Analysis of Current Status and Influencing Factors of Spatial Differences in Urbanization Development in Sichuan Province

2017 4th International Conference on Modern Economic Technology and Management (ICMETM 2017) ISBN: 978-1-60595-547-6

Xiaomei Pu Sichuan University of Arts and Science Old revolutionary base areas development research center in Sichuan province, Dazhou, Sichuan, China

ABSTRACT: Viewing from the urbanization development speed and urbanization development level, the urbanization development in cities and prefectures in Sichuan Province has significant spatial differences. This paper uses general variation coefficients to analyze the variation trend of urbanization level in Sichuan Province and finds that, the difference in urbanization levels in cities and prefectures in Sichuan Province has been shrinking in recent years. This paper uses SPSS software to conduct regression analysis of the influencing factors of urbanization development in cities and prefectures in Sichuan Province and finds that the influencing factors of urbanization development in cities and prefectures in Sichuan Province are different. According to the difference in influencing factors, the urbanization development in Sichuan Province can be divided into five types, that is, full-element driven type, urban-rural income gap + industrial development + economic development driven type, urban-rural income gap + industrial development driven type, urban-rural income gap driven type, government driven type. On this basis, this paper puts forward that classified guidance countermeasures should be taken according to its types in the urbanization development in cities and prefectures in Sichuan Province.

Keywords: Sichuan Province; urbanization; spatial differences; influencing factors

1 INTRODUCTION factors of urbanization development, and offer classified guidance on this basis. Urbanization is an inevitable stage of economic and social development, an important approach to solving the issues relating to agriculture, rural areas and rural 2 ANALYSIS OF SPATIAL DIFFERENCE IN people in China [1], and an important driving force for URBANIZATION DEVELOPMENT IN SI- economic and social development under the new nor- CHUAN PROVINCE mal state [2]. In recent years, urbanization development in Sichuan Province has achieved significant perfor- Viewing from the urbanization development speed, in mance. At the end of 2014, the urbanization rate has cities and prefectures in Sichuan Province, the devel- reached 46.3%, which has increased by 1.4 percentage opment speed of Guang’an City is the fastest, with an points than that in 2013. However, the spatial differ- average annual growth rate of 1.6 percentage points. ence in the urbanization development in cities and The development speed of Liangshan Prefecture is the prefectures in Sichuan Province is significant, greatly slowest, with an annual growth rate of only 0.7 per- affecting the healthy development of urbanization in centage points. The fastest speed is 2.3 times of the Sichuan Province. For the healthy development of slowest speed. urbanization in Sichuan Province, it is necessary to As can be seen from Figure 1, the development fully grasp the current status of spatial difference in speed in cities and prefectures in Sichuan Province has the urbanization development in Sichuan Province, a greater difference. The urbanization development and have a deep understanding of various influencing speed of Guang’an City, Yibin City, Bazhong City, Ziyang City, Meishan City, Nanchong City and Dazhou City has been faster than the average level of *Corresponding author: Sichuan and the entire country in recent years. The

urbanization development speed of Suining City, According to the analysis of Figure 1 and Figure 2, Ya’an City and Guangyuan City has been faster than it is found that Chengdu City, Panzhihua City, Deyang the national level, but lower than that of Sichuan. The City, Mianyang City, Zigong City, Leshan City, Nei- urbanization development speed of the remaining jiang City and other cities with a higher urbanization eleven cities, such as Zigong City and Deyang City development level have a relatively slow development has been slower than the national level in recent years. speed; Guang’an, Bazhong, Dazhou, Nanchong and Viewing from the current urbanization development other cities with a lower development level have a level in 2014, the urbanization development level of relatively fast development speed; Ganzi, Liangshan Chengdu City was the highest, which was 70.3%, and and Ngawa with the slowest development level has the has been at the later stage of urbanization develop- slowest development speed. It indicates that the ur- ment; the urbanization development level of Ganzi banization development process in Sichuan Province Prefecture was the lowest, which was only 26.87%, is in line with general rules of urbanization develop- and has been at the initial stage of urbanization de- ment: urbanization development speed will accelerate velopment; the difference between Chengdu City with first and then slow down with the improvement of the highest urbanization development level and Ganzi urbanization development level. Based on the urbani- Prefecture with the lowest urbanization development zation level of cities and prefectures, common varia- level was 43.43 percentage points. tion coefficients are used to analyze the variation trend As can be seen from Figure 2, the difference in the of the urbanization level in Sichuan Province. It is development level in cities and prefectures in Sichuan found that the difference in urbanization levels in Province is also very great. Among them, the urbani- cities and prefectures in Sichuan Province has been zation development level of Chengdu City and Pan- shrinking in recent years (see Figure 3). zhihua City is higher, which is higher than the average level of the national urbanization development; the urbanization development level of Zigong City, Deyang City and Mianyang City is lower than the national level but higher than the average level of Sichuan; the urbanization level of remaining 16 cities and prefectures, such as Luzhou City and Guangyuan City is lower than the average level in Sichuan.

