Spatial Structure’s Status Of Urban System In Wuhan Metropolitan Area

As the pioneer of the regional economic development, metropolitan areas have gained great attention from many scholars as well as government both home and abroad. Both the regional economic development theories and practices proved that regional economic development will be inevitably accompanied by the evolution of urban spatial structure, and reasonable urban spatial layout can promote the harmonious development of regional economy effectively. The main purposes are to measure urban-rural integration level of Wuhan metropolitan area and to analyze its urban spatial structure, developing level and influencing radius, then useful suggestions that can improve the structure of urban system in Wuhan metropolitan area, so we also puts forward relevant strategies to optimize both the size and level of the cities in metropolitan areas, promoting the coordinated development spatial structure of the urban system in Wuhan metropolitan area, only in this way, can we achieve the sustainable social and economic development of central China. The conclusions are as followed:(1) According to the urban-rural integration level of urban system in Wuhan metropolitan area, the results that using principal component analysis showed that the urban-rural integration level of the9cities are as followed:Wuhan5.37, Huanggang0.37, Xiaogan0.24, Huangshi-0.06, Ezhou-0.86, Tianmen-0.99,Xiantao-1.01, Qianjiang-1.33, Xianning-1.51. It indicates that the city with the highest urban-rural integration level is Wuhan. Among the three aspects of urban-rural integration, economic developing urban-rural integration, the urban-rural integration of living standard, the urban-rural integration of ecological environment, Wuhan is the one that with the highest level.The level of environmental and ecological development is uncoordinated, only Wuhan belong to the environment lagging model, the rest are all belong to the economic lagging model.(2) To study the spatial layout structure of Wuhan metropolitan area, we calculate their hierarchical structure and intensity of economic links.①Using the fractal theory to analyze the quantitatively the hierarchical size structure, the result shows that the Fractal Dimension D=0.86632<1. So it indicates that there are many problems, such as the distribution of the hierarchical size structure is dispersal, the distribution of the counties’ population is not evenly distributed, and growth of urban system is immature, the primate city monopolizes seriously.②Using the gravity model method,we study the strength of economic ties among cities of Wuhan metropolitan area. The results show that the relative and absolute strengths of economic ties between Wuhan and Xiaogan or Huanggang are the strongest, the values of the strength of economic ties are523.11,524.71(billion yuan*million people per square kilometer) respectively. The strengths between Huangshi,Ezhou,Xianning are not that strong, their value are139.65、129.12、118.57, while the strengths between Wuhan and Xiantao, Tianmen, Qianjiang are weak, the values are139.65,129.12,118.57. The links between any other two cities are loose, except the tight economic connection among Huanggang,Ezhou and Huangshi,the connection of the rest cities are not that tight.(3)To analyse the development level and the affected area of urban system’s spatial layout structure in Wuhan metropolitan area.①According to the standard of the city level in China, we can divide Wuhan metropolitan area into three levels. The first level only includes Wuhan, the second level includes Huangshi, Xiaogan, Huanggang, and the third level includes the others. The major economic indicators of Wuhan all top the list, so that Wuhan is far ahead of other cities in Wuhan metropolitan area.②Using the model of city’s radiant energy to estimate the scope of each city’s economy and intensity of radiation. It turns out that the radiation scope of all cities in Wuhan metropolitan area couldn’t completely cover their jurisdictions, except Wuhan and Ezhou. The city which has smallest gap between radiation scope and jurisdiction is Huangshi, and the biggest is Huanggang. The radiation scope of Huanggang is wide, but it’s much smaller than its jurisdiction, leading its driving force weaker. It indicates that urban economic growth speed is much slower than the speed of urban expansion. On the basis of the radiation scope, comprehensive strength and the actual situation of each central city, we can divide the nine cities into three types:the cities of intense radiation, the cities of moderate-intensity radiation, and the cities of weak radiation. The cities of intense radiation include Wuhan, Ezhou, Huangshi; Xiaogan, Qianjiang, Tianmen belong to the second type; and others belong to the third type.At last, according to the level of metropolitan area’s rural-urban integration and the spatial reorganization, the thesis dicusses the policy suggestions and the detailed measures of the optimization of spatial structure. The government should bring out the predominant role of central city Wuhan during the construction of urban distribution, making Wuhan to be an important city in Wuhan metropolitan area, even in central regions; enhancing the interaction between cities at all levels and core cities to promote surrounding areas’ increase; by making use of industrial structure to adjust spatial layout; enhancing regional integration among cities to avoid unnecessary competition.