Research On Development Mode Of Metropolitan Suburb In China Based On Ecological Civilization

The development of suburb has been a major subject in the field of Human Geography. Suburbanization and urbanization have brought urban and suburban closer in many aspects. Suburb development has become a new growth point of the metropolitans. In a long time, rural areas have to depend on the urban. The rapid urbanization taking place in Asia since 1970 has exhibited a process different from that of the developed countries in the West. This process has contributed to the emergence of a new landscape in Asia-widely known as the desakota (a combination of two Indonesian words:desa for village, kota for town) regions. These regions are characterized by an intense mix of agricultural and non-agricultural activities that often stretch along corridors between large city cores. Chinese scholars use "urban-rural integration" to describe the situation. There are many development theories focusing on urban-rural relations. The theoretical evolvement of urban-rural relations have undergone the process of "united-apart-united". Compared to the dual structure theories, rural-urban interactions are emphasized nowadays, and they have become one of the important contents achieving sustainable development. Many foreign scholars hold that all kinds of flows play an important role linking cities with country, so urban-rural interactions should be studied in the unceasing changing global and local social, economic, political and cultural context. Chinese scholars emphasize particularly on structural transformation of rural-urban population, industries and land use, but relatively neglect culture and environment. It is important for us to connect China's development phase with the special background of Chinese rural-urban cultural tradition and the course of globalization and modernization, under the trend of ecological civilization.This dissertation discusses on the development of metropolitan suburb, through the research on the evolution pattern and the empirical analysis of Chongming Island of Shanghai. As an island under a rather isolated condition, faced an opening and changing environment, Chongming is a good case for study on suburb development and rural-urban relations. China's rapid development means it is most in need of a new approach to eco-friendly urban design, yet least able to embrace it. Despite the noble aims of its planners, Chongming seems more likely to promote the development of other eco-cities outside China than within it. With the systematic views and based on the analysis of the history, present situation and future of the island's development, the dissertation clarifies the formation and development of suburb and put forward a new mode of metropolitan suburb, which is more sustainable and comprehensive than the traditional theories. It also provides a reference for the similar regions.