Comparative study on Chinese urban agglomeration districts

The formation and development of urban agglomeration districts are the inevitable trend of modern urban evolution. Owing to the differences of formation background, urbanized way and process of different cities in the world, the feature and formation mechanism of urban agglomeration districts in the world present obvious spatial differences. The paper inquires into the structure feature, formation mechanism and development trend of different kinds of Chinese urban agglomeration districts by studying four big urban agglomeration districts: Jing-Jin-Tang (Beijing-Tianjin-Tangshan), the middle and south of Liaoning, Hu-Ning-Hang (Shanghai-Nanjing-Hangzhou), and Zhujiang River delta. The paper wants to promote the formation and development of theory and practice system of Chinese urban agglomeration districts.     

STUDY ON ECOLOGICAL SPACE OF URBAN AGGLOMERATION—Taking Wuxi City as an Example

From the angle of ecology, urban agglomeration presents relevant types of landscape structure, which in-clude Patch, Corridor and Matrix. There are different landscape features and different problems in different developmentphases. This paper has put forward five basic conditions for security pattern of landscape ecology of urban agglomeration,described quantitatively the features for landscape ecology in Wuxi, and analyzed ecological background of spatial expan-sion and spatial organization of urban development in Wuxi. From the angle of ecological land use and non-ecological landuse, the paper has analyzed the features of land use and ecological distribution of land in the urban area. The spatial mod-el of cities and towns in Wuxi is composed of one metropolis, two urban zones and three development axes. This thesishas planned preliminarily ecological protection network at four levels in the urban region according to four layers. At last,combining landscape ecology with urban space, a tentative security pattern of landscape ecology has been planned in Wux-i, namely Source-Buffer Zone and Metropolis, Radiating Routes and Expansion Direction of City, Strategic Point and Interac-tion between Cities and Towns, Inter-Source Linkage-Corridor of a Stable Landscape Structure.     

Eco-spatial Structure of Urban Agglomeration

In terms of ecological theory, this paper makes a comprehensive analysis of the mutualism and co- evolutionary mechanism between the eco-spatial structure and socio-economic development of the urban agglomeration, and maps out optimized modes of the eco-spatial structure of the urban agglomeration. The analysis is a case study of the urban agglomeration on different levels of global, national, provincial and local scales, on the basis of those conclusions are drawn: 1) Within the scope of the urban agglomeration, the cities should be reasonably sized and appropriately densified; the spatial combination of the urban agglomeration ought to be orderly, and its eco-spatial structure ought to be optimized and efficient; the relationship between the economic society and eco-spatial environment ought to be that of mutual benefit and co-evolution. 2) “The mode of corridor group network” is a certain trend evoked from the spatial structure of urban agglomeration. 3) The eco-spatial structure of urban agglomeration under “the mode of corridor group network” can further increase the environmental capacity of urban agglomeration, and is in favor of the harmonious relationship between man and nature.     

Measurement and spatial distribution of urban agglomeration industrial compactness in China

Urban agglomeration （UA） compactness means spatial concentration degree of physical entities, such as cities （towns）, industries, resources, funds, traffic and technologies, whose concentration is formed according to specified economic and technologic association in the process of UA formation and development. The UA industrial compactness means the concentration degree of industry and industry clusters with reference to the industrial, technological and economic relations among the cities in the UA in the process of rational industrial division and with the extension of industrial chain. After analyzing the researches on compactness, this paper finds that the relevant measurement coefficient and methods reflecting industrial geographical concentration fail to link industries spatial concentration with urban spatial concentration. Taking 23 UAs as samples and classifying them by development degree, this paper probes into UA compactness and spatial distribution characteristics from the perspective of industry by adopting UA index systems of industry and measurement models. The research finds out： 1） there is obvious positive correlation between UA industrial compactness and UA development degree; 2） the spatial distribution difference of UA industrial compactness is relatively great; and 3） UA industrial compactness shows a gradually decreasing tendency from the eastern part, the middle part to the western part of China. From the research thoughts and approaches, this article suggests that studies on the UA integrated compactness measurement should be enhanced from a multidimensional per- spective involving space, traffic, population density and so on.     

