A Multi-Dimensional Research On The Cross-Boundary Integration Development Of Nanjing Metropolitan Area

With the continuous advancement of globalization,decentralization,and regional integration,urban development has gradually broken through administrative boundaries,and functional areas represented by metropolitan areas have become a hot spot in Chinese urban and regional development.Metropolitan area is a policy area set up to break through the economics barriers of administrative regions.During the process of its construction,the ties between its inner cities have become increasingly close,which effectively reduces the partitioning effect of borders and promotes the continuous improvement of the integration of the metropolitan area.Based on a review of existing research,this article focuses on the topic of cross-border integration of the metropolitan area.Taking the Nanjing metropolitan area as an example,it conducts an empirical study on its degree of cross-border integration from the three dimensions:physical space integration,functional network integration,and organizational and institutional integration.The study found that the degree of integration of physical space and functional network of Nanjing Metropolitan Area is ahead of the integration of organizational and institutional space,and the division of provincial administrative boundaries is significant.The integration of the Nanjing metropolitan area is developing rapidly.The border areas,highways,inter-city railways and other physical spaces are well connected.Enterprises have frequent cross-city investments and close functional connections.However,the regions with high levels of integration have not crossed the provincial boundary,and are mainly distributed in Jiangsu Province,where the core cities are located.Compared with the integration and development process of physical space and functional network,the integration of organization and institution is lagging behind.The limited collaboration at the provincial,district and county levels and the marginalization of nongovernmental organizations in the development of the governance mechanism have become obstacles to the comprehensive and deep integration of the Nanjing metropolitan area.This research is of great significance for enriching the research of Chinese metropolitan area and promoting the cross-border integration and development of metropolitan area.This thesis consists of seven chapters,and following are the main contents of each chapter.Chapter One:Introduction.This chapter mainly introduces the research background,research questions,research significance,research methods and data acquisition of this article,and combs the main content and framework of the research.Chapter Two:he theoretical basis and research summary.This chapter mainly sorts out the related research on the development of metropolitan area and cross-border integration,and finds that the existing research lacks due attention to the metropolitan area to break the administrative boundary and achieve integrated development.Chapter Three:The socio-economic background of the cross-border integration and development of Nanjing Metropolitan Area.This chapter mainly introduces the basic socio-economic profile of the study area,depicts the evolution characteristics of the economic linkages of the Nanjing metropolitan area,reviews the crossborder development of the Nanjing metropolitan area,and divides it into three stages:the embryonic stage,the unilateral government-led start-up stage,and the rapid integration stage promoted by the integration of the Yangtze River Delta.Chapter Four:Physical integration of the Nanjing metropolitan area.In this chapter,the degree of physical space integration is analyzed in detail from two aspects:boundary land use and cross-border transportation.Chapter Five:Functional network integration of the of the Nanjing metropolitan area.In this chapter,a comprehensive analysis of the degree of integration of the functional network of the Nanjing metropolitan area is carried out from two aspect:the spatial structure of the functional network and the industry characteristics of the functional connection.Chapter Six:Organizational and Institutional Integration of the Nanjing metropolitan area.From the perspectives of institutional arrangements for cross-border collaboration and inter-organizational networks promoted by multiple entities,this chapter examines the degree of integration of the Nanjing metropolitan area organization and systems,and deeply analyzes the mechanisms and reasons that affect the integration of organizations and systems.Chapter Seven:Conclusion and Discussion.Major conclusions and directions for further research in crossborder integration of metropolitan areas are summarized in this chapter.The whole thesis contains about 46 000 words,27pictures and charts.