Spatial Structure and Influencing Factors of the Economic Resilience Potential Spatial Association Network Among Urban Agglomerations Under Ecological Constraints—A Case Study of Urban Agglomerations in the Yellow River Basin

Abstract

With global uncertainty on the rise and stronger ecological constraints, urban agglomerations have become important spatial carriers for regional flows of economic factors and coordinated development, and improving their economic resilience is essential for high-quality regional development. This study examines 58 cities across seven urban agglomerations in the Yellow River Basin and uses a CRITIC–entropy weighting method to measure the levels of their ecological constraints and economic resilience. The study further incorporates ecological constraints into a gravity model to construct a potential spatial association network and employs social network analysis and MRQAP to identify network evolution and formation mechanisms from the perspectives of overall structure, node characteristics, and influencing factors. The results show that (1) the economic resilience displayed an overall upward trend with fluctuations, whereas the ecological constraint index showed an overall downward trend with fluctuations, with significant spatial heterogeneity in both; (2) the potential spatial association network gradually formed a stable polycentric structure, with stronger intercity linkages, strong connectivity and coordination potential, and Zhengzhou and Jinan as core cities; and (3) urban agglomeration structure, economic development gradients, and human capital gradient affected network formation. The urban agglomeration boundary effect remained dominant, the influence of economic development gradients increased, and the human capital gradient exhibits a stable negative statistical association. These findings provide insights for spatial coordination, strengthening economic resilience, and ecological conservation in the Yellow River Basin.