A new pattern of extended metropolitan regions in China: case study of the Changzhutan region

Abstract

As a response to the global economic crisis of 2008, the Chinese government has started to focus on domestic demand as one of the key national development strategies. New extended metropolitan regions (EMRs) in inland China are being designated as major platforms to promote domestic demand. Within the context of this new global economic environment and Chinese national policy, these EMRs might not share the same spatial characteristics and processes in the course of their growth and development as those in coastal areas. Using the Changzhutan (CZT) region as an example and comparing it to EMRs in coastal China, the article argues that a new type of urbanisation has been developing in China since 2000, a new region-based urbanisation driven by the combined forces of domestic demand and globalisation. Classified as a new category of EMR, (EMR II), these newly emerging EMRs in inland China are characterised as having domestic investment and demand as key drivers. Other characteristics are the ‘backflow’ of local people (those returning to Hunan) and ‘low carbon’ trends of its manufacturing sectors.