IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v8y2016i7p651-d73614.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Spatial and Temporal Evolution of Urban Systems in China during Rapid Urbanization

Author

Listed:
  • Huan Li

    (Collaborative Innovation Center for China Economy, School of Economics, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China)

  • Yehua Dennis Wei

    (Key Research Institute of Yellow River Civilization and Sustainable Development & Collaborative Innovation Center on Yellow River Civilization of Henan Province, Henan University, Kaifeng 475001, China
    Department of Geography, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112-9155, USA)

  • Yuemin Ning

    (Centre for Modern Chinese City Studies, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China)

Abstract

The structure of urban hierarchy and the role of cities of different sizes have drawn considerable scholarly interests and societal concerns. This paper analyzes the evolution and underlying mechanisms of urban hierarchy in China during the recent period of rapid urbanization. By comparing scale changes of seven types of cities (megacity, large city, Type I big city, Type II big city, medium-sized city, type I small city and type II small city), we find that allometry is the main characteristic of urban hierarchical evolution in China. We also test the validity of Zipf’s law and Gibrat’s law, which broaden the scope of existing studies by including county-level cities. We find that urban hierarchical distribution is lognormal, rather than Pareto. The result also shows that city size growth rates are constant across cities of different types. For better understanding of the mechanisms of urban hierarchical formation, we measure the optimal city size and resource allocation by the Pareto optimality criterion and non-parametric frontier method. The main findings are as follows: (1) scale efficiency is still at a relatively low level among the seven types of cities; (2) the economic efficiency of megacities and large cities is overestimated when compared to economic-environmental efficiency. Hence, this paper has two policy implications: (1) to correct factor market (land, labor and infrastructure investment) distortions among different types of cities for the improvement of efficiency; (2) to strengthen rural property rights to improve social equity, as well as land use intensity.

