Industry Linkage and Spatial Co-Evolution Characteristics of Industrial Clusters Based on Natural Semantics—Taking the Electronic Information Industry Cluster in the Pearl River Delta as an Example

Abstract

Identifying industrial clusters and the changes in the spatial representation of these clusters is a basic but challenging issue for understanding and promoting urban and regional development. However, the current evolution characteristics of industrial clusters pay too much attention to the spatial perspective, and some studies analyze the evolution of industrial clusters from the perspective of industrial linkages. It is very important to combine industrial linkages and spatial agglomeration to observe the evolution of industrial clusters. To solve this problem, based on the enterprise big data from 1984 to 2019, this study uses the method based on natural semantics and spatial collaborative aggregation to identify industrial linkages and spatial aggregation of industrial clusters, and takes the electronic information industry cluster in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region as an example for empirical research. It can be seen from the results that most of the industries in the PRD cluster remain stable, and the industrial linkages and spatial agglomeration within the cluster are increasing. From the overall type of change, fewer industries can maintain high linkage–high proximity, and most industries are mainly concentrated in low linkage–high proximity. Through the combination of semantic and spatial synergy analysis, this study helps urban planners and policymakers understand the changes in industrial linkages and spatial agglomeration of industrial clusters.