Discussion on sustainable urbanization in Tibet

After 1995,Tibet entered the stage of accelerated urbanization.The large floating population from outside Tibet has become the driving force for urban expansion and the rising of urbanization rate.After analyzing the changes of urban functions and spatial structure of urban system in Tibet,this paper argues that before 1995 the urbanization in Tibet was mainly driven by administrative function,resulting in certain population migration,whereas in the past dec-ade economic function has become the key factor accelerating urban expansion with the market mechanism creating large-scale inflow of population.The floating population-based urbanization and high population growth in the agri-cultural and pastoral areas of Tibet has promoted the regional economic prosperity,but exerted resources and environ-mental pressure and brought some problems for Tibetan culture protection at the same time.The conflicts and contra-dictions between urbanization and the sustainability of natural resources,environment and social development have been intensified.Addressing these problems,this paper proposes some countermeasures for improving the sustainabil-ity of Tibetan urbanization.