The Spatial Developing Pattern Of Zhongyuan Urban Agglo Meration: Polycentric Network Pattern

With the rapid development of global economy and science and technology, the urbanization hasbeen extending to larger regions, and demonstrates a regionalized trend. The inter-connection betweencities becomes more intimate; and those cities of various sizes within certain territorial scope interact witheach other to form an urban agglomeration, which becomes the brand new unit in the global competitionand international division, playing an important role as a pivot in the global urban systems. Greatimportance has been attached to the scientific research of urban agglomeration by governments andscholars. China has just announced the objective of "scientifically distribute the urban agglomeration in aproper scale" in the18threport of the Communist Party of China. As to the Zhongyuan UrbanAgglomeration (ZUA), how will its spatial pattern evolve: monocentric or polycentric? What is the mostsuitable spatial development pattern for the ZUA? All these questions are urgent research subjects in thedevelopment process of the ZUA.The first three chapters of this paper present an introduction, literature review, theoretical basis andanalytical framework. These sections intend to define the research objective and research contents, sort outthe theoretical basis and determine the analytical framework. Chapter4analyzes the evolution process andcharacteristics of the spatial pattern of the ZUA. Chapter5proposes the multi-center spatial pattern throughanalyzing the development trend and spatial correlation of the industry of ZUA. Chapter6discusses thenetwork structure of ZUA from the perspective of transport and internet "flow". Based on the former study,we in chapter7discern the spatial development pattern of ZUA, which is polycentric, and propose somesuggestions on the next steps to perfect the pattern. Some concluding remarks and prospect are given inchapter8, where we summarize the conclusions of our research and point out the direction of the futurestudy. The following conclusions can be inferred from this paper：1) Brand new recognition of the spatial developing pattern of ZUA has formed by re-presenting theevolving process of its spatial pattern from the trend of population, economy and some indexes of industrialand social development. On one hand, the fragmentation characteristic of ZUA provides the basicconditions for its functional polycentric development; on the other hand, with the significant developmentof "core-periphery" structure in ZUA, the character of de-polarization and poly-center also becomes evident in the development. The development of secondary and tertiary industries demonstrates polycentricspatial structure as well. Moreover, the spatial development of population and industry characterize asnon-equivalent and polarized trend, but the whole ZUA area developed homogeneously. It is noteworthythat the polar nucleus status of Zhengzhou city has not been established in the ZUA, even in the CentralPlains Economic Region; and it is still in the state of leading other cities as a weak core. However, someother central cities that have the development potential and agglomerate rapidly, providing the possibilityand realistic basis for the coexistence of multi centers in the ZUA.2) The spatial development of ZUA shows significant polycentric characteristic from the perspectiveof industrial development and spatial correlation between each city. Firstly, the manufacture industrycluster areas demonstrate the polycentric pattern in the ZUA region. On the other hand, the leadingindustries have an evident spatial structure of circling layers. Therefore, the industrial axis bands runningthrough major center cities have formed. It covers most areas of Xinxiang, Jiaozuo and Jiyuan cities, andpart of Xuchang, Pingdingshan and Luohe cities. Furthermore, the intensity of economic correlationbetween each city in the ZUA has been strengthened continuously. Three core regions surroundingZhengzhou, Luoyang and Xuchang are being established, which especially reflects the polycentriccharacteristic of spatial development of the ZUA.3) From the perspective of "flow" of transport and internet network, the ZUA is developing in thedirection of inter-connective network type. The transport network connecting each city has been establishedin the ZUA, under the background of growing highway mileage. Three hub centers of Zhengzhou, Luoyangand Xuchang running through all other cities are forming. Analyses based on the transport "flows" ofhighway, four levels of road and railway further prove the center hub status of Zhengzhou, Luoyang andXuchang in the network structure of ZUA. Moreover, from the freight traffic volume, passenger trafficvolume and the passenger flow of inter-city public transportation, we can assert that the homocentricnetwork structure (centered at Zhengzhou) is transforming to the polycentric network structure (centered atZhengzhou, Luoyang and Xuchang).4) This paper tentatively proposes the polycentric network development pattern and deep integrationpathway that combines "polycentric cohesion" and "network type outreach". Firstly, we discuss thescientificity and rationality of the spatial development pattern of polycentric network. Secondly, we discern the composition of the polycentric network pattern, where the center hubs are located in Zhengzhou,Luoyang and Xuchang. Furthermore, three regions surrounding these centers form the "center-periphery"development areas, such as the "Zhengzhou-Kaifeng-Xinxiang-Jiaozuo" region centered at Zhengzhou city,the "Luoyang-Jiyuan" region centered at Luoyang city, and the "Xuchang-Pingdingshan-Luohe" regioncentered at Xuchang city. Above all, we expand the deep integration theory of urban agglomeration and theconnotation and denotation of "cohesion-outreach"; and propose that the ZUA can fulfill deep integrationby "polycentric cohesion" and "network type outreach".Based on the conclusions mentioned above, we obtain two findings:1) Re-presentation of the spatialpattern and its evolution process of ZUA indicates that the monocentric developing pattern as Zhengzhouweakly leading other cities has been changing to polycentric structure, which provides the epistemologybasis for re-identifying the spatial development pattern of ZUA. The urban population of each city in theZUA demonstrates fragmentation spatial characteristic; burgeoning center cities have been established;urban population and industries of each city develop non-equivalently and polarizedly; the homogeneouslydevelopment and fragmentally development of each node city coexist; all these facts offer importantrealistic basis for re-recognizing the spatial development pattern of ZUA.2) The deep integration theory about urban agglomeration, especially the connotation and denotationof "cohesion-outreach" has been expanded. It is proposed that the ZUA can fulfill deep integration by"polycentric cohesion" and "network type outreach". While the "polycentric cohesion" requires the threecenters of Zhengzhou, Luoyang and Xuchang integrate orderly, and the "network type outreach" is animportant strategy to strengthen and improve the cohesion development. More importantly, with thesupplement of these two aspects and the deep integration, the ZUA will become an organic integrity thatsynergizing and complementing the "polycentric cohesion" and "network type outreach".