Urbanization in Western China

China has experienced considerable urbanization in the past 60 years,especially since the implementation of the Economic Reform and Opening-up Policy in 1978.In 1949,there were only 132 cities with an urban population of 27.4 million,while in 2008 China had 652 cities with a total urban population of 606 million.Such urbanization is attributed to the boost in the number of cities and the urban population.Urban expansion enhanced geographic inequality between the three major regions in China.Compared with the eastern and central regions,western China only has 19%of the total cities and 18%of the urban population.The urbanization rate was 37.2%for the western region in 2008,while it reached 53.3%for the eastern regions and 45.3%for central China.Using a geographic information system(GIS)and statistical analyses,this study aims at explaining the structure and spatial development of urbanization,and highlighting the current issues of urban inequality in western China during the past two decades.The paper drew following conclusions:(1)Urbanization disparities between eastern and western China have become increasingly obvious,but seem to be evolving slowly since the establishment of the government’s Western Development Priority Policy in 2000.(2)Cities of various sizes were expanded in western China,and the main factors affecting the urbanization are population numbers and density,government investment and geographic conditions.(3)Current patterns of urbanization in the western region are distributed unevenly between provinces.     

新疆和田地区城市化与土地利用变化的定量分析

选取自然环境和人文环境比较典型的西部欠发达贫困地区-新疆和田地区作为研究区域,借助国内外城市化与土地利用变化关系方面的理论和研究成果,分析城市化进程中土地利用变化的特征;采用回归分析方法,研究城市化与土地利用变化的相关关系及城市化进程对土地利用变化的影响程度.分析结果显示,城市化与耕地、居民点及工矿用地、交通用地和未利用地间有显著的相关性,表明城市化的快速发展是造成农业用地减少和建设用地增加的主要原因.同时,耕地与未利用地等两种土地类型和城市化间的负相关关系说明,两种地类的减少与城市化的快速发展有着密切的关系.这体现了和田地区城市建设和经济的快速增长是影晌生态环境等一系列有关可持续发展问题的重要原因.