China's Urban Commercial Expansion in the Digital Era

Beijing City Lab Data

Type & Source This public research repository accompanies the Nature Cities article The Form of China's Urban Commercial Expansion in the Digital Era . It documents the evolution of commercial establishments across 287 Chinese cities from 2015 to 2023, with particular attention to horizontal expansion within street blocks and vertical expansion across building floors. Contents Result tables used in the study. Analysis and visualization scripts. Citation Zhang, E., Hou, J., & Long, Y. (2025). The form of China's urban commercial expansion in the digital era. Nature Cities . https://doi.org/10.1038/s44284-025-00254...