Road Centrality and Urban Landscape Patterns in Wuhan City, China

Abstract

Investigating the relationship between road centrality and urban landscape patterns is important for transport planning and land management. A multiple centrality assessment (MCA) model is used to measure local and global road centrality indicators, namely, closeness, betweenness, and straightness. In this study, the node-based weight of road grade and width is used, and urban landscape patterns are described using percentage of landscape (PLAND), Shannon’s diversity index (SHDI), mean patch size (MPS), and the mean shape index (MSI). Kernel density estimation (KDE) is also used to convert results to a basic raster unit, and Spearman rank correlation quantifies relationships at the landscape and class levels. Results show that (1) local and global centrality comprehensively describe the structural properties of roads in Wuhan City; (2) a relationship exists between road centrality and urban landscape (The urban landscape is more fragmented when a location has a higher centrality.); (3) a location with centrality advantage attracts more commercial and financial, residential, and transportation land use while excluding cultivated land use; (4) a location with centrality advantage results in greater fragmentation of industrial and storage, municipal, and public building land use; and (5) the shape of industrial and storage land use tends to be more regular while residential land use reflects a more irregular pattern when a location possesses a centrality advantage. Our findings suggest that road centrality is crucial in shaping urban landscapes and land-use allocations, and it helps the development and restoration of urban landscapes.