Investigating interaction between the port-city relationship and the urban road network structure: a case study of China

Ports, with their transport focus, are considered as the key nodes of the global supply chain and are viewed as an important driving force for urban development. On the other side, the road network structure of cities ensures the sustainable operation and development of ports. The interaction between the port-city relationship and the urban road network structure is explored in this paper. The port-city relationship is examined using the Comprehensive Relative Concentration Index (CRCI) model and the data collected from 26 China’s coastal port cities. The impact of port-city interaction on the urban road network structure is analyzed by a series of coupling coordination degree (CCD) models based on the entropy weight method. It was found that: (1) The coordination degree of port development and city development can measure the port-city relationship; (2) The interaction between the port-city relationship and the urban road network structure can be classified into three types by comparing the port scale and the city scale, namely large, equal, and small; and (3) The urban road network structure is relatively worse for the cities with a larger port scale than the city scale and better for the cites with a smaller port scale than the city scale.