Research On The Equilibrium Model Of Multi-city System Considering Intercity Commuting And The Impact Of Intercity Railway Investment

Intercity railways,as an important link connecting cities,have the advantages of punctuality,speed,high density and high capacity,shortening the distance between cities in terms of time and space.The construction of intercity railways in China has created the demand for intercity commuting,and with the continuous improvement of intercity railway network,the scale of intercity commuting will be further expanded.The intercity commuting triggered by intercity railways will change the spatial layout of labor force and affect the residential and employment location choice behavior of workers as well as the production behavior of enterprises.However,there is little research on the impact mechanism of intercity infrastructure investment,and the interaction between firm location and residential workplace location decisions has been ignored.Given the above background,this thesis has done the following:(1)A multi-city system equilibrium model that considers intercity commuting is developed.The model considers the interactions between two different types of decision-makers in the urban system,households and firms: households maximize utility by choosing residential location,employment location,and housing area;firms maximize profits by competing for labor;and the new equilibrium state in the scenario of intercity railway investment.(2)The above model is extended to a multi-city system equilibrium model that considers both heterogeneous labor and intercity commuting,different types of labor earn different incomes in different cities and have different choices of residential location and housing size,both of which maximize utility under their respective budget constraints;at the same time,firms have different demands for the two types of labor,and eventually firms will determine the size of two types of labor that maximize profits.Both models compare the changes in urban spatial structure and system performance before and after the introduction of intercity railways through numerical calculations,and analyze the impact of the relevant parameters on the relevant indicators of the urban system.The conclusions of this thesis are as follows:(1)Improvement in intercity infrastructure have improved urban accessibility and increased intercity commuting options for residents.In turn,whether residents choose to commute across cities depends on their net income differential between going to a core city business center and a medium or small city business center.(2)Improved intercity transport breaks down inter-city commuting barriers.In order to earn higher incomes,residents tend to commute long distances,and there is a tendency for some residents to live near intercity railway stations in small and medium-sized cities and travel to core cities for work,so core cities tend to contract while small and medium-sized cities expand outwards,with a more even distribution of population and housing prices in cities.At the same time,due to the positive effect of labor concentration,the more labor gathered in the commercial center of a core city,the stronger that commercial center will become and the greater the gap with the commercial center of small or medium-sized cities.(3)When the difference in advantages between the core city and the small or medium-sized city is more obvious or when the agglomeration economy effect is stronger,the stronger the core city’s attraction to the labor force,and conversely the more difficult it is for the small and medium-sized cities to retain their labor force.The introduction of railways provides travel conditions for residents to commute long distances,further widening the gap between the two cities.And when the cost of intra-city commuting decreases or the cost of inter-city commuting increases,people tend to commute closer together,weakening the core city’s attractiveness to the labor force.(4)For a multi-city system containing both skilled and unskilled labor,the distribution of residents in equilibrium depends on their sensitivity to commuting distance.When the value per unit of time of labor is proportional to income,to maximize utility,skilled labor will choose to live away from the CBD,while unskilled labor will live close to the CBD.Analyzing the impact of intercity infrastructure on urban spatial structure and labor mobility makes intercity transport planning work more predictable and has important theoretical significance and application value.