中华人民共和国城市化：双核外围格局与持续改革（英）

Urbanization in the People’sRepublic of China: A Dual KEY POINTS The urban system of thePeople’s Republic of China(PRC) has evolved into a“dual core-periphery” spatialpattern, extending from Population growth in the PRCis increasingly concentratedin city clusters and large Yilin ZhengAssistant Research Fellow Ming LuProfessor The PRC’s large cities arefurther integrating withsurrounding smaller cities Pengfei LiAssociate Research Fellow Jiewei LiAssociate Professor While market integrationhas progressed withinprovinces and city clustersin the PRC, more is needed INTRODUCTION It is imperative to align landand fiscal resource allocation Since the opening and reform of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in the early1980s, the country has undergone several stages of transformation: from a plannedeconomy to a socialist market economy, from an agricultural economy to a moderneconomy, and from a semiclosed economy to an open economy. Throughout thisprocess, the spatial layout of the PRC economy and population has experienced Central cities and city clusters have gradually become the most important carriers ofeconomic development, and metropolitan areas are emerging as key engines driving thePRC’s economic growth. At the same time, the development of metropolitan areas and ADB BRIEFS NO. 391 Understanding these dynamics is crucial for policymakers bothwithin the PRC and across developing Asia, where rapid urbanizationand economic transformation present similar challenges.The PRC’s experience in building modern city cluster systems offersCentral CitiesCity clusters are clearly visible in the PRC, and the radiatingeffect of central cities is significant. The PRC’s central cities andcity clusters exhibit strong agglomeration and network effects. In Map 1, from the perspective of coach and truck flows, the overalloutline of city clusters is clearly visible, whether they are thewell-developed city clusters of Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei, the Yangtze valuable insights into how developing economies can navigatethe complex interplay between market forces, spatial planning,and institutional coordination. Only by continuously enhancing This policy brief examines the PRC’s approach to metropolitan areaand city cluster development, analyzing both achievements andongoing challenges to distill lessons for the PRC as well as other At the same time, the radiating effect of central cities within cityclusters is also evident, forming a tiered layout of city clusters fromcoastal areas to inland regions (Map 1). Specifically, the three majorcoastal city clusters, i.e., Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei; the Yangtze RiverDelta; the Pearl River Delta; as well as the Chengdu–Chongqing;Middle Reaches of the Yangtze River; Central Plains; andGuanzhong Plain city clusters are typically anchored by designatednational central cities that serve as primary economic and FORMATION OF CITY CLUSTERS IN A The PRC has established a total of 34 provincial-leveladministrative divisions (including 23 provinces, 5 autonomousregions, 4 municipalities directly under the central government,and 2 special administrative regions); 333 prefectural-leveladministrative divisions; and 2,843 county-level administrative Note: Both maps illustrate the traffic network between cities in 2018. Traffic measurements represent combined flows in both directions (City A to City B plusCity B to City A), with round-trip journeys counted as single directional flows. To enhance clarity and focus on significant transportation corridors, the analysisdisplays only high-volume routes: city pairs with annual coach traffic exceeding 365 trips and freight truck traffic exceeding 3,650 trips. Sources: State Statistical Bureau of the People’s Republic of China and authors. City Clusters experienced substantial population growth (as shown by the darkred and orange cities in Map 3). Although institutional factors The size of city clusters continues to grow, with faster developmentin central and coastal cities. Economic activities remain highlyconcentrated. According to data from the National Bureau ofStatistics and authors’ calculations, the 19 city clusters1accountedfor approximately 87% of the national gross domestic product(GDP) from 2000 to 2019.2However, as shown in Map 2, fewer such as the household registration (hukou) system and regionallytargeted support policies shape migration patterns, population Radiating Effect of Central Cities Empirical studies have shown that economic connections betweencities diminish with distance, but big cities have stronger radiatingeffects. As distance increases, the economic connections betweena city and other cities gradually weaken, as do its radiating effects.This pattern is evident in both coach and truck flow data. However,research based on traffic Big Data and census data shows thatthe larger the population and economic scale of a central city,the stronger the economic radiation and attraction it exertson surrounding cities (Li et