Spatial pattern and drivers of urbanization in China’s mid-level developing urban agglomeration: A case study of Chang-Zhu-Tan

doi:10.1016/j.regsus.2020.12.001

Abstract

Abstract:

Urban agglomeration has become the main form of regional spatial organization in China. While most of the existing studies of urban agglomeration in China have focused on the eastern coastal areas, urban agglomeration with mid-level development in the rest of the country has been overlooked. To better understand the urbanization process of the mid-level developing urban agglomeration, this study investigated the clustering pattern and the drivers of both urban population and firm dynamics during 2005-2015 in the Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan (Chang-Zhu-Tan) urban agglomeration of China using the methods of kernel density estimation and geographic detection. Our results show that centralization was obvious, although decentralization also occurred in Chang-Zhu-Tan, and that the spatial agglomeration was promoted by several factors, such as administrative resources, location advantage, labor cost, and consumption capacity. Some problems hindering the development of this region were also discovered: administrative resources played a critical role in urbanization because small towns and villages did not receive enough attention, and the effect of local policy was not as beneficial as expected. These findings partly explain the relatively slow development of mid-level developing urban agglomerations and have important implications for promoting healthier urbanization.

Key words: Urbanization, Spatial pattern, Urban agglomeration, Firm clustering, Driving mechanism, China

Yanhua He, Yi Lin, Guohua Zhou, Yixuan Zhu, Kai Tang. Spatial pattern and drivers of urbanization in China’s mid-level developing urban agglomeration: A case study of Chang-Zhu-Tan[J]. Regional Sustainability, 2021, 2(1): 83-97.

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Dimension	Influence factor	Indicator
Geographical environment	Natural resources	Resource potential index (RPI)
Geographical environment	Location advantage	Location advantage index (LAI)
Market and investment	Labor cost	Annual average wage of employees (AAWE)
Market and investment	Consumption capacity	Per capita retail sales of consumer goods (PCRSCG)
Market and investment	Investment capacity	Ratio of public expenditures to income (RPEI)
Government policy	Administrative hierarchy	Administrative-level index (ALI)
Government policy	Distinctive policy	Policy advantage index (PAI)

Urban area	Value of E_j
Urban district of Changsha City	0.9991
Urban district of Wangcheng District	0.0488
County town of Ningxiang County	0.0649
County town of Changsha County	0.1232
Urban district of Liuyang City	0.0622
Urban district of Zhuzhou City	0.2330
County town of Zhuzhou County	0.0155
County town of Chaling County	0.0031
Urban district of Liling City	0.0505
County town of Yanling County	0.0025
County town of You County	0.0311
Urban district of Xiangtan City	0.1316
County town of Xiangtan County	0.0190
Urban district of Xiangxiang City	0.0272
Urban district of Shaoshan City	0.0129

Indicator	q value
Administrative-level index (ALI)	0.630
Number of firms (NF)	0.334
Per capita retail sales of consumer goods (PCRSCG)	0.333
Location advantage index (LAI)	0.280
Ratio of public expenditures to income (RPEI)	0.180
Annual average wage of employees (AAWE)	0.160
Resource potential index (RPI)	0.080
Policy advantage index (PAI)	0.060

	PCRSCG	RPEI	AAWE	ALI	LAI	PAI	RPI	NF
PCRSCG	0.33
RPEI	0.43	0.18
AAWE	0.44	0.30	0.16
ALI	0.75	0.73	0.73	0.63
LAI	0.47	0.38	0.42	0.70	0.28
PAI	0.41^*	0.23	0.22	0.73^*	0.29	0.06
RPI	0.37	0.22	0.20	0.72^*	0.30	0.12	0.08
NF	0.58	0.54^*	0.50	0.76	0.52	0.43	0.36	0.33

Firm	PCRSCG	RPEI	AAWE	ALI	LAI	PAI	RPI
MF	0.15	0.10	0.12	0.26	0.17	0.05	0.06
HS	0.42	0.28	0.34	0.44	0.39	0.10	0.07