Urban settlement of China in the 21st century: national specifics, internal structure dynamics, and spatial forms

  • Ekaterina A. Antipova Belarusian State University, 4 Niezaliezhnasci Avenue, Minsk 220030, Belarus
  • Yang Liu Belarusian State University, 4 Niezaliezhnasci Avenue, Minsk 220030, Belarus

Abstract

The geographical analysis of urban settlement in the context of 337 cities of five levels according to the classification of business attractiveness of cities and 19 urban agglomerations was carried out based on official statistical information about Chinese cities YiCai for 2000–2020. Using the literary, mathematical-statistical, comparative-geographical, cartographic methods, geographic systematisation and GIS technologies, the authors calculated internal urban settlement, urban population density, urban influence zone, «rank – size» rule and obtained new results. It has been established that a distinctive feature of Chinese approaches to identifying a city is the inclusion of adjacent territories, including both rural areas and administrative-territorial units of a smaller rank, into its territory along with the core city. An analysis of the geographical location of cities by height above mean sea level and population in the context of five classes of population (small, medium, large, especially large, and extra-large cities) showed that the flat type of urban settlement predominates in nature, and eastern coastal large-settled meridional zone of urban settlement, the eastern continental medium-settled meridional zone of urban settlement, the central small-settled meridional zone of urban settlement, and the western small-settled meridional zone of dispersed urban settlement are distinguished. Analysis of the internal structure of urban settlement determined the trend of macropolisation, the growth of the average population size of cities and the positive dynamics of population growth in two classes of cities, especially large and super-large cities. By using «rank – size» rule calculations for the 5 largest cities in China for 2000 and 2020, it is found that China’s urban settlement is relatively balanced, almost in accordance with Zipf’s law, but largely influenced by government policies. An analysis of 19 urban agglomerations at the national, regional and subregional levels, formed in the country in accordance with the National New Urbanisation Plan (2014–2020), revealed significant differences in the population size and number of cities included in them, which serves as a justification for their in-depth further study to develop differentiated roadmaps for their development.

Author Biographies

Ekaterina A. Antipova, Belarusian State University, 4 Niezaliezhnasci Avenue, Minsk 220030, Belarus

doctor of science (geography), full professor; professor at the department of economic and social geography, faculty of geography and geoinformatics



Yang Liu, Belarusian State University, 4 Niezaliezhnasci Avenue, Minsk 220030, Belarus

junior researcher at the department of economic and social geography, faculty of geography and geoinformatics

 

References

  1. Antipova EA, Li Chen. Territorial differentiation of Сhina’s demographic ageing in the 21st century. Journal of the Belarusian State University. Geography and Geology. 2023;1:3–18. Russian. DOI: 10.33581/2521-6740-2023-1-3-18.
  2. Antipova EA, Yang Liu. Systematizing views on urbanization studies in China. Regional’nye issledovaniya. 2023;2:79–89. Russian. DOI: 10.5922/1994-5280-2023-2-7.
  3. Cattaneo A, Adukia A, Brown DL, Christiaensen L, Evans DK, Haakenstad A, et al. Economic and social development along the urban-rural continuum: new opportunities to inform policy. World Development. 2022;157:105941. DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2022.105941.
  4. Wei Pan, Jing Wang, Yurui Li, Shuting Chen, Zhi Lu. Spatial pattern of urban-rural integration in China and the impact of geography. Geography and Sustainability. 2023;4(4):404–413. DOI: 10.1016/j.geosus.2023.08.001.
  5. Yansui Liu. Urban­rural transformation geography. Singapore: Springer Singapore; 2021. Geographical basis and theoretical analysis of urban-rural transformation; p. 67–116 (Sustainable development goals series). DOI: 10.1007/978-981-16-4835-9_3.
  6. Soong Chiatai. Research method on regional economic-geographic foundation of city development. Acta Geographica Sinica. 1980;35(4):277–287. DOI: 10.11821/xb198004001.
  7. Cui Gonghao. Study on China’s urban and township development. Beijing: Chinese Construction Industry Press; 1992. 162 p.
  8. Fang Chuanglin, Guan Xingliang. Comprehensive measurement and spatial distinction of input-output efficiency of urban agglomerations in China. Acta Geographica Sinica. 2011;66(8):1011–1022. DOI: 10.11821/xb201108001.
  9. Chuanglin Fang, Danlin Yu. Urban agglomeration: an evolving concept of an emerging phenomenon. Landscape and Urban Planning. 2017;162:126–136. DOI: 10.1016/j.landurbplan.2017.02.014.
  10. Chen Yanguang. On the urbanization curves: types, stages, and research methods. Scientia Geographica Sinica. 2012;32(1):12–17. DOI: 10.13249/j.cnki.sgs.2012.01.12.
  11. Chuanglin Fang, Danlin Yu. China’s new urbanization developmental paths, blueprints and patterns. Beijing: Science Press; 2016. 344 p. (Springer geography series). Co-published by the «Springer». DOI: 10.1007/978-3-662-49448-6.
  12. Chuanglin Fang, Danlin Yu. China’s urban agglomerations. Beijing: Science Press; 2020. 265 p. (Springer geography series). Co-published by the «Springer».
  13. Yizhen Wu, Mingyue Jiang, Zhijian Chang, Yuanqing Li, Kaifang Shi. Does China’s urban development satisfy Zipf’s law? A multiscale perspective from the NPP-VIIRS nighttime light data. International Journal of Environment Research and Public Health. 2020;17(4):1460. DOI: 10.3390/ijerph17041460.
  14. Sun Xiangdong, Yuan Ouyang, Xu Zhao, Yin Yanhui, Liu Qian, Wu Ling. Did Zipf’s law hold for Chinese cities and why? Evidence from multi-source data. Land Use Policy. 2021;106:105460. DOI: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2021.105460.
  15. Fang Chuanglin, Song Jitao, Zhang Qiang, Li Ming. The formation, development and spatial heterogeneity patterns for the structures system of urban agglomerations in China. Acta Geographica Sinica. 2005;60(5):827–840. DOI: 10.11821/xb200505014.
  16. Duan Zhicheng. [A study of the classification and evolution of environmental capabilities of Chinese urban agglomerations]. Jìshu yu qiye fazhan. 2021;10:13–16. Chinese.
Published
2024-06-03
Keywords: China, urban settlement, criteria for identifying city and urban agglomeration, macropolisation, population density, city influence zone, urban agglomeration, territorial differentiation
How to Cite
Antipova, E. A., & Liu, Y. (2024). Urban settlement of China in the 21st century: national specifics, internal structure dynamics, and spatial forms. Journal of the Belarusian State University. Geography and Geology, 1, 3-20. Retrieved from https://journals.bsu.by/index.php/geography/article/view/6038
Issue
No 1 (2024): Journal of the Belarusian State University. Geography and Geology
Section
Geography

Copyright (c) 2024 Journal of the Belarusian State University. Geography and Geology

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

The authors who are published in this journal agree to the following:

  1. The authors retain copyright on the work and provide the journal with the right of first publication of the work on condition of license Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial. 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0).
  2. The authors retain the right to enter into certain contractual agreements relating to the non-exclusive distribution of the published version of the work (e.g. post it on the institutional repository, publication in the book), with the reference to its original publication in this journal.
  3. The authors have the right to post their work on the Internet (e.g. on the institutional store or personal website) prior to and during the review process, conducted by the journal, as this may lead to a productive discussion and a large number of references to this work. (See The Effect of Open Access.)