Regional Concentration And Region-based Urban Transition: China's Mega-urban Region Formation In The 1990s

摘要

Since 1978, China has experienced rapid continuous urban transformation, and many mega-urban regions have stood out. But how to measure mega-urban region formation and to what extent they have formed in China, are still questions that have not been fully answered. Using census data by county, this study illustrates China's intensifying population concentration and region-based urban transition in 1990s. By 2000, three geographically continuous regional concentrations had formed in China -Beijing-Tianjin-Tangshan (Jing-Jin-Tang), the Yangzi River Delta (YRD), and the Pearl River Delta (PRD). All were characterized by region-based urban transition, with their "remote rural areas" involved in economic transformation; elsewhere, population agglomeration and urban transformation still focused mainly on major cities and their peripheral zones. It is the coexistence of great global attraction and severe local challenges in these mega-urban regions that makes them distinct from other metropolitan areas.