Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
restructuring in Chinese cities. This section reviews the key themes and empirical
findings of space-time behavior research in urban China.
3.3.1
Understanding Urban Spatial Structure Through
Describing Individual Space-Time Activity Patterns
Earlier empirical studies from space-time activity approach have focused on describ-
ing the spatial-temporal patterns of individual daily activities, thereby providing a
micro-level interpretation of China's urban spatial structure. For instance, descrip-
tive statistics have shown how urban residents allocate their time to different types of
activities, i.e. the temporal rhythms of daily activities over the course of 24 h, and the
average travel distances from home based on the purpose of an activity. For instance,
Chai et al. (
2002
) found that the activity frequency of Chinese urban residents
follows the distance decay model and that communities constitute the basic level
of daily-life space, particularly for residents living in
danwei
compounds compared
to suburban residents who have more extensive and wider daily-life activity space
(see, Chai et al.
2002
).
As to the method, the time-use structure, activity rhythms, and the space-time
paths were widely used to explore the overall space-time pattern. First, the time-
use structure is based on the percentages of time one spends on different types
of activities over the course of 24 h. Gong et al. (
2000
)andLiuetal.(
2000
)
conducted clustering analysis of time-use structure to residents in Shenzhen and
found six groups of residents with distinctive time-use characteristics. Meanwhile,
representative households were selected as case studies for analysis of space-time
paths of household members to further illustrate the typical space-time pattern of
each group (Chai et al.
2002
;seeFig.
3.3
).
Second, the temporal rhythm of daily activities helps capture the rhythm of
activity frequencies during a day. Third, a two-dimensional chart of space-time
structure was developed to illustrate an aggregate-level pattern of space-time
activities of all sample residents. In the chart, the X-axis refers to the distance range
from home for each category of activities, such as the 0-0.5 km, 0.5-5 km, 5-10 km,
and beyond 10 km. The Y-axis refers to frequency of activities (i.e. percentage of
respondents participating in an activity at certain time and within certain distance
range) across 24 h (Gong et al.
2000
;seeFig.
3.4
).
However, the early stage of space-time behavior research in China also faced
great methodological challenges. For instance, time geography as Hägerstrand
proposed stresses an individual-based activity analysis, integration of the temporal
and spatial dimensions, and the interpretation of individual space-time activities
within multiple sources of constraints. Yet earlier empirical literature was often
limited to activity patterns on an aggregate level and had insufficient reference to
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