Resilience Evolution of Urban Network Structures from a Complex Network Perspective: A Case Study of Urban Agglomeration along the Middle Reaches of the Yangtze River

With the increasingly notable trend of urban networking and integration, urban development faces an unprecedented increase in unknown risks. Urban governance must improve various risk prevention and control capabilities as soon as possible. In this context, this study builds an integrated network based on economic, information, transportation, and innovation networks. Taking the urban agglomeration along the middle reaches of the Yangtze River as the research area, we used UCINET (version 6.0), ArcGIS (version 10.2), Gephi (version 0.9.2), and other software to analyze these factors from three perspectives: hierarchy, matching, and transmission. We evaluated and analyzed the evolution characteristics of the urban agglomeration network structure resilience from 2011 to 2019. The results showed that (1) from 2011 to 2019, the urban agglomeration in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River formed a network development pattern of “three-core leading and multicenter development.” In this region, the urban network displayed an expanding trend. (2) The hierarchy within the network structure exhibited a weakening trend, yet the matching efficiency and transmission capacity experienced significant improvement. This suggests that the resilience characteristics of the integrated network structure of urban agglomerations are increasingly reinforced, enabling better adaptation to and endurance of external shocks. (3) Enhancements to matching and transmission can partially improve the agglomeration and stability of the urban agglomeration system. This also promotes the resilience and recovery ability of the urban agglomeration system while managing the impacts of uncertain internal and external factors. (4) The interruption simulation demonstrates that the urban agglomeration in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River is significantly influenced by the failure of Wuhan, a city that holds a pivotal role in fostering the resilience of the urban agglomeration network structure. This study aims to provide a foundation for network structure resilience and a reference for promoting healthy regional development, aiding urban agglomeration to achieve high-quality development.