Evolutionary Pattern and Effect of Administrative Division Adjustment During Urbanization of China:Empirical Analysis on Multiple Scales

The adjustment of administrative divisions is one of the important factors guiding China's urbanization, which has profound economic and social effects for regional development. In this paper, we comprehensively describe the process of the adjustment of administrative divisions at provincial and municipal levels in China and summarize the effects on the basic structure and patterns of the spatial development. We quantitatively assess the effects on fields such as urbanization and social economy through the use of multidimensional scaling. The results show that: 1) Upgrading county to municipality(or city-governed district) is the main way of adjusting the administrative divisions. It is also an important factor in the spatial differentiation of interprovincial urbanization. China's population urbanization can be divided into four patterns including interprovincial migration, provincial migration, natural growth, and growth caused by the adjustment of administrative divisions, which is also the main reason for the increased Chinese urbanization rate at the provincial level. 2) Taking the city of Beijing as an example, we generalize five adjustment patterns made to administrative divisions: the set-up of sub-districts, the set-up of regional offices, the upgrading of townships to sub-districts, the upgrading of townships to towns, and the set-up of towns and the addition of new regional offices. We summarize the municipal urban spatial structure, including the sub-district office area in the central urban area, the regional office area in the new urban area, the mixed area of villages, towns, and sub-district offices in the suburb area, and the township area in the outer suburb area. 3) The adjustment of administrative divisions triggers a significant circulative accumulation effect, resulting in the spatial locking of population and industrial agglomeration. It affects the evolution of the urban spatial form and plays an important role in shaping the urban spatial structure to move to the characteristic of multicenter. In general, the adjustment of administrative divisions was an important factor affecting the inflated statistical level of urbanization and also an important driving force for the evolution of Chinese urban spatial organization structure.

Spheres of Urban Influence and Factors in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Metropolitan Region Based on Viewpoint of Administrative Division Adjustment

The coordinated development of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei has been elevated as China's important strategy. And, the priority in considering how to bring the maximum effect of their coordinated development into play is to delineate the spheres of urban influence with regard to the cities in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Metropolitan Region. By building an evaluation index system of urban comprehensive strength, this paper applies the principal component analysis method to determine centrality strength of the cities, and the breakpoint theory and weighted Voronoi diagram to identify the spheres of urban influence in all central cities of the region. Results show that 13 central cities within the region greatly differ in strength, which can be classified into four tiers and that the spheres of urban influence do not have a high goodness of fit with administrative jurisdiction scope. Cities like Beijing, Tianjin, Shijiazhuang and Handan have larger spheres of urban, spheres of urban influence in Tangshan and Qinhuangdao are basically consistent with their administrative jurisdiction scopes, and seven cities including Langfang and Baoding have smaller spheres of urban influence. So according to these cities' comprehensive strength and spheres of influence, the region can be divided into five plates: Beijing, Tianjin, Shijiazhuang, Tangshan and Handan. The major influence factors for inconsistency between spheres of urban influence and spheres of jurisdiction include difference in urban administrative ranking, small number of central cities with weak strength, discrepancy in the number of counties under jurisdiction, unreasonable spheres of jurisdiction and diversity in topographical conditions. In order to solve the imbalance in the spheres of urban influence and those of jurisdiction and better facilitate the coordinated development of the region, it is advised to adjust administrative areas so as to obtain more optimized urban spatial layout and more reasonable urban scale hierarchy system.

Adjustment of Administrative Divisions and Upgrading of Industrial Structure in Hefei Metropolitan Area:Taking"Partitions of Chaohu"as a Quasi-natural Experiment

Administrative regions are an important environment for the operation of China's market economy.The relevant economic subjects cannot predict the policy of adjustment of administrative divisions and carry out conscious migration behavior,adjustment of administrative divisions can be regarded as a quasi-natural experiment.The three cities of Hefei,Wuhu,and Ma'anshan,which are directly related to the adjustment of the administrative division of Chaohu,are taken as the treatment group,and the seven adjacent cities of Lu'an,Huainan,Chuzhou,Bengbu,Anqing,Chizhou,and Tongling are taken as the control group.Differences-in-Differences method and relevant control variables affecting the upgrading of industrial structure are used to test.The test results show that"Partitions of Chaohu"has a significant industrial structure upgrading effect by promoting the optimization of spatial layout,the cross-regional flow of production factors and the effective management of Chaohu Lake Basin.At the same time,the increase of total retail sales of consumer goods,urban fixed assets investment,public utility expenses in science,education,culture and health,and population plays a significant positive role in promoting the upgrading of industrial structure,while foreign direct investment plays a certain inhibition role in the upgrading of industrial structure.In order to meet the ever-developing space demands and enhance the impact on surrounding areas,the Hefei metropolitan area should be driven by technological innovation,strengthen the integration of industrial chains,improve the business environment and transportation network,and continuously promote the upgrading of industrial structure and the formation and development of new productive forces.

