Spatial Patterns of the Urban Agglomeration of the Yellow River Ji-Shaped Bend Based on Space of Multiple Flows

Previous studies on the space of flows have mainly focused on a single flow element and have given less consideration to the joint effect of complex correlations among multiple flows. To fill this gap, in the context of the coordinated development of the urban agglomeration of the Yellow River Ji-shaped bend (UAYB), in this study, three flows, namely population flow, logistics flow, and information flow, are selected to research the spatial patterns of the UAYB. The results show the following: (1) The information flow among cities in the UAYB is the strongest, followed by logistics flow and population flow. (2) Hohhot, Ordos, Yinchuan, and Taiyuan are the core cities and have attracted more flows to converge there; different flows have formed different central features. (3) Regarding the correlation of the three flows, information flow has a strong correlation with the other two flows. (4) From the perspective of the joint effects of the three flows considered, the hierarchy of UAYB is dominated by Hohhot and Taiyuan and sub-dominated by Yinchuan and Ordos; four prominent city groups have been formed with these four cities as the center. On the basis of our results, we put forward some recommendations on the integrated development of cities at various levels within the UAYB to provide a reference for its spatial optimization strategy.