空间失衡是指公共资源和社会服务，如就业岗位、教育、医疗等在地理空间上的不均衡分布。空间严重失衡会导致社会不公正增加和不安定加剧。交通基础设施建设改变空间可达性，因此世界各国常将基础设施投资作为改善空间失衡的举措。本课题关注我国高铁建设对空间失衡的影响，研究两个层面的问题。①理论层面：研究空间失衡的多尺度变异机理。空间失衡问题会不同程度地体现在不同空间尺度上，如国家、区域、城市等，本课题基于可塑性面积单元问题（MAUP）的研究探讨高铁交通网络下多尺度空间失衡的变异规律和原理。②实证层面：基于2006和2016年全国280个地级市的高铁及社会经济数据，分析我国四大区域、城市群和长江中游城市群内部三个尺度空间失衡状态及高铁建设前后的变化。对不同空间尺度空间失衡的误读会带来相应政策制定的偏差和投资的低效，本课题预期成果对国家和省市各级制定有效的缓解区域失衡发展的投资计划与政策策略具有反馈参考价值。

Spatial inequality denotes the unequal geographical distribution of public resources and services, for example, jobs, education, and health services. Serious spatial inequality may increase social injustice and lead to social instability. Transportation services improve spatial access. Hence many countries around the world invest in transportation infrastructure as a strategy to improve spatial inequality. This project eyes on the impacts of China’s high-speed rail (HSR) investments on spatial inequality and performs two parts of research. ①Theoretical: the project investigates the principles and regularities of multi-scalability of spatial inequality amid the presence of Modifiable Areal Unit Problem. ②Empirical: the project utilizes HSR and socioeconomic data for China’s 266 prefectural cities in 2006 and 2016 to assess the conditions and changes of spatial inequality at three spatial scales: four territorial regions, city-cluster regions, and cities/districts within Central Yangtze River city-cluster region. Mis-assessing multi-scale spatial inequality could result in misaligned policies and waste of resources. The project’s results are expected to inform national and provisional plans and investment decisions aiming at improving spatial inequality.