Quantitative measurement of the effects of administrative division adjustments on regional development

Administrative divisions are the important foundation of national governance and social development,and the adjustment of administrative divisions is a critical way to promote regional coordinated development.Under the background of globalization and regionalization,timely adjustment of administrative divisions is a major step to reconstruct the regional development pattern.In the perspective of regional coordinated development,this paper constructs an Administrative Rank Potential Energy(ARPE)model to explore the mechanisms of administrative division adjustment(ADA)under coordinated regional development based on the theory of regional interaction,spatial field energy model and power exponential function.The results show that:(1)The development potential and influence of an administrative region are closely related to the administrative jurisdiction,administrative resources,and the potential of regional coordinated development.(2)The growth rate of ARPE in the study area from 2010 to 2015 was 20.7% compared to the period 2005 to 2010,and the potential for coordinated development increased to 3.05% from 0.21% before the"cancelling"the prefecture-level city of Chaohu.(3)The measurement results of the usefulness of ADA can not only distinguish the complex impacts brought about by social development,but also accord with real social and economic development conditions.The ARPE focuses on the both regional integrated development and individual development,thereby serving as a reference for explaining and evaluating adjustments to administrative divisions at the macro-and micro-scales.

Administrative Division Adjustment and Housing Price Comovement:Evidence from City-County Mergers in China

Interregional housing price comovement is a stylized fact worldwide.This study explores how it is affected by administrative division adjustment.We exploit city-county mergers in China as a quasi-natural experiment to construct a difference-in-differences strategy for causal identification.Based on monthly housing price data for districts(counties)in China from 2010 to 2019,we find that city-county mergers significantly improve correlations in housing prices between the merged county and the urban district.This effect is more obvious in cities with a large economic gap between merged counties and urban districts,located in the central and western regions,and with lower administrative hierarchies(non-provincial-capital cities).The mechanism test shows that the impact of city-county mergers on housing price comovement results mainly from integrating housing demand rather than integrating housing supply,like the unified land supply policy that local government implements in the new administrative scope after mergers.The results are helpful in understanding housing price comovement from the view of regional integration and provide clear policy implications for housing market regulation in China.

Administrative division adjustments and stock price comovement:Evidence from the city–county mergers in China

Under the background of Chinese market segmentation,whether governmentled administrative division adjustments can promote regional economic integration is a practical issue.Taking interregional firms’stock price comovement as a micro measurement of regional integration,this paper investigates the regional integration effect of administrative division adjustments,i.e.,city–county mergers.We find that stock price comovement between county-level and municipal district-level firms in the merged counties and municipal districts significantly improve after city–county mergers,particularly in regions with a higher degree of market segmentation and lower degree of marketization.We further find that the increase in stock price comovement caused by city–county mergers emerges from the increase in comovement of real activities between firms in the merged counties and municipal districts.Taken together,our results suggest that government-led administrative division adjustments effectively promote regional integration.

Stages and Characteristics of Metropolitan Administrative Division Adjustment in China Since 1997

Administrative division adjustments(hereinafter referred to as ADA) proceed throughout China's rapid urbanization, especially during the process of metropolitanization. It has become an integral part of the transformation of China's urban and regional governance. Based on an analysis of ADA cases at the metropolitan level since 1997, this paper suggests that the stages and characteristics of ADA in China are closely related to the metropolitanization process. The internal dynamics and external constraints jointly created two stages of ADA at the metropolitan level in China, namely, a first stage from 1997 to 2007 and a second stage from 2008 to now. In the first stage, ADA primarily aimed at turning counties into districts, to meet the metropolis' demands for expansion. In the second stage, local governments laid equal stress on the two approaches of ADA, i.e., turning counties into districts and district restructuring. Such a change corresponded to the diversification of development demands of the metropolitan area. The evolution of ADA from the first stage to the second not only reflects the changing characteristics of metropolitanization at different times, but also demonstrates the viability of ADA as a means to improve the governance structure of the metropolitan area. ADA at the metropolitan level in China since 1997 basically accommodates the development of space and governance in the metropolitan area, which promotes the rapid development of a large metropolitan area.

国家行政区划调整下的城市多中心发展——城市空间转型的政策启示

Polycentric urban development has profound impacts on urban development worldwide.Most studies have identified its complex drivers of social economy and natural condition while ignoring the state-led policy factors.In recent years,China has undergone dramatic administrative division adjustment(ADA)during the process of unique state-led urbanization.However,as a crucial government strategy,the impacts of ADA on urban polycentricity remain unclear.This research investigates the relationship between ADA and urban polycentricity through spatial difference-in-differences models.The results reveal that ADA has contributed to the polycentric urban development in China.Specifically,boundary restructuring has more substantial impacts than hierarchy reorganization.In addition,ADA has significantly promoted urban polycentricity in local cities in central China and neighbouring cities in eastern China,while it has no significant effects in western China.Furthermore,ADA reshapes urban polycentricity mainly by the influencing mechanism of construction land and industrial structure.Policymakers should consider the various ADA’s impacts on urban polycentricity with socio-economic conditions.This research provides a deeper insight into urban spatial transformation with state-led drivers.