Transformation Of Urban-rural Relations Post-industrial Metropolitan Areas Studied

Urbanization is a natural historical process that accompanied by industrialization development, non-agricultural industries agglomeration in urban and rural population to urban concentration. It is an objective trend of the development of human society and an important symbol of modernization of a country. Urbanization could be either classical form that population to urban agglomeration since the industrial revolution, or postmodern form that population and resources to rural agglomeration in the post-industrial stage. It is believed that the urban-rural relations is transforming, as long as the population and resources re-adjust in whichever form in urban-rural spatial.The rural-urban transform mode of developed countries in the stage of post-industrial belongs to population and resources scattered over small towns and villages, which from the mode of population and resources concentrated in certain central cities. In fact, the rural-urban transform path that after the population urbanization rate reached50is different from before in the western countries. It emphases more on guiding economic factors diffusing rather than gathering in urban society. In2013, the urbanization rate of China was53.7, and more developed metropolitan areas such as Beijing, Shanghai and other cities reached more than80. It means that the urban-rural relationship in metropolitan areas might appear historical leap.Research on temporal-spatial process of rural-urban transform of metropolitan area, showing that the industrialization is moving to urban-rural integration after experienced the urban industrialization and urban-rural industrialization. Including rural begins independent urbanization on the basis of the endogenous industrialization. However, such a transform path is not been recognized, which results directly in the urbanization mode lags behind the process. Because of economic factors spatial diffusion in post-industrial stage, as well as the trend from non-equilibrium to equilibrium of space development lack of reasonable guidance, consequently "city diseases" and "the decline of countryside" appear in central cities of metropolitan areas.Taking Beijing as the representative, the paper studied the changes of villages in metropolitan areas, finding that villages in the post-industrial stage differ from traditional rural and has new connotation. Economic factors diffuse and rural urbanization starts in developed countries in the post-industrial stage. But such spatial economic trend encountered obstacles in China. The reason is that the different understanding of "urban" and "rural". The urban-rural division based on land tenure systems which were addressed in the Constitution in China. Therefore the traditional villages of metropolitan areas are still "rural" even if it is homogeneous with "cities" in spatial density, industrial structure, employment structure and lifestyle after the completion of the industrialization. The main path of rural-urban transform still is land urbanization, which will inevitably lead to "population urbanization" lags behind "land urbanization".The paper argues that rural independent urbanization which bases on the endogenous industrialization is the inherent requirement of rural-urban transform of metropolitan areas in the post-industrial stage. Not only is the effective measure to share central city functions, but also it is fundamental way to revitalize rural vitality. The key part of independent urbanization is innovation of transformation mechanisms.