Research On Shanghai Urban Spatial Structure Evolution

Since the beginning of the21stcentury, with the rapid growth of nationaleconomy metropolises in China have been undergoing tremendous transformation ofeconomy and the social system. With the industrialization and urbanization at a highspeed, the pattern of the urban space is increasingly differentiated; the urban spatialstructure is experiencing a rapid process of evolution and reconstruction. However,with the impressive economic growth, many problems emerge with negative impacton the sustainable development of the society and economy,namely,over-development of the urban space, inefficient use of lands, a high degree ofsimilarity in functions of different regions, constructive damages of cultural heritages,the serious phenomenon of disconnection of the city and its industry as well as thesharp deterioration of the ecological environment. In that case, as an interdisciplinaryresearch object, the evolution and integration of the urban spatial structure hasbecome a research focus in the study of regional economy as well as urban andregional planning.Based on the literature review of theoretical achievements in urban spatialstructure made by related disciplines as regional economics, industrial economics,urban economics and the new geographical economics, considering the realisticbackground of the drastic transformation of China’s society and economy, thisresearch chooses Shanghai—a typical representative of Chinese metropolises—as theobject of this empirical study. The urban spatial structure in this research is dividedinto three dimensions, namely, the economic spatial structure, social spatial structureand the environmental spatial structure. From the perspectives of both theory andempiric study, this research has a penetrating investigation on Shanghai’s evolutionand distribution characteristics of its spatial structure since its opening-up, and learnsystematically about the factors that influence the aforementioned evolution anddifferentiations. Based on the analysis of the historical development and evolutionarymechanism of its spatial structure, connecting the aim of building Shanghai into a cosmopolitan city, this study analyzes the existing problems and their causes thatemerge during the development of its spatial pattern. Furthermore, the future structureof Shanghai’s urban space and its optimized path are elaborated in this study fromthree perspectives—the micro (layout of the CBD), the meso (construction of newtowns in suburb) and the macro (building of the city’s urban system and regionalagglomerations) as well.As for the quantitative and empiric method, The last method used in this researchis factor analysis which is applied to evaluate and classify the related indicators thatreflect comprehensively the development of Shanghai’s18districts and towns. In thatcase, the comprehensive evaluation system of urban functions is established. Thisresearch also chooses17indicators from the angles of location, economic structure(and its changes), social structure (and its changes) and physical environment to takeon factor and cluster analyses, judging, classifying and summarizing each area’sspatial distribution characteristics based on each district and town’s own reality.Therefore the over-all driven factor of each area’s development is specified, whichhelps provide scientific evidence to find out specific functional orientation anddevelopment strength for each district and town.The study has found that the urban spatial structure consists of economic, socialand environmental structures. The economic spatial structure provides social memberswith working space, while the social spatial structure provides living space for them;those two kinds of spaces together make up the whole frame of the development ofthe urban spatial structure and their development through interaction furthers theexpansion of the urban space and its structural evolution. On the other hand, thephysical environmental spatial structure provides the development and structuralevolution of society and economy with operation conditions and rules, and it alsoprovides the hard and the soft environment for the regularly functioning of social andeconomic activities; thus this structure, as the essential mechanism that keeps thesocial and economic system functioning healthily, influences the structural evolutionof the urban space and it runs through the whole process of social and economic development. Only when the environmental structure is mapped to the economic andsocial ones, could it be possible to realize the construction of the urban space. To sumup, it is the interactive functioning process of economic, social and environmentalspatial structures that consists of the comprehensive mechanism of the expansion ofurban space and evolution of its structure. It is still this process that directly impactsthe internal structure and organization model of the urban space.