How do subway stations encourage the vitality of urban consumption amenities in Shanghai: A perspective on agglomeration

Subway is an effective public transportation infrastructure that attracts many urban consumer amenities in developing countries. This paper uses points of interest (POI) data from Dianping.com in 2020 in Shanghai to measure the quantity, quality, and diversity of consumer amenities by six indices: numbers, types, comments, ratings, star ratings, and takeout rate. We find that subway stations have a positive spatial correlation with vitality of consumer amenities within a 2-km radius. In addition, subway stations attract more newly added consumer amenities with higher quality within a 2-km radius, and the results remain robust by using the propensity score matching method. There exists heterogeneity in the ridership of subway stations. Subway stations with higher ridership have a greater effect on the consumer amenities and newly added consumer amenities. In terms of mechanism, based on the perspective of agglomeration economy, this paper uses Baidu Street View big data to verify that pedestrian flow is the key mechanism. This study accurately evaluates the economic and social benefits of subway stations and provides fundamental policy implications for the spatial layout of subways and consumer amenities of large cities in developing countries.