Which network effectively supports urban economic growth? Evidence from China

City's economic development is increasingly dependent on its positionality in urban networks built on various intercity element flows. In this study, based on data crawling and gravity modelling, seven urban networks of 286 prefecture-level and above cities in mainland China were constructed for 2011 and 2019, and various influencing factors were analyzed. A qualitative comparative analysis was then employed to explore the impacts of urban connectivity in different networks on the urban economy and shed light on the optimal combination of networks to support urban economic growth effectively. The results demonstrate that in 2011, intercity capital, information, trade, knowledge, and technology networks were all essential to urban economic development, while the labour and transportation networks were supporting the former five networks. In 2019, urban development relied more on innovative knowledge and technology networks rather than labour, information, transportation, and trade networks. The importance of the capital network decreased, whereas the knowledge and technology networks still played significant roles in urban economic growth, suggesting an overall transformation to an innovation-driven economy in China.