Quantitative Diagnoses and Comprehensive Evaluations of the Rationality of Chinese Urban Development Patterns

Chuanglin Fang,Zhenbo Wang

doi:10.3390/su7043859

Abstract

China’s new urbanization development strategy needs to be supported by rational urban systems. Here, a comprehensive diagnostic index system that uses GIS technology and a Chinese urban scale structure rationality diagnostic model, functional structure rationality diagnostic model, spatial structure rationality diagnostic model and Chinese urban development rationality diagnostic model is used to comprehensively evaluate the rationality of Chinese urban development patterns. The results show that the structure of urban development in China is largely rational, with 70.78% of all cities rational in this respect and with rationality influenced by historical evolution, zoning adjustments and natural conditions; that overall, the scale structure of Chinese cities is rational, with 68.03% of all cities rational in this respect, conforming to Zipf’s law and exhibiting a relatively rational pyramidal pattern with “a slightly larger middle and small bottom end”; that overall, urban spatial structure is rational, with 69.41% of all cities rational in this respect, and irrational cities concentrated in areas with low carrying capacities and regions with few cities with high carrying capacities; and that urban functional structure is largely rational, with 69.11% of all cities rational in this respect, mainly concentrated in urban agglomerations. This study provides a scientific basis for further optimizing the structure of urban development in China and promoting a new type of urbanization.

Highlights

Over the past 30 years, urbanization in China has accelerated at a scale and speed unprecedented in the country’s past, which has attracted the world’s attention [1]
Based on the basic connotations of the rationality of the urban development pattern and the dynamic mechanisms it forms, and taking China’s 657 cities as the units of study, the Chinese urban development pattern rationality diagnostic index system is divided into an urban scale structure rationality diagnosis, urban functional structure rationality diagnosis and urban spatial structure rationality diagnosis, which is used to establish an index system that includes a target layer, sub-target layer, factor layer and sub-factor layer
The Chinese urban system is rational in terms of the development pattern of the urban system from the perspective of scale structure, spatial structure, functional structure and a combination of all three

Summary

Introduction

Over the past 30 years, urbanization in China has accelerated at a scale and speed unprecedented in the country’s past, which has attracted the world’s attention [1]. There has been a rapid increase in urban data, with data on population, land use and economic scale having increased enormously [2]. These changes have prompted major changes to the systems and structures of Chinese cities. According to the China Urban Statistical Yearbook, the number of cities in China increased at an annual average of 12.13% between 1984 and 2013, from 296 to 660. From 1985 to 2010, the proportion of urban GDP in China’s national GDP as a whole has increased from 43.21% to 60.73%, with an increment of urban population of 17,162 people and built-up urban areas of 21,505 square kilometers

Methods

Results

Conclusion