Polycentric Development and Transport Network in China’S Megaregions
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POLYCENTRIC DEVELOPMENT AND TRANSPORT NETWORK IN CHINA’S MEGAREGIONS A Dissertation Presented to The Academic Faculty By Ge Song In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in City and Regional Planning Georgia Institute of Technology May 2014 Copyright © Ge Song 2014 Polycentric Development and Transport Network in China’s Megaregions Approved by: Dr. Steven P. French, Advisor Dr. William Drummond School of City and Regional Planning School of City and Regional Planning Georgia Institute of Technology Georgia Institute of Technology Dr. Jiawen Yang, Co-Advisor Dr. Patrick S. McCarthy School of City and Regional Planning School of Economics Georgia Institute of Technology Georgia Institute of Technology Dr. Bruce Stiftel School of City and Regional Planning Georgia Institute of Technology Date Approved: November 1st, 2013 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my advisors, Dr. Steve French and Dr. Jiawen Yang. Dr. French always encouraged me and this dissertation would not have been possible without his advice and support. Dr. Yang led me to question my assumptions and clarify my thinking. Through his efforts, I became a capable, independent scholar. I am also indebted to my dissertation committee members, Dr. Bruce Stiftel, Dr. William Drummond, and Dr. Patrick McCarthy, for their superb expertise and guidance. I also wish to thank all the faculty members in the city and regional planning program, for providing the best education and research environment. Most of all, I am grateful to my family and friends for their love and support of my academic endeavors. - iii - TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................... iii LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................ vii LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................ x SUMMARY ...................................................................................................................... xii Chapter 1. Introduction ................................................................................................... 1 1.1. Research Background ........................................................................................... 1 1.1.1. Megaregion as a new framework in China ................................................... 1 1.1.2. The imperativeness of polycentric population spatial patterns ..................... 4 1.1.3. Why mega-regional transport network? ........................................................ 8 1.2. Research Objectives and Questions ................................................................... 10 Chapter 2. Literature Review........................................................................................ 12 2.1. Definition of megaregion and the rise of megaregion ........................................ 12 2.2. Agglomeration economy .................................................................................... 14 2.3. Spatial pattern of megaregions ........................................................................... 16 2.4. China’s regional development - The need for polycentric development ........... 20 2.4.1. China’s regional development .................................................................... 20 2.4.2. The need for polycentric development pattern ........................................... 22 2.5. The variance and change of regional spatial patterns ........................................ 23 2.6. The development trajectory of core and peripheral areas .................................. 29 2.7. Development impacts of transport infrastructure ............................................... 33 2.7.1. Development impacts.................................................................................. 34 2.7.2. Differentiated beneficial returns from transport investment ....................... 37 - iv - 2.7.3. China Studies .............................................................................................. 40 2.8. Limitations of existing literature ........................................................................ 41 Chapter 3. Methodology ............................................................................................... 45 3.1. Study area and background ................................................................................ 45 3.1.1. China’s megaregions ................................................................................... 45 3.1.2. China’s Transport Development ................................................................. 49 3.2. Conceptual framework and research hypotheses ............................................... 52 3.2.1. Conceptual framework ................................................................................ 52 3.2.2. Research hypothesis .................................................................................... 53 3.3. Data sources ....................................................................................................... 55 3.4. Methodology ...................................................................................................... 56 3.4.1. Task 1: Data Collection and Integration ..................................................... 57 3.4.2. Task 2: Measuring polycentric development .............................................. 57 3.4.3. Task 3: Assessing changes in mega-regional spatial structure ................... 60 3.4.4. Task 4: Measuring mega-regional transport network development ........... 61 3.4.5. Task 5: Assessing the impacts of mega-regional transport infrastructure for megaregion spatial pattern ........................................................................................ 65 3.4.6. Task 6: Exploring policies for mega-regional transportation planning ...... 71 Chapter 4. Analysis and findings .................................................................................. 72 4.1. Megaregional spatial patterns: ........................................................................... 72 4.1.1. Polycentricity .............................................................................................. 72 4.1.2. Alternative measures of polycentricity ....................................................... 77 4.2. Assessing changes in mega-regional spatial structure ....................................... 83 4.2.1. The change of population density ............................................................... 83 4.2.2. The change of population growth rate ........................................................ 85 - v - 4.3. Transport network: megaregional level.............................................................. 89 4.3.1. Transport network density .......................................................................... 89 4.3.2. Transport infrastructure per capita .............................................................. 98 4.3.3. Transport network spatial structure .......................................................... 106 4.4. Transport network: local level.......................................................................... 108 4.4.1. Network connectivity ................................................................................ 109 4.4.2. Network accessibility ................................................................................ 112 4.5. Assessing the impacts of mega-regional transport infrastructure: megaregional level ……………………………………………………………………………….. 115 4.6. Assessing the impacts of mega-regional transport infrastructure: local level .. 118 4.6.1. The effects of transport infrastructure on population density ................... 125 4.6.2. The effects of transport infrastructure on population growth rates........... 129 4.6.3. Model conclusion ...................................................................................... 132 Chapter 5. Conclusions and policy implications ........................................................ 134 5.1. Conclusions ...................................................................................................... 134 5.2. Policy implications ........................................................................................... 137 5.3. Future research ................................................................................................. 141 Appendix A. Statistics of alternative measures of polycentricity ............................... 142 Appendix B. Regression results of models assessing the impacts of mega-regional transport infrastructure for alternative polycentricity measures ..................................... 145 Appendix C. OLS model results ................................................................................. 149 Appendix D. MLM model results ............................................................................... 156 Appendix E. Spatial Error model results .................................................................... 160 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................... 166 - vi - LIST OF TABLES Table 1-1 Correlation between average annual population growth rate and GDP growth rate....................................................................................................................................... 7 Table 1-2 Corr elation between average annual population