FORMATION MECHANISM AND SPATIAL PATTERN OF URBAN AGGLOMERATION IN CENTRAL JILIN OF CHINA

1 INTRODUCTION Urban agglomeration researches originated from the concern about the city cluster in the developed areas of western countries. The modern researches have been extended to the specific areas. HALL (2001) summa- rized the generality and difference of urban metropoli- tans in Europe, and analyzed the spatial structure of dif- ferent areas. NAUDE and KRUGELL (2003) analyzed the spatial development of urban agglomeration in South Africa, and thought that the size of the p…     

Factors affecting formation and development of the urban industrial district in China — A case study on caohejing hi-tech park in Shanghai

In China, the urban industrial district is usually an organic concentrated district including many factories that are in big, middle or small size, and are coordinated in the process of production, or use infrastructure in common. The formation and development of the urban industrial district in China are affected by not only general factors such as natural factor, transportation factor, labour factor, ecologic factor, but also special factors such as agglomeration factor, technologic factor and social factor. To the district’s formation, both the social factors and natural factors are important, especially the attitude the government have towards the district and the regional natural condition. But the agglomeration, market and transportation costs here are not as important as those in the traditional Industrial Location Theory. Now we must pay great attention to these three factors owing to the new economic conditions in China. In the development of the district, the main factors are technology and agglomeration. This indicates that the technologic factor is gradually the essential condition in the development of the district. Besides, we must also know the affection of the ecologic factor in the development of the district. According to the reality of Caohejing district, this paper gives every factor mark in the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). With the result of the AHP, some suggestions have been put forward to Caohejing Hi-Tech Park and other urban industrial districts as well.     

Stability of Spatial Structure of Urban Agglomeration in China Based on Central Place Theory

This paper brings forward the concept of stability of the spatial structure of urban agglomeration(UA)based on Central Place Theory by introducing centrality index and fractal theory.Before assessment,K=4 is selected as parameter to calculate centrality index and fractal dimension(K represents the quantitive relationship between city and the counties in Central Place Theory),and then found the number of nodes,the type of spatial structure,the spatial al-location of nodes with different hierarchy affecting the stability of spatial structure.According to spatial contact direction and the level of stability,UAs in China are classified into five types.Finally,it is posed as a further question that how to use hierarchical relation K=6 and K=7 in central place system to coordinate with the assessment of stability of spatial structure is brought forward.     

Spatial pattern evolution and casual analysis of county level economy in Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan urban agglomeration,China

In order to evaluate whether or not the county units＇ economy in the Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan （Chang-Zhu-Tan） Urban Agglomeration was growing as expected, this study analyzed the spatial economy pattern at county-level by using the Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis （ESDA） method. In this process, the global Moran＇s I and local Getis-Ord Gi＊ indexes were employed to analyze indicators including per capita GDP and three industrials （i.e. primary, secondary and tertiary industry） from 2000 to 2010. The results show that： 1） the county units＇ economy in the Chang-Zhu-Tan Urban Agglomeration has exhibited a strong spatial autocorrelation and an accelerated integration trend since 2008 （Moran＇ s I increased from 0.26 to 0.56）; 2） there is a significant difference in economy development between the northern and southern county units in the Chang-Zhu-Tan Urban Agglomeration： the hotspot zone with high economic level was formed among the northern county units whereas the coldspot zone with low economic level was located in the southern areas. This difference was caused primarily by the increasingly prominent economic radiation effect of Changsha ＇upheaval＇; 3） town density, secondary industry, and the integration policy are the major contributors driving the evolution of the spatial economy pattern in the Chang-Zhu-Tan Urban Agglomeration.     

Reconstruction of Industrial Location in View of Industrial Agglomeration

1 Introduction The industrial location is always the focus in academic circles and any analysis on industrial location can not avoid the agglomeration mechanism formed as the result of the industrial location. The study on the industrial location has become the focus for the massive theoretical location problems about agglomeration since the 1970s, which has a great influence on the formation of the in- dustrial location. In order to make more study of its in- fluence, it is necessary to resea…     

A STUDY ON THE FORECAST AND REGULATION OF COORDINATED DEVELOPMENT OF URBAN ENVIRONMENT AND ECONOMY IN GUANGZHOU

ＡＳＴＵＤＹＯＮＴＨＥＦＯＲＥＣＡＳＴＡＮＤＲＥＧＵＬＡＴＩＯＮＯＦＣＯＯＲＤＩＮＡＴＥＤＤＥＶＥＬＯＰＭＥＮＴＯＦＵＲＢＡＮＥＮＶＩＲＯＮＭＥＮＴＡＮＤＥＣＯＮＯＭＹＩＮＧＵＡＮＧＺＨＯＵＹａｎｇＳｈｉｈｏｎｇ（杨士弘）（ＤｅｐａｒｔｍｅｎｔｏｆＧ...     

STUDY ON THE OPTIMUM PATTERN OF DAQING URBAN SPATIAL STRUCTURE

Daqing is a mining city that was set up on wetland by exploiting and processing petroleum.This paper points out that net-group urban system is the optimization mode for Daqing urban spatial structure through analyzing and appraising the present situation,characteristics,advantages and disadvantages of Daqing spatial structure.And the best way of optimizing Daqing urban spatial structure is to adopt sustainable development strategy,establish the coordinated grade structure of urban system,construct developed towns net system,prefect the function structure of the towns at all levels,make full use of resources and strengthen environmental protection.Spatial structure of Daqing must be according-ly adjusted in order to adapt to the transformation of future economy types and functions.Bsded on the foundation of keep-ing net group,the development should be from disperse to moderate centralization in order to give prominence to the multi-function of the central city.Constructing ruralizing city should be the future goal of Daqing City.     