Suggested Citation

  • Huan Li & Yehua Dennis Wei & Yuemin Ning, 2016. "Spatial and Temporal Evolution of Urban Systems in China during Rapid Urbanization," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(7), pages 1-17, July.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:8:y:2016:i:7:p:651-:d:73614
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/7/651/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/7/651/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Henderson, J V, 1974. "The Sizes and Types of Cities," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 64(4), pages 640-656, September.
    2. Esteban Rossi-Hansberg & Mark L. J. Wright, 2007. "Urban Structure and Growth," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 74(2), pages 597-624.
    3. Rosen, Kenneth T. & Resnick, Mitchel, 1980. "The size distribution of cities: An examination of the Pareto law and primacy," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 8(2), pages 165-186, September.
    4. Yong Cai, 2013. "China's New Demographic Reality: Learning from the 2010 Census," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 39(3), pages 371-396, September.
    5. Terry Sicular & Yue Ximing & Björn Gustafsson & Li Shi, 2007. "The Urban–Rural Income Gap And Inequality In China," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 53(1), pages 93-126, March.
    6. W. Cooper & Shanling Li & L. Seiford & Kaoru Tone & R. Thrall & J. Zhu, 2001. "Sensitivity and Stability Analysis in DEA: Some Recent Developments," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 15(3), pages 217-246, May.
    7. Anderson, Gordon & Ge, Ying, 2005. "The size distribution of Chinese cities," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(6), pages 756-776, November.
    8. Fukuyama, Hirofumi & Weber, William L., 2009. "A directional slacks-based measure of technical inefficiency," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 43(4), pages 274-287, December.
    9. Chen Zeng & Sanwei He & Jiaxing Cui, 2014. "A Multi-Level and Multi-Dimensional Measuring on Urban Sprawl: A Case Study in Wuhan Metropolitan Area, Central China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(6), pages 1-28, June.
    10. Michel Dimou & Alexandra Schaffar, 2009. "Urban Hierarchies and City Growth in the Balkans," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 46(13), pages 2891-2906, December.
    11. Gale Boyd & George Tolley & Joseph Pang, 2002. "Plant Level Productivity, Efficiency, and Environmental Performance of the Container Glass Industry," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 23(1), pages 29-43, September.
    12. Ali, Agha Iqbal & Lerme, Catherine S. & Seiford, Lawrence M., 1995. "Components of efficiency evaluation in data envelopment analysis," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 80(3), pages 462-473, February.
    13. Rong Tan & Rongyu Wang & Thomas Sedlin, 2014. "Land-Development Offset Policies in the Quest for Sustainability: What Can China Learn from Germany?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(6), pages 1-31, May.
    14. Edward L. Glaeser, 2012. "The challenge of urban policy," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(1), pages 111-122, December.
    15. Chengri Ding & Xingshuo Zhao, 2011. "Assessment of Urban Spatial-Growth Patterns in China During Rapid Urbanization," Chinese Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(1), pages 46-71, January.
    16. Yunqiang Liu & Jiuping Xu & Huawei Luo, 2014. "An Integrated Approach to Modelling the Economy-Society-Ecology System in Urbanization Process," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(4), pages 1-27, April.
    17. Paul J. Maliszewski & Breandán Ó hUallacháin, 2012. "Hierarchy and concentration in the American urban system of technological advance," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 91(4), pages 743-758, November.
    18. Zelai Xu & Nong Zhu, 2009. "City Size Distribution in China: Are Large Cities Dominant?," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 46(10), pages 2159-2185, September.
    19. Chun-Chung Au & J. Vernon Henderson, 2006. "Are Chinese Cities Too Small?," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 73(3), pages 549-576.
    20. Caves, Douglas W & Christensen, Laurits R & Diewert, W Erwin, 1982. "Multilateral Comparisons of Output, Input, and Productivity Using Superlative Index Numbers," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 92(365), pages 73-86, March.
    21. Wang, Ke & Wei, Yi-Ming & Zhang, Xian, 2013. "Energy and emissions efficiency patterns of Chinese regions: A multi-directional efficiency analysis," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 105-116.
    22. Haiyan Zhang & Michinori Uwasu & Keishiro Hara & Helmut Yabar, 2011. "Sustainable Urban Development and Land Use Change—A Case Study of the Yangtze River Delta in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 3(7), pages 1-16, July.
    23. Xinyue Ye & Yichun Xie, 2012. "Re-examination of Zipf’s law and urban dynamic in China: a regional approach," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 49(1), pages 135-156, August.
    24. Bee, Marco & Riccaboni, Massimo & Schiavo, Stefano, 2013. "The size distribution of US cities: Not Pareto, even in the tail," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 120(2), pages 232-237.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. He, Ming & Chen, Yang & van Marrewijk, Charles, 2021. "The effects of urban transformation on productivity spillovers in China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 473-488.
    2. Lei Wang & Ruyin Long & Hong Chen, 2017. "Study of Urban Energy Performance Assessment and Its Influencing Factors Based on Improved Stochastic Frontier Analysis: A Case Study of Provincial Capitals in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(7), pages 1-18, June.
