Transportation, decentralization, and path dependence: How did the old tramway shape Shanghai, China?

The deposited data allows replication of the tables and figures in "Transportation, decentralization, and path dependence: How did the old tramway shape Shanghai, China?" (Li, 2024). This article studies the short- and long-run economic consequences of the now-extinct Shanghai tramway. Tramway was the primary mode of transportation in Shanghai between 1908 and the 1930s, continuing to operate until 1975. With the geolocation of the tramway lines on both historical cadastral maps and current Google maps, the article finds that after the arrival of the tramway, land lots close to the tramway lines experienced a larger increase in land value relative to those far away from the tramway lines, and that the reduction in transportation costs led to a flattening land value gradient with respect to distance from the central business district (CBD). It also finds that the tramway still influences the current pattern of urban land value, even nearly fifty years after the removal of the last tramway track. Such persistent influence can be largely explained by the follow-on amenities near the tramway lines. The evidence found in this article suggests that the tramway in Shanghai promoted decentralization by enhancing accessibility to the CBD from distant locations in its heyday, and influences modern behaviors through the mutually reinforced private and public coordination of economic activities.

本公开数据集可复现论文《交通、城市分散化与路径依赖：旧有轨电车如何塑造中国上海》（Li，2024）中的全部表格与图表。该论文聚焦现已停运的上海有轨电车系统的短期与长期经济效应。1908年至1930年代，有轨电车曾是上海的主流交通方式，并持续运营至1975年。研究团队结合历史地籍图与当前谷歌地图（Google Maps）中的有轨电车线路地理定位数据，得出以下核心结论：有轨电车开通后，邻近线路的地块相较远离线路的地块实现了更高幅度的土地增值；同时交通成本的降低使得土地价值梯度随与中央商务区（Central Business District，简称CBD）的距离变化趋于平缓。此外，即便在最后一段有轨电车轨道拆除近50年后，该系统仍对当前城市土地价值格局存在显著影响。此类持续性影响在很大程度上可由有轨电车线路周边衍生的配套公共服务设施得到解释。本研究的证据表明，上海有轨电车在其鼎盛时期通过提升远郊区域通往中央商务区的可达性，推动了城市空间分散化；并通过私人与公共经济活动的相互强化协同，持续影响着现代城市的发展模式。