Evolution and spatial patterns of spheres of urban influence in China

This article presents the findings of a study of the spheres of urban influence with regard to all cities in China（not including Hong Kong,Macau and Taiwan Province of China）in the years 1990,2000 and 2009.An optimized gravity model with comprehensive time distance was used to carry out a detailed analysis of the spatial patterns of Chinese spheres of urban influence and the spatial characteristics of urban agglomerations.Such urban agglomerations are characterized by high density population and a developed economy,which are also considered as the national competition unit.This paper initially identifies four spatial patterns of urban agglomerations based on the spatial layout of city groups during their evolution.Some basic characteristics of urban agglomerations are outlined,including the number of cities,the size of cities and the functions of urban centers.These characteristics are examined by using statistical methods and Geographic Information System（GIS）.The main findings from this research are that the development stages and structures of urban agglomerations in China vary significantly.It is also clear that the stages and evolution of spatial patterns are strongly affected and dominated by both policy and location factors.     

COMPARATIVE STUDY ON RESIDENTS＇ PERCEPTION OF TOURISM IMPACT AT TOURIST PLACES—A Case Study of Xidi, Zhouzhuang and Jiuhua Mountain

Based on the questionnaire investigation, the authors make a comparative study on local residents‘ perception of tourism impacts in Xidi, Zhouzhuang and Jiuhua Mountain. The result shows that residents of the three places tend to have strong and consistent perception of its positive economic, socio-cultural and environmental impacts, but distinctly diverse ones of its negative impacts. Residents in Xidi and Zhouzhuang also have noticeable perception of its negative environmental impacts while those in Jiuhua Mountain have weaker perception of them.The research confirms the fact that residents are more liable to have positive perceptions at the early stage of the life cycle of the tourist places. The authors conclude that there exists a nonlinear relationship between residents‘ perception and tourism development stages, and that tourism socio-cultural impact may appear at an early stage of tourism development instead of being no universal.     

New patterns of urban development in China

1　ＩＮＴＲＯＤＵＣＴＩＯＮＣｉｔｙｐｌａｙｓａｎｉｍｐｏｒｔａｎｔｒｏｌｅｉｎｔｈｅｐｒｏｃｅｓｓｏｆｒｅ ｇｉｏｎａｌｅｃｏｎｏｍｉｃｄｅｖｅｌｏｐｍｅｎｔ .Ｆｏｒｉｎｓｔａｎｃｅ ,ｉｎ 1996,ｔｈｅｔｏｔａｌｍｕｎｉｃｉｐａｌａｒｅａｓｏｆ 666ｃｉｔｉｅｓｏｎｌｙｃｏｖｅｒｅｄｔｈｅｐｒｏｐｏｒｔｉｏｎｏｆ 18.12ｐｅｒｃｅｎｔｉｎｎａｔｉｏｎａｌｔｅｒｒｉｔｏｒｙ ,ａｎｄｂｕｉｌｔ ｕｐａｒｅａ 1.8ｐｅｒｃｅｎｔ .Ｂｕｔｔｈｅｙｐｒｏｄｕｃｅｄｔｈｅ 68.63ｐｅｒｃｅｎｔｏｆＧＤＰ(ＧｒｏｓｓＤｏ…     

ASSESSING THE QUALITY OF URBAN LIFE IN CHINA

The quality of life is considered as the distributed degree of social resources with significance to the urban residents as a whole. There are three features about the study of the quality of life by means of objective method. First, objective methid is based on the government publication of statistics from which the information of social environment influencing people's life can be obtained by systematic analysis. Second, as a result of social policy and planning development, the quality of life studied by objective method can provide scieatific basis for regulating and making policy. Third, the objective method emphasize that the improvement of the quality of life mainly depends on the effort from the government so as to set up a coordinatly developed environment of community.On the basis of relevant data from the 1991 Yearbook of Urban Statirtics of China published by Statistics Press of China, and using spss, the quality of urban life in China is evaluated. Seventy four cities are selected from 467     

An empirical study on Chinese city network pattern based on producer services

Globalization and informatization have accelerated city networking process over the world, which makes research on city network a hot topic in the fields of urban geography and economic geography. With Chinese economic structure adjustment and city economic growth, producer services have begun to play an increasingly important role in city-region networking. This paper employs the methodology of world city network to analyze and explain the spatial development characteristics of China’s urban network system based on the data of nationwide producer services enterprise network. The research result indicated that the distribution of producer services network has a positive effect on the development of Chinese city networks. City network connectivity is closely related to the significance of city in producer services development, and the former will gradually decline with the drop of the latter. Accordingly, the 64 cities can be divided into the national central cities, regional central cities, sub-regional central cities and local central cities in accordance with their position and role in the nationwide producer services network. It is concluded that high-grade cities with quality producer services dominate the pattern of Chinese city networks and there emerges three spatial agglomerations of producer services enterprises in Changjiang (Yangtze) River Delta, Zhujiang (Pearl) River Delta and Beijing-Tianjin-Tangshan Economical Region. Moreover, the distribution of different producer services industry varies from city to city, which also affects the characteristics of network development.     

