberspace: review on the western scholars on regional effort by telecommunication. Acta Geographica Sinica, 2000, 55(1): 104-110.
[H 巴凯斯, 路紫. 从地理空间到地理网络空间的变化趋势: 论西方学者关于电信对地区影响的研究. 地理学报, 2000, 55(1): 104-110.]
[3] Wang Mingfeng, Ning Yuemin. The urban geography of cyberspace: review and prospect. Advance in Earth Sciences, 2002, 17(6): 855-863.
[汪明峰, 宁越敏. 网络信息空间的城市地理学研究——综述与展望. 地球科学进展, 2002, 17(6): 855-863.]
[4] Castells M. The Rise of the Network Society. Cambridge. MA: Blackwell Publishers, 1996.
[5] Graham S. Global grids of glass: on global cities, telecommunications, and planetary urban networks. Urban Studies, 1999, 36(5/6): 929-949.
[6] Malecki E J. The economic geography of the Internet's infrastructure. Economic Geography, 2002, 78(4): 399-424.
[7] Zook M A. Old hierarchies or new networks of centrality: the global geography of the Internet content market. American Behavioral Scientist, 2001, 44(10): 1679-1696.
[8] Zook M A. The web of production: the economic geography of commercial Internet content production in the United States. Environment and Planning A, 2000, 32(3): 411-426.
[9] Townsend A M. Networked cities and the global structure of the Internet. American Behavioral Scientist, 2001, 44(10): 1698-1717.
[10] Wheeler D C, O'Kelly M E. Network topology and city accessibility of the commercial Internet. Professional Geographer, 1999, 51(3): 327-339.
[11] Moss M L, Townsend A M. The Internet backbone and the American metropolis. The Information Society Journal, 2000, 16(1): 35-47.
[12] Grubesic T H, O'Kelly M E. Using points of presence to measure city accessibility to the commercial Internet. Professional Geographer, 2002, 54(2): 259-278.
[13] Townsend A M. The Internet and the rise of the new network cities, 1969-1999. Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design, 2001, 28(1): 39-58.
[14] Zhang Jie, Zhou Yinkang, Du Jinkang et al. On information geography—focus on the historical perspective to and the spatial connectivity of the geographical space in information period. Economic Geography, 1997, 16(10): 10-17.
[张捷, 周寅康, 都金康 等. 信息地理学研究二题—信息时代地理空间的历史定位及空间连通性初探. 经济地理, 1997, 16(10): 10-17.]
[15] Liu Weidong. Development of the Internet in China: spatial characteristics and implications. Geographical Research, 2002, 21(3): 347-356.
[刘卫东. 论我国互联网的发展及其潜在空间影响. 地理研究, 2002, 21(3): 347-356.]
[16] Gu Chaolin. The Urban System of China. Beijing: The Commercial Press, 1992.
[顾朝林. 中国城镇体系—历史、现状、展望. 北京: 商务印书馆, 1992.]
[17] Ning Yuemin, Yan Chongmin. The uneven development and spatial diffusion of Chinese central cities. Acta Geographica Sinica, 1993, 48(2): 97-104.
[宁越敏, 严重敏. 我国中心城市的不平衡发展及空间扩散的研究. 地理学报, 1993, 48(2): 97-104.]
[18] Jin Fengjun. A study on network of domestic air passenger flow in China. Geographical Research, 2001, 20(1): 31-39.
[金凤君. 我国航空客流网络发展及其地域系统研究. 地理研究, 2001, 20(1): 31-39.]
/
〈 | 〉 |