美国和加拿大都市区的划分及我国的借鉴

The Delineation of Metropolitan Areas in the United States and Canada and Its Implication for China

由于历史久远的行政区划难以反映持续变化的城市体系格局,发达国家设立独立于行政区的都市区来解决行政区划与城市体系脱节的问题。都市区是指一个具有较大人口规模的核心区以及空间上与之相连且具有较强经济和社会联系的地区,它是人口和经济活动聚集的中心。本文对美国和加拿大都市区的历史沿革、划分标准及原则、区划现状以及意义进行了详细介绍。我国处于高速城市化的过程之中,城市体系格局变化迅速,我国亟需进行全面的都市区研究与统计工作。

As centuries old administrative areas cannot reflect the structure of changing urban areas, most developed countries delineate metropolitan areas that are independent of administrative ones to solve this problem. The metropolitan area is an area containing a population nucleus and adjacent areas that have a high degree of social and economic relations with that nucleus, it is also a center where people and economic activities concentrate. This paper provides a detailed introduction to the history, delineation standards, current state and functions of metropolitan areas in the United States and Canada. China is in the process of rapid urbanization, the structure of urban areas is changing quickly, it is urgent for China to delineate metropolitan areas for statistical and analytical purposes.