    3. Arshad, Sidra & Hu, Shougeng & Ashraf, Badar Nadeem, 2019. "Zipf’s law, the coherence of the urban system and city size distribution: Evidence from Pakistan," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 513(C), pages 87-103.
    4. He, Ming & Chen, Yang & van Marrewijk, Charles, 2017. "Urban Transformation and Technology Spillovers: Evidence from China's Electric Apparatus Sector," RIEI Working Papers 2017-01, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Research Institute for Economic Integration.
    5. Andreev, Vsevolod & Lukiyanova, Violetta & Kadyshev, Evgenii, 2017. "Analysis of people territorial distribution in regions of the Volga Federal District on the base of Zipf and Gibrat laws," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 48, pages 97-121.
    6. Xueyan Xu & Jun Gao & Zhonghao Zhang & Jing Fu, 2019. "An Assessment of Chinese Pathways to Implement the UN Sustainable Development Goal-11 (SDG-11)—A Case Study of the Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomeration," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(13), pages 1-14, June.
    7. Lie Ma & Dandan Li & Xiaobo Tao & Haifeng Dong & Bei He & Xiaosu Ye, 2017. "Inequality, Bi-Polarization and Mobility of Urban Infrastructure Investment in China’s Urban System," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(9), pages 1-19, September.
    8. Huan Li & Yehua Dennis Wei & Elfie Swerts, 2020. "Spatial inequality in the city-regions in the Yangtze River Valley, China," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 57(3), pages 672-689, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Arshad, Sidra & Hu, Shougeng & Ashraf, Badar Nadeem, 2019. "Zipf’s law, the coherence of the urban system and city size distribution: Evidence from Pakistan," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 513(C), pages 87-103.
    2. Zhihong Chen & Shihe Fu & Dayong Zhang, 2013. "Searching for the Parallel Growth of Cities in China," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 50(10), pages 2118-2135, August.
    3. Iris Claus & Les Oxley & Ming Lu & Guanghua Wan, 2014. "Urbanization And Urban Systems In The People'S Republic Of China: Research Findings And Policy Recommendations," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(4), pages 671-685, September.
    4. Valente J. Matlaba & Mark J. Holmes & Philip McCann & Jacques Poot, 2013. "A Century Of The Evolution Of The Urban System In Brazil," Review of Urban & Regional Development Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(3), pages 129-151, November.
    5. Alexandra SCHAFFAR, 2008. "Regional Income Inequality And Urbanisation Trends In China: 1978-2005," Region et Developpement, Region et Developpement, LEAD, Universite du Sud - Toulon Var, vol. 28, pages 87-110.
    6. repec:wyi:journl:002175 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Li, Huixuan & Chen, Jing & Chen, Zihao & Xu, Jianguo, 2022. "Urban population distribution in China: Evidence from internet population," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    8. Pengfei Li & Ming Lu, 2021. "Urban Systems: Understanding and Predicting the Spatial Distribution of China's Population," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 29(4), pages 35-62, July.
    9. Kyung-Min Nam, 2017. "Is spatial distribution of China’s population excessively unequal? A cross-country comparison," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 59(2), pages 453-474, September.
    10. Xin Li & Kyung-Min Nam, 2017. "One country, two “urban” systems: focusing on bimodality in China’s city-size distribution," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 59(2), pages 427-452, September.
    11. Bosker, Maarten & Brakman, Steven & Garretsen, Harry & Schramm, Marc, 2008. "A century of shocks: The evolution of the German city size distribution 1925-1999," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(4), pages 330-347, July.
    12. Sokołowski Dariusz & Jażdżewska Iwona, 2021. "Zipf's Law for cities: estimation of regression function parameters based on the weight of American urban areas and Polish towns," Bulletin of Geography. Socio-economic Series, Sciendo, vol. 53(53), pages 147-156, September.
    13. Oshiro, Jun & Sato, Yasuhiro, 2021. "Industrial structure in urban accounting," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    14. Duranton, Gilles & Puga, Diego, 2014. "The Growth of Cities," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 5, pages 781-853, Elsevier.
    15. Zebin Zheng & Wenjun Xiao & Ziye Cheng, 2023. "China’s Green Total Factor Energy Efficiency Assessment Based on Coordinated Reduction in Pollution and Carbon Emission: From the 11th to the 13th Five-Year Plan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-20, April.
    16. Esteban Rossi-Hansberg & Mark L. J. Wright, 2007. "Urban Structure and Growth," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 74(2), pages 597-624.
    17. Hasan Engin Duran & Andrzej Cieślik, 2021. "The distribution of city sizes in Turkey: A failure of Zipf’s law due to concavity," Regional Science Policy & Practice, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 13(5), pages 1702-1719, October.
    18. Kim, Ho Yeon, 2012. "Shrinking population and the urban hierarchy," IDE Discussion Papers 360, Institute of Developing Economies, Japan External Trade Organization(JETRO).
    19. Yannis M. Ioannides & Henry G. Overman & Esteban Rossi-Hansberg & Kurt Schmidheiny, 2008. "The effect of information and communication technologies on urban structure [‘Trade and circuses: Explaining urban giants’]," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 23(54), pages 202-242.
    20. Gilles Duranton, 2007. "From cities to productivity and growth in developing countries," Working Papers tecipa-306, University of Toronto, Department of Economics.
    21. Chen, Zhihong & Fu, Shihe & Zhang, Dayong, 2010. "Searching for the parallel growth of cities," MPRA Paper 21528, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:8:y:2016:i:7:p:651-:d:73614. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.