Megalopolis In The Integrated Transport Evolution And Development Mode Of Study

Metropolitan Interlocking Region (MIR for short) is so far the highest level ofurbanization. It's polynucleared by multiple metropolises and surrounded by dozensof medium sized and small cities. And it forms successive urban spatial landscapes.MIR is the most developed active and competitive area in a country or a region.However, there is yet to establish an explicit traffic system for MIRs because thetraditional traffic planning theory cannot comprehensively guide the traffic planningof such highly developed and vast regions. Based on the origin of transportation andclued by the emergence and development of MIR, this thesis looks into therelationship between the development of transportation and urbanization thusexplores the general law of the evolution and development of MIR traffic structure.Its researches have achieved some conclusions in the following aspects:(1) The thesis makes use of the perspectives of urban geography and sociology,refers to the existing achievements and has summarized and analyzed the emergence,characteristics and the process of the spatial evolution of MIR. The thesisemphasizes that besides the traditional definition of MIR, its spatial patches andfragmentations prominently distinguish from other types of urbanizations. Inaddition, the thesis shows that the constant updates of traffic means are resulting inthe constant growth of MIR. There is a tendency for MIR's further extension ingeographical space.(2) On the basis of the summarization of abundant domestic and foreignresearches, this thesis analyzes the MIR transportation structures, policies andstrategies in some developed countries (USA, Europe and Japan). It finds thecommon practice in these countries regarding the control of land use, environmentalprotection, traffic construction and the patterns of MIR. Meanwhile, it also revealstheir differences. In addition, in order to make the researches adaptable in China,this thesis analyzes the traffic developments in some densely urbanized regions inSoutheast Asia and Latin America. This thesis believes that the modes of publictransportation in the major metropolises in Latin America are worth being referred tofor china.(3) Using the evolution theory of urban land-use with a historical perspective,the thesis studies the interaction between the development of traffic and urbanization.It thoroughly illustrates the roles that traffic systems such as waterway, highway,railway and aviation have played in the emergence, development and optimization ofMIR. It concludes that waterway is the fundamental driving force of MIR'sdevelopment and external economy; highway is the stabilizing force of MIR which assembles industries and leads to regional prosperity and sustainability, railway is anew type of driving force and the core of MIR's development while aviation is theaccelerator and hatcher of the export-oriented economy. Bonding its studies oftheories with the facts and practice in China, this thesis respectively discusses thetrends and principles of big issues such as the updates of domestic inland watertransport, the setting of sites of rail transport, the exploitation of suburban land andthe overall arrangement of civil airports.(4) The thesis thoroughly analyzes the improvements and shortages of thetheory of the comprehensive traffic planning. Based on the introspection of theplanning process, objectives and methods, it proposes some new thinking for the newsituations. The thesis believes that due to the complexity generated by thelarge-scale participation of multiple transportation means, it's difficult to conduct acomplete analysis regarding such an issue which involves a lot of context and data.Instead, the use of Scenario Planning theory can provide a new perspective of thebackground, scope, objective and effect of the planning. The thesis uses anexploratory approach to study into the scenario analysis in reflection of the structure,composition and distribution of a traffic system. Meanwhile, the thesis selectivelyanalyzes scenario simulation and reasoning theory, thus provides new thinking forlarge-scale comprehensive traffic planning.(5) Based on the data of Shanghai-Nanjing MIR, the thesis summarizes thebackground and features of the development of this region and analyzes the regionalstrategic needs in transportation and its development direction. It focuses on a seriesof traffic strategy related issues such as the driving force of Shanghai-NanjingMIR's economy, energy demand and traffic, key materials (steel, coal and grain, etc)transportation. Combining the strategic background of globalization and energyenvironmental security, the thesis anticipates the possible traffic perspective andmeans of Shanghai-Nanjing MIR. The research believes that the facilities andmanagement of the inland water transport in the region is crucially backward whilethe sea transportation is relatively advanced which has already become the economicgrowth pole of the region. The freeway network is currently saturated but thedevelopment of secondary freeway network is seriously unbalanced. The railfacilities are backward, intercity transportation can yet meet the needs of the MIR.With the rapid development of the civil aviation, this region has become a key hub ofair transport in China. But the density of airports and management level are farbehind the future needs.(6) Based on the traffic location theory, traffic geography and trafficengineering, the thesis is supported by the theories of channel, corridor and hubplanning. Channels and corridors are considered as the most important traffic carrier and are the basic framework of MIR. With the reference of domestic and foreignresearches, the thesis distinguishes the concepts of channels and corridors. It carriesout categorized and graded researches on channels and corridors in MIR, specifies inthe evolution, structures and functions of channels. On the basis of the trafficlocation theory, it also analyzes the classification and trends of the traffic channelsin Shanghai-Nanjing MIR, thus carries out an anticipation of its future planning.With the same methodology, the thesis categorizes and sequences all kinds oftraffic hubs in MIR, and studies the different roles they play in the development andevolution of cities. In the thesis, the variation tendencies of the locations, sizes andcapacities of highway, railway, waterway and aviation hubs are enumeratedaccording to the requests of the comprehensive traffic planning.(7)The studies suggest that healthily developing metropolitan fringe andsuburbs is the key to the successful development of MIR in the future. And thetraffic structure in the fringe will stand as the symbol of innovation and dynamism ofthe new traffic pattern. The thesis looks into the characteristics and trends of thesuburbanization of Shanghai-Nanjing MIR, the different means and frequencies oftrips of the residents in the fringe area thus summarizes the directions, distance, timeand distribution of the residents' daily trips and commutes. With the comparisonwith these factors in some foreign countries, it proposes the planning principleswhich can be adapted in the future development. It also provides a lot ofconstructive suggestions on the pattern of public transportation, sharedtransportation and the planning of the public transportation facilities in the suburbanareas. It believes the new concepts of retrenched cities and public transportationoriented cities should be considered as the guide in the development of fringe area ofMIR.The thesis covers the origin and development law of MIR, the research of thefunctions and structures of all kinds of facilities, the updates and exploration ofplanning methodologies. It integrates the theories and thinking into thecomprehensive traffic strategy research of Shanghai-Nanjing MIR. The findings canbe of help and reference for the cognition of MIR development theory and thecomprehensive traffic planning.