Figure 3. Variation coefficients of urbanization level in Sichuan Province in 2005–2014.

3 ANALYSIS OF INFLUENCING FACTORS OF URBANIZATION LEVEL IN SICHUAN PROVINCE

Figure 1. The urbanization development speed of 3.1 Measurement model Sichuan province in 2005–2014. The urbanization development is affected by many factors. Based on existing research results, considering the availability of data and the rationality of research, this paper establishes a regression model, with the economic development level, per capita arable land area, urban-rural income gap, development situation of the secondary industry, development situation of the tertiary industry and fixed assets investment as independent variables, and the urbanization development level as a dependent variable to analyze the influencing factors of urbanization development in Si- chuan Province.

y=b+k1x1+k2x2+k3x3+k4x4+k5x5+k6x6,

Where: y is the urbanization development level; x1 Figure 2. Flow chart of node load selection. is the economic development level; x2 is the per capita

arable land area; x3 is the urban-rural income gap; x4 excessive urban-rural income gap will reduce the pur- is the development situation of the secondary industry; chasing power of rural labors and increase economic x5 is the development situation of the tertiary indus- costs for the transfer of rural labors to cities, thereby try; x6 is the fixed assets investment; K1, K2, K3, K4, reducing the possibility of transfer of rural labors to K5 and K6 are respectively elastic coefficients of cities, and hindering the process of urbanization. The economic development level, per capita arable land urban-rural income gap is expressed by the difference area, urban-rural income gap, development situation between the per capita disposable income of urban of the secondary industry, development situation of residents and the per capita net income of rural resi- the tertiary industry and fixed assets investment for dents. the urbanization development level. 3.2.4 Industrialization level 3.2 Research indicators and data description The continuous improvement of industrialization level not only provides a solid industrial support for the 3.2.1 Economic development level urbanization development, but also provides a large Economic development level is an important factor in number of stable employment posts for the urbaniza- determining the urbanization level of an area. Many tion development. A higher wage income will create a researches show that there is a positive correlation large number of middle-income groups, thus creating between economic development and urbanization a huge market demand for consumer service industry level [3-5]. The impact of economic development on the and high-end industrial products, and promoting the urbanization level is mainly reflected in the following optimization and upgrading of the internal structure of the industrial industry and the development of the aspects: first, before the advent of cities and towns, the [9] economic development promotes the emergence of service industry . The development situation of the surplus products and social division of labor and pro- secondary industry is expressed by the share of the vides basic conditions for the urbanization develop- secondary industry in GDP. ment; second, after the advent of cities and towns, the economic development leads to changes in consumer 3.2.5 Development situation of the tertiary industry demand, and changes in consumer demand leads to The promoting effect of the tertiary industry on the changes in the structure of production. The secondary urbanization is mainly reflected in the following two and tertiary industries have a rapid development, aspects: first, the tertiary industry provides a favorable thereby promoting the improvement of urbanization service environment and complete basic conditions for level. At the same time, economic development can industries and cities and towns, and strengthens the provide more funds for urban infrastructure and social absorption capacity of cities and towns; second, the security services, and provide a material basis for tertiary industry is mainly a labor-intensive industry [10] urban development, so as to attract more population to and has a stronger ability to absorb labors . The enter cities and towns, thus further promoting the im- development situation of the tertiary industry is ex- provement of urbanization level. The economic de- pressed by the share of the tertiary industry in GDP. velopment level is expressed by GDP per capita. 3.2.6 Fixed assets investment 3.2.2 Per capita arable land area Fixed assets investment is a major performance of the The smaller the per capita arable land area is, the more national industrial policies and also an important con- the rural surplus labors are. Only the transfer of rural dition for the realization of urbanization development [11] surplus labors can constantly provide labors for cities . Fixed assets investment is mainly used for the and towns. Urbanization is a fundamental way for the secondary and tertiary industries. It can not only in- transfer of rural surplus labors, and the transfer of crease production factors, such as plants and equip- rural surplus labors is a prerequisite for urbanization. ment in a region, but also improve infrastructure, such Per capita arable land area is expressed by the total as transportation, communication and real estate in a area of arable land and the total population of agricul- region. It can also drive population aggregation [12] ture. through direct and indirect employment effects . Fixed assets investment is expressed by per capita 3.2.3 Urban-rural income gap fixed assets investment of permanent residents. The impact of the urban-rural income gap on urbani- Data are from Sichuan Statistical Yearbook zation development is mainly reflected in the follow- 2006-2014 and Statistical Bulletin of National Econ- ing two aspects: first, according to Lewis’s dual eco- omy and Social Development of Cities and Prefectures nomic structure theory[6] and Todaro’s expected in- in Sichuan Province. come theory[7], the actual and expected urban-rural income gap will induce rural labors to constantly flow 3.3 Regression analysis results to cities and promote the urbanization development; on the other hand, Jiang Wei, et al[8] believed that an First, SPSS19.0 is used for standardized processing of

