Spatial relationship of high-speed transportation construction and land-use efficiency and its mechanism: Case study of Shandong Peninsula urban agglomeration

Land-use efficiency is low for the urban agglomeration of China. High-speed transportation construction has been an important factor driving land use change. It is critically important to explore the spatial relationship between the high-speed transportation superiority degree and land-use efficiency. We built a model to evaluate the benefits of convenient high-speed transportation using the relative density of highways and the distance from high-speed rail stations and airports as a metric. We used 42 counties of the Shandong Peninsula urban agglomeration as an example. Land-use efficiency was calculated by a DEA model with capital, labor, economic benefits and environmental benefits as input and output factors. We examined the spatial relationships between high-speed transport superiority degree and land-use efficiency and obtained the following results. First, there are significant spatial differences in the relationships between the high-speed transportation superiority degree and land-use efficiency. Taking the two major cities of Jinan and Qingdao as the hubs, the core surrounding counties show significant spatial relationship between land-use efficiency and the high-speed transportation superiority degree. Spatial correlation declines as the distance from the hubs increases. Land-use efficiency is less than high-speed transportation convenience in areas along the transportation trunks that are distant from the hub cities. Correlation is low in areas that are away from both hub cities and transportation trunk routes. Second, high-speed transportation has a positive relationship with land-use efficiency due to the mechanism of element agglomeration exogenous growth. Third, high-speed transportation facilitates the flow of goods, services and technologies between core cities and peripheral cities as space spillover (the hub effect). This alters the spatial pattern of regional land-use efficiency. Finally, the short-board effect caused by decreased high-speed transport construction can be balanced by highway construction and the proper node layouts of high-speed rail stations and airports, resulting in a well-balanced spatial pattern of land-use efficiency.