The Research On Urban Agglomeration Spatial Structure Of Cheng-Yu Economic Zone

Economic globalization and Regional integration have become two mainstreams in our times. Actively participating in economic globalization, China is now having its regions integrated too. The Yangtze River delta, Pearl River delta and the economic zone around Bohai Sea have already become three important regional communities in Eastern China, which has already joined in the globalize market cooperation, and has developed into three major urban agglomeration with international competitiveness.In October of 2005, the central government released "On Proposals for 'the 11^th Five-year' Plan", in which Cheng-Yu economic zone was listed among China's four major economic plates for the first time. The reason why Cheng-Yu economic zone got such special attention lies in the economic development speed of Chongqing and Sichuan, as well as their special position in Western China. To integrate an area with 35 cities into a economic zone that can enjoy rapid, harmonious and sustainable development in the following five years, it is quite necessary for us to make a profound study on the development of urban agglomeration in this area.This thesis tends to analyze, from the angle of spatial structure of urban agglomeration, the spatial distribution of the urban agglomeration of the Cheng-Yu economic zone, the current situation of its development and the forming mechanism of urban agglomeration as well, carrying on positive study on the economic links between each city in this area, and then analyze the development trend of the city space in the Cheng-Yu economic zone, and finally put forward some suggestions to optimize the spatial structure of the urban agglomeration.The thesis is divided into five major parts:Part One states briefly the significance of this topic, analyzes the current studies on urban agglomeration both home and abroad, and presents the approach, the method, the content, as well as the characteristics of the present research.Part Two is an overview on the current situation of studies on the concept of urban agglomeration. It will, based on Newton's gravitation formula, set up a calculation formula to calculate the absolute intensity of economic links, and then uses this formula to define the range of the urban agglomeration in the Cheng-Yu economic zone, and analyzes the current development and major problems within the urban agglomeration.Part Three is a research on the current situation of the spatial structure of urban agglomeration in the Cheng-Yu economic zone. Based on the researches on the spatial structure of urban agglomeration both home and abroad and the theoretical framework of urban agglomeration studies, the distribution of urban agglomeration in the Cheng-Yu economic zone is analyzed. Here, the Cheng-Yu economic zone consists of five major cities group: Chongqing urban agglomeration, Chengdu urban agglomeration, Southern Sichuan urban agglomeration, Northeastern Sichuan urban agglomeration and the Three Georges ecological economic zone. Then, the theory of urban flows is applied to the analysis of the links between each urban agglomeration in Cheng-Yu economic zone.Part Four deals with the forming mechanism of the spatial structure of urban agglomeration in Cheng-Yu economic zone, as well as the development trend of these urban agglomeration. This part is the key of this thesis. It first analyzes the urban agglomeration in this zone, particularly their spatial structure and historical evolution, and explores the law by which the spatial structure developed. Then, the spatial moving forms of the urban agglomeration are analyzed by applying the point-Axis spatial development model, taking the two metropolitan districts as its heads. The forming mechanism of urban agglomeration mainly involves eight aspects: profound historical-cultural background, the mechanism of interaction between integration and radiation, the basis of industry and complementary mechanism, favorable international environment and positional advantage, special policy and institutional environment, government investment, perfection of basic facilities, and the cooperation between Sichuan and Chongqing governments. Then the spatial development trends of Chongqing urban agglomeration, Chengdu urban agglomeration, Southern Sichuan urban agglomeration, Northeastern Sichuan urban agglomeration etc. is analyzed.Part Five is about the suggestions to optimize the spatial structure of the urban agglomeration in Cheng-Yu economic zone. The suggestions mainly include: to strengthen regional planning of urban agglomeration; to improve the spatial structure of urban agglomeration; to foster regional growth pole by taking advantages of the megalopolis and regional core cities; to establish the manufacturing center of Western China (Southeast Asia) by accelerating the market integration of different industries and developing the strategic industries; to accelerate the construction of infrastructure and networking and strengthen the regional radiation ability; to carry out the horizontal coordination of regional planning and fulfills the co-development with the whole area of the Yangtze River Valley .