Yao Shi-mou

Urbanization and sustainable metropolitan development in China: Patterns, problems and prospects

The path of urbanization in the Peoples Republic of China is largely shaped by the nations industrial development strategies. In the first three decades of socialist construction, and especially after the Sino-Soviet rift at the end of the 1950s, the adoption of strategies of self-reliance had led to urban biased patterns of development. The introduction of economic reforms and the open door policy in 1978 paved the way for and facilitated national economic development. Two issues, which feature significantly in the processes of development in China, are assessed. The first is the relationship between economic development and the protection of arable land. The second is the quest for a coordinated hyper-development in both urban and rural areas. This paper concludes by proposing a sustainable metropolitan development strategy that suits the case of China.

Scale-free structure of town road network in southern Jiangsu Province of China

From the viewpoint of Graph Theory this paper builds a town road network graph of regional scale, and proposes numerical vertex degree (Di), rank vertex degree (Dr) and population size vertex degree (Dp) on the base of vertex degree (D). Then the indicators of Di, Dr, Dp and mathematical statistics methods are applied to investigating scale-free structure of town road networks in the southern Jiangsu Province. The results show that the distribution of Di does not exhibit scale-free properties, but Dr and Dp do. Additionally the correlation coefficient between Dp and Di is only 0.569, but the spatial correlation between Dp and Dr is very evident on the base of correlation analysis and spatial analysis of GIS. The mutual mechanism between Dp and Dr spatially represents a “Core-Belt” model of town development of regional scale. The town development model is open and clustered, and beneficial to both economic development and ecological protection. And then we suggest that Suzhou City, Wuxi City, Changzhou City and Wujin City control towns’ high-density pattern by conducting centralization and consolidation policies, and properly controlling and planning higher rank roads; whereas Nanjing City, Zhenjiang City, Jintan City and Liyang City must strengthen the development of towns along higher rank roads.

Evolvement of urban spatial structure and main drives in Wuxi, China

With the quick development of urbanization, urban expansion has been paid more and more attention to by researchers from western countries and China. Here Wuxi City of China is selected as a case study. Located in the core-area of Changjiang (Yangtze) River Delta, as the sources of Chinese township enterprise, Wu culture, and national industry, Wuxi has experienced great change in the urban spatial structure, especially in the land use structure, and urban shape and scale. The ratio of industrial land was about one-third of the construction land in 2003. Residential and public infrastructure land had decreased a little from 1956 to 2003, but it remains to be the main construction land at present. Green land has increased at the highest speed due to the demand of sustainable development. After the reform and opening to the outside world, this kind of evolvement of urban spatial expansion is helpful for sustainable development. Economic development, transportation, and administrative planning are the main reasons for these changes. During different periods, the main drives are different. Economic development is the basic factor that influences urban expansion. Transportation influences urban evolvement in different times, but now the importance is not as great as 30 years ago, because administrative force plays an important function in urban planning of China and influences urban evolvement.

MEASUREMENT OF AGGLOMERATION ECONOMIES AT COUNTY LEVEL IN JIANGSU PROVINCE

Agglomeration economies are the important factors for the regional development. However, the common indicators to measure them, such as Gini Coefficients neglect the spatial ingredient of data, leading to a-spatial estimates. In order to assess spatial neighbor effects of agglomeration economies, this study makes the new attempts by applying a series of techniques of spatial autocorrelation analysis, specifically, measuring the economies of urbanization and localization at the county level in the secondary and tertiary industries of Jiangsu Province in 1999 and 2002. The conclusions in this study reveal that on the whole, the localization effects on the economies of the secondary industry might be stronger than urbanization effects for that period, and highly agglomerative economies were limited within the southern Jiangsu and parts of middle along the Changjiang (Yangtze) River. Moreover, the tertiary industry has been strong urbanization rather than localization economies in the whole Jiangsu. Unlike the secondary industry, the tertiary industry held the high levels of agglomeration economies can be also found in the poor northern Jiangsu, and then the spatial clusters of trade and services might be basically seen in each of urban districts in 13 cities. All in all, spatial autocorrelation analysis is a better method to test agglomeration economies.

New patterns of urban development in China

According to the basic features of socio-economic development in China, the paper retrospects the developmental process of Chinese cities in the 20th century. Based on lots of data and related research achievements, five new patterns of Chinese urban development are pointed out, that is 1) regional disparity of urban development in China is still obvious and large; 2) cities in developed region develop in the form of agglomeration and coordination; 3) spatial layout shape of Chinese cities appears relatively tight, and there exists great outside expansion inclination; 4) the construction of exploitation zone becomes the new important factor of urban development in the 1990s; 5) number increase of cities at county level become the main tide of urban development, but cause the discrete understanding for the concept of urban substantial region, which construct a challenge to urban management. In the end the article puts forward a series thoughts on the future trends and countermeasures of urban development in China.

The effect of the new Eurasian Continental Bridge on the eastern coastal areas of China

AbstractsThis article has discussed the effects on the eastern coastal areas of China brought by the new Eurasian Continental Bridge when it was joined up from Chinese coastal harbour Lianyungang to Rotterdam Harbour in Holland. The effects will be discussed from four aspects which are promoting the developing process of containerized traffic, accelerating the adjustment of industrial structure, thriving Lianyungang City and setting up a more beneficial external conditions for Chinese eastern coastal areas.

New development pattern and coordination with environment for great Shanghai

The urban construction of Shanghai will come into a new area since China has deciared to exploit and open Pudong. Based on the analysis on economic development of China and the world, the developmental strategy for Shanghai should take the following contents into consideration: 1) Shanghai should be built into one of the most important international and modern supercity in Asian-Pacifie Region. 2) Shanghai should keep the position of the largest economic center of China and important port city for international trade. 3) Shanghai should be taken as growth pole of the Changjiang River Delta. According to the considderations mentioned above, the spatial distribution patten and the management of environment are discassed.The urban construction of Shanghai will come into a new area since China has deciared to exploit and open Pudong. Based on the analysis on economic development of China and the world, the developmental strategy for Shanghai should take the following contents into consideration: 1) Shanghai should be built into one of the most important international and modern supercity in Asian-Pacifie Region. 2) Shanghai should keep the position of the largest economic center of China and important port city for international trade. 3) Shanghai should be taken as growth pole of the Changjiang River Delta. According to the considderations mentioned above, the spatial distribution patten and the management of environment are discassed.