Evolution Characteristics and Path of Urban Spatial Structure in China:An Empirical Study of 290 Prefecture-Level and above Cities
Based on the LandScan global population geo-raster database from 2001 to 2019,the exploratory spatial data analysis(ESDA)method was used to identify the city regions and main urban areas of 290 prefecture-level and above cities in China.Considering the sub-center population,area,distance from the main center and the scale effect of different cities,the evolution characteristics of agglomeration degree and polycentricity were discussed at two levels of city region and main urban area.The conclusions are as follows.From 2001 to 2019,China's urban spatial structure generally presents the evolution characteristics of triple agglomeration among city regions,main urban areas and centers of main urban areas and dispersion of city centers,but cit-ies of different scales show different spatial structure evolution trends.Most smaller cities with a population of less than 1 mil-lion are still in the stage of triple agglomeration among city regions,main urban areas and centers of main urban areas,while lar-ger cities with a population of more than 1 million have shown a trend of decentralization in population spatial distribution.In the past two decades,about two-thirds of China's cities have shown an evolution from a lower degree of agglomeration or poly-centricity to a higher level,especially in cities with significant population transitions.In the practice of urban planning and con-struction,different cities should respect the law of population agglomeration and dispersion in space.Smaller cities should be more concentrated and efficient in resource allocation,while larger cities should consider polycentric resource allocation models.
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