ASSESSING THE IMPACT OF HIGH-SPEED RAIL ON URBAN DEVELOPMENT IN CHINA: FROM ECONOMIC AND DEMOGRAPHIC PERSPECTIVES

Abstract

This research aims to assess the impact of High-Speed Rail (HSR) development on urban development in China. Quantitative method was adopted to establish the relationship between two main HSR-related transportation independent variables and numerous dependent variables from economic and demographic perspectives. The two independent variables used in this study include one dummy variable namely the presence of HSR in a city as well as one continuous variable namely Economic Potential (EP) derived from the improved accessibility brought by HSR development. EP is measured as an accessibility proxy containing the size of market potential that a city can access. In this research, the objective was inspected using Ordinary Least-Squares (OLS) Regression models. The study found that economic growth in terms of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is positively related to HSR development or its induced improvement in accessibility, as cities with HSR stations are expected to have higher economic growth across the years. Other economic indicators like GDP per capita and fixed asset investment are found to have positive relationship with HSR development. Population as supplementary demographic parameter is also proven positively related to HSR development. The results however, are not as significant. As such, the research meets its objective and is able to partially conclude that HSR development has a positive impact in urban growth in China.