data, and then regression analysis is performed. The prefectures are much different. In general, they can be regression analysis results of cities and prefectures in divided into the following categories (Figure 4): Sichuan Province are shown in Table 1.

Table 1. Regression coefficients of regions, cities and prefectures in Sichuan Province.

2 Index K1 K2 K3 K4 K5 K6 b F R

Sichuan -0.24 -0.01 1.087 0.250 0.064 -0.017 1.015 2179.2 1.000

Chendu 0.31 -0.08 0.284 0.520 0.459 0.173 -1.72 280.45 0.998

Zigong -0.29 -0.10 1.820 0.151 0.121 -0.660 5.595 429.73 0.999

Panzhi- 0.673 -0.00 1.702 0.926 0.731 -1.161 2.937 130.77 0.996 hua 4 7 Luzho -0.50 -0.00 1.775 0.064 0.176 -0.068 -2.28 44.901 0.989

Deyang 0.124 -0.09 0.648 0.079 0.037 0.225 -7.86 55.409 0.991

Miayang 0.331 -0.03 0.924 0.086 0.098 -0.250 3.835 74.344 0.993

Guayua -1.00 -0.01 1.947 0.162 -0.00 -0.110 2.058 126.37 0.996

Suining -0.69 -0.09 1.739 0.114 -0.10 -0.164 -3.20 166.50 0.997

Neijiang -0.17 -0.05 1.696 0.314 0.505 -0.309 -1.59 1091.9 1.000

Leshan -0.34 -0.00 2.130 0.086 0.127 -0.857 -6.59 169.74 0.997 Figure 4. Classification map of urbanization development Na- -0.91 -0.12 1.494 0.096 -0.24 0.194 8.690 84.730 0.994 types in Sichuan Province.

Meishan -1.84 -0.02 3.589 0.161 0.065 -0.897 -2.22 70.011 0.993 The first category is full-element driven type, which Yibin -1.15 -0.00 1.979 0.368 0.049 -0.142 9.799 153.27 0.997 mainly includes Chengdu City. As a provincial capital Guang’a -0.87 -0.19 1.249 0.499 -0.26 0.037 -8.39 318.24 0.998 of Sichuan Province, Chengdu City has a high economic development level, a larger investment in mu- Dazhou -1.02 -0.01 0.941 -0.10 -0.38 0.854 2.096 46.858 0.989 nicipal construction, a better industrial development, Ya’an 0.002 -0.18 0.963 -0.94 -0.55 0.516 2.000 45.198 0.989 and a higher standard of living for urban and rural

Bazhong -0.72 -0.05 3.389 -0.77 0.023 -0.953 -6.54 163.98 0.997 residents. Each element has a larger effect on promoting the urbanization development. Ziyang 0.245 -0.41 1.307 0.439 0.790 -0.560 2.846 2206.3 1.000 The second category is urban-rural income gap + 48 5 industrial development + economic development Ngawa 1.826 -0.13 -0.42 0.146 0.630 0.017 -6.80 688.05 0.999 driven type, which mainly includes Panzhihua,

Garze -1.83 -0.54 -0.98 -0.10 -0.43 3.091 3.804 105.61 0.995 Deyang City, Mianyang City, Ziyang City and Ngawa Prefecture. Most of these cities are adjacent to Liansha -0.10 -0.00 1.599 -0.35 -0.03 -0.193 7.954 144.55 0.997 Chengdu City. These cities either have a better foun- As can be seen from Table 1, the regression results dation for industrial development or have a stronger prove that R2 of the sample is significant and the influence from Chengdu. In recent years, the industrial sample fitting is good. Six explanatory variables, X1, development has been faster, per capita GDP and life X2, X3, X4, X5 and X6 pass the significance test. of urban and rural residents have improved rapidly. Through the analysis of the influencing factors of The urban-rural income gap, industrial development urbanization in Sichuan Province, it is found that the and economic development have a greater effect on driving force of urbanization in Sichuan Province in promoting the urbanization development in these are- 2005-2014 is mainly the urban-rural income gap and as. the lack of development of the secondary and tertiary The third category is urban-rural income gap + in- industries, economic development and investment dustrial development driven type, which mainly in- promotion. cludes Zigong, Luzhou, Neijiang, Yibin, Leshan, and Through the horizontal comparison of cities and Meishan. These cities are mainly in the southern Si- prefectures in Sichuan Province, it is found that the chuan and have a certain industrial base. However, the urbanization level of cities and prefectures is inversely industrial development among the regions has a simi- proportional to the per capita arable land area. That is, lar objective, the effect of industry driving economic the transfer of surplus rural labors in cities and pre- development is insignificant, and the urbanization fectures has a promoting effect on the urbanization. development mainly depends on the urban-rural in- In addition, the influencing factors in cities and come gap and industrial development.

