Spatial structure and evolutionary logic of urban agglomerations based on remote sensing data

City clusters are important spatial carriers for countries to participate in global competition. The continuous monitoring of a city's status can be performed through sensors and processors applied within the real-world infrastructure. Based on the DMSP/OLS and NPP-VIIRS night-time light remote sensing data of the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei (BTH) and Boswash (BW) urban agglomerations from 2000 to 2019, this study used the methods of dynamic threshold and spatial statistical SDE, with the support of GIS technology, to portray the spatial morphology and evolutionary logic of BTH and BW. The analysis used urban life entity theory. The results showed that BTH is in the middle stage of growth and development, with large differences in internal development, centered on the two major growth poles of Beijing and Tianjin. It is expanding in a circular wave-like pattern in all directions, characterized by fast metabolism and strong self-adaptation. BW is in the mature stage, with its overall development level well ahead of BTH's. The cities within are developed in a balanced manner, with a ribbon-like corrugated pattern in all directions, and its development is characterized by slow metabolism and strong self-adaptability.