An Evaluation Of The City Competitiveness In Yangtze River Delta

A reasonable evaluation system of city competitiveness is very useful for measuring and monitoring city competitiveness in Yangtze River Delta. It can help us to find out main problems existing in the construction process of modern cities, which could promote the regional comprehensive, coordinated and sustainable development in Yangtze River Delta.We make a review of relative domestic and foreign studies though three aspects: the concept and contents, the influencing factors and measuring models of city competitiveness. On this basis, the operational definition and components of city comprehensive competitiveness are designed. Around the four constituent elements, an initial evaluation indicator system is established through expert interviews. After empirical selection of the evaluation indicators through four steps: expert consultancy analysis, membership analysis, correlation analysis and discrimination analysis, a final evaluation indicator system of city comprehensive competitiveness in Yangtze River Delta is built. The weight of the indicators is computed through Analytic Hierarchy Process. Then we measure the comprehensive competitiveness of 16 cities in Yangtze River Delta. Finally, we classify the competitiveness of 16 cities in four groups though cluster analysis. And a discussion and comparative analysis is made on differences and similarities among different types of city competitiveness, as well as different city competitiveness in the same type.This study brings forth new ideas in establishing an evaluation indicator system of city competitiveness in Yangtze River Delta, though a systematic and religious process. And a classification and comprehensive analysis is made on the competitiveness of 16 cities in that region.