Spatial Drivers of Urban Industrial Agglomeration Using Street View Imagery and Remote Sensing: A Case Study of Shanghai

The spatial distribution mechanism of industrial agglomeration has long been a central topic in urban economic geography. With the increasing availability of street view imagery and built environment data, effectively integrating multi-source spatial information to identify key drivers of firm clustering has become a pressing research challenge. Taking Shanghai as a case study, this paper constructs a street-level Built Environment (BE) database and proposes an interpretable spatial analysis framework that integrates SHapley Additive exPlanations with Multi-Scale Geographically Weighted Regression. The findings reveal that: (1) building morphology, streetscape characteristics, and perceived greenness significantly influence firm agglomeration, exhibiting nonlinear threshold effects; (2) spatial heterogeneity is evident in the underlying mechanisms, with localized trade-offs between morphological and perceptual factors; and (3) BE features are as important as macroeconomic factors in shaping agglomeration patterns, with notable interaction effects across space, while streetscape perception variables play a relatively secondary role. This study advances the understanding of how micro-scale built environments shape industrial spatial structures and offers both theoretical and empirical support for optimizing urban industrial layouts and promoting high-quality regional economic development.