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Applied Spatial Analysis and Policy (2025) 18:24
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12061-024-09633-3
Exploring theHeterogenous Impacts oftheAccessibility
onUrban–Rural Disparity inMountainous Regions ofChina
YelyuTu1,2· FanrongJiang1· TaoLi1· ZhipingChen2
Received: 14 September 2024 / Accepted: 25 December 2024
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V. 2025
Abstract
Most studies have explored the association between transportation and urban–rural
disparity. However, research focusing on the impact of transportation accessibility
on these issues has been relatively scarce. This paper contributes to the literature
by examining the spatially varying impacts of multiscale accessibility on urban–
rural income disparity (URID) in the Qinba mountainous region (QBM) of China.
The results further highlight the differing impacts of county-level, prefecture-level,
and provincial-level accessibility on URID. The MGWR model confirms that the
effects of multiscale accessibility on URID are spatially heterogeneous. Specifically,
county-level accessibility has a significantly negative effect on URID. In contrast,
the impacts of prefecture-level and provincial-level accessibility are significantly
positive in narrowing the URID, leading to a “diffusion effect.” The narrowing effect
of prefecture-level and provincial-level accessibility on URID is more pronounced
in the eastern and northern parts of QBM, respectively. In the western mountainous
areas of QBM, where most counties experience relatively low accessibility and high
URID, prioritizing the expansion of connectivity between mountainous and well-
developed areas, optimizing the layouts of villages and towns, and improving overall
accessibility is essential. The findings suggest that the implementation of accessibil-
ity improvements and transport plans should be place-specific, considering the geo-
graphical and socio-economic contexts.
Keywords Urban rural disparity· Accessibility· Transport infrastructures·
Multiscale geographically weighted regression analysis (MGWR )· Qinba
Mountainous Regions (QBM)
Introduction
Urban–rural inequality is a long-standing topic in the era of “Planetary Urbaniza-
tion” (Sun etal., 2023). Reducing urban–rural disparity (URD) and eradicating pov-
erty are not only challenges to global urbanization but also key objectives of the
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