The fourth category is urban-rural income gap 4.3 Urban-rural income gap + industrial develop- driven type, which mainly includes Guangyuan, Su- ment driven type ining, Nanchong, Guang’an, Dazhou, Bazhong, Ya’an, and Liangshan. These cities have a relatively back- The development of industries in these areas has a ward economic development, and weak industrial certain foundation. It is necessary to further define the development, and the urbanization process mainly role of industrial division in cities and prefectures, so depends on the urban-rural income gap. as to enhance the overall competitiveness of the region, The fifth category is government driven type, which promote regional economic growth, and promote ur- mainly includes Ganzi Prefecture. The economic de- banization development with economic growth; at the velopment of such cities is lagging behind, people’s same time, it is necessary to timely foster substituted living standards are low, and the urban-rural income industry, and timely adjust, optimize and upgrade the gap is too large, and farmers shrink back at the sight industrial structure, thereby further playing a promot- of urbanization, and the urbanization process mainly ing role of industrial development in urbanization. depends on the government’s fixed assets investment. 4.4 Urban-rural income gap driven type

4 COUNTERMEASURES FOR URBANIZAITON First, it is necessary to realize the orderly transfer of DEVELOPMENT IN SICHUAN PROVINCE surplus rural labors, and continue to play a promoting role of urban-rural income gap in the urbanization In general, Sichuan Province should continue to in- development; second, it is necessary to increase the crease government investment, vigorously promote investment in non-agricultural industries, and promote the construction of “three major emerging growth the rapid development of secondary and tertiary in- poles”, “four major urban agglomerations” and “five dustries, in order to create a large number of employ- major economic zones”, vigorously implement devel- ment opportunities for rural population to enter cities opment strategies with multi-point and multi-polar and towns; fourth, it is necessary to improve the in- support, consolidate the economic foundation, and vestment environment and selectively undertake in- promote urbanization development. At the same time, dustrial transfer in coastal areas; third, it is necessary the factors of promoting urbanization development in to further improve the inter-regional transportation cities and prefectures in Sichuan Province are different, system, and promote inter-regional population mobil- so the urbanization development in cities and prefec- ity, cargo flow and capital flow, thereby guiding and tures should be treated differently and guided in clas- promoting the development of regional economy. sification. 4.5 Government-driven type 4.1 Full-element driven type First, it is necessary to continue to increase govern- For full-element driven type of Chengdu City, it is ment investment, especially investment in agriculture, necessary to continue to play a role in promoting var- rural areas and rural residents, narrow the urban-rural ious factors, continuously optimize the urban system, income gap, and dispel doubts of the farmers’ trans- improve the quality of urbanization, and create a formation into urban inhabitants. Second, it is neces- western economic core growth pole with global com- sary to improve the infrastructure construction and parative advantages, national speed advantages, and improve the investment environment; third, it is nec- high-end advantages in the west, as well as an open essary to establish a poverty alleviation mechanism for regional center and international city. the counterpart industry and strive to achieve trans- It is necessary to continue to play the leading role formation from transfusion-type poverty alleviation to of the “primate city”, and lead other cities to have a hematopoietic poverty alleviation, and gradually play common development. a promoting role of industrial development in the urbanization development.

4.2 Urban-rural income gap + industrial development + economic development driven type Most of these areas are adjacent to Chengdu, so it is ACKNOWLEDGEMENT necessary to seek for an integrated development with Chengdu, and continue to develop the secondary and This paper is supported by MOE (Ministry of Educa- tertiary industries, promote competitive industries to tion in China) Project of Humanities and Social Sci- be high-end, and pay attention to urban modernization ences（15YJCZH190）; Sichuan - Chongqing - Hubei construction, and strive to take the lead to achieve - Shaanxi joint economic and social development re- secondary breakthrough in the development strategies search innovation team support project of Sichuan with multi-point and multi-polar support in Sichuan University of Arts and Science（15CXTD006）. Province.

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