Research on natural resources and environmental geology for urban sustainable development: a case study of Kunming

There exists synchronous growth in resources consumption and environment pollution in Kunming urbanization in recent years, which has led to the increasing pressure of urban sustainable development. Considering the environmental and social benefits in Kunming’s water resources sustainable development, the authors provided a research finding the optimal urban population scale in different stages for urban water supply based on the sustainable development groundwater evaluating theoretical model. Through the research on the availability of construction site as well as the risk in underground space exploitation with the extenics theory method, we get a suitable partition map of land for urban construction and a risky partition map of underground space development. The results show that the appropriate population scale of Kunming will be less than 2.96×106 by 2020, and will reach (4.34--2.96)×106 optimized population scale after 2020 under the condition of economic-socially and environmentally sustainable development. It is significant to optimize urban construction land and use underground space under the condition of land resources sustainability in Kunming.     

URBAN PLANNING： A TOOL FOR URBAN POVERTY ALLEVIATION IN SUDAN

In the past few dacades, urbanization and urban growth have been increasing rapidly in many of the developing countries. It is expected that over 50% of the world population will live in cities in 2005. The growing trend indicates that as many as one fifth of all households still remain with housing tenure problems, which they try to solve through very expensive rentals, insecurity, socially and environmentally-hazardous squatting or unhealthy overcrowding, sometimes ending up with none at all. And hence, proper planning is necessary in urban development policies to improve human settlement managements in a sustainable way. This article has tried to handle urban poverty in the Sudan to a reasonable level of detail. It dealt with selected areas with regard to promotion of sustainable human settlement. The study managed to identity some recent progress in Sudanese human settlements, that is, however, still accompanied by numerous serious instances of decline in the urban environment, especially that of the greater Khartoum.Such instances of environmental deterioration are profiled and analyzed by the study with respect to all human settlement aspects of management, land-use, infrastructure, energy and transport. The paper‘s conclusion emphasized that improving all these aspects is of high priority.     

Field Modeling Method for Identifying Urban Sphere of Influence： A Case Study on Central China

With rapid development of urbanization and regional interaction and interdependence, regional urban agglomeration planning becomes more and more important in China, in order to promote integrated development of various cities with close interrelationship. However, it is still arguable academically on how to define the boundary or which cities to be included for the urban agglomeration of a region. This paper aims to shed lights on how to identify urban spheres of influence scientifically by introducing field modeling method and by practicing a case study on 168 cities in Central China. In our field modeling method, the influence intensities of cities were measured by a comprehensive index and urban spheres of influence were represented spatially by field intensity. Then, their classification and spatial distribution characteristics of study area in 2007 were identified and explored by using GIS and statistical methods. The result showed that: 1) Wuhan is the absolute dominant city in Central China; 2) the provincial capital cities dominate their own provinces and there are no other lower grade agglomeration centers; and 3) the basic types of organization form of urban sphere of influence are single-polar type, agglomeration type, close-related group type and loose-related group type.     

The progress in urban social spactial differentiation study of China

Ｕｒｂａｎｓｏｃｉａｌｇｅｏｇｒａｐｈｙａｎｄｉｔｓｓｕｂｆｉｅｌｄ—ｕｒｂａｎｓｏｃｉａｌｓｐａｔｉａｌｄｉｆｆｅｒｅｎｔｉａｔｉｏｎｈａｖｅｂｅｅｎｄｅｖｅｌｏｐｅｄｓｉｎｃｅｔｈｅ１９６０ｓ．Ｔｉｌｌｎｏｗ,ｂｙｉｔｓｂａｓｅｍｅｎｔａｎｄｔｈｅｏｒｙ,ｉｔｃａｎｂｅｄｉｖｉｄｅｄｉｎｔｏｔｈｒｅｅｓｔａｇｅｓａｎｄｆｏｕｒｒｅｓｅａｒｃｈｓｃｈｏｏｌｓ：１）ｍｅｔｈｏｄｏｌｏｇｉｃａｌｄｅｓｃｒｉｐｔｉｏｎｓｔａｇｅ;２）ｂｅｈａｖｉｏｒｓｔｕｄｙｓｔａｇｅ;３）ｒａｄｉｃａｌＭａｒ…