A Study On The Spatial Evolution And Governance Of Shanghai-Suzhou Region Based On "Density-Infrastructure" Relations

Standing at the threshold of ‘high-quality’ development,China’s megacities are facing a controversy over the question of whether to carry out ‘laissez-faire’ growth or to ‘limit the size and relocate population’.The spatial development mechanism of China’s megacities from a ‘quality’ perspective is an urgent issue to be answered by the academics.However,only limited guidance can be provided by existing research methods and results.In this dissertation,the concept of ‘quality’ is dimensionally reduced to the focus of urban planning disciplines.Choosing spatial elements of ‘density’ and‘infrastructure’ as the core variables of adjusting settlement quality and using‘density-infrastructure’ ratio as a spatial measure of settlement quality,this dissertation establishes a spatial development process model based on the assumption of ‘spatial involution’.Through the perspective of ‘density-infrastructure’ relations and the methods of long-term history-space study with multi-sample and multi-scale comparison,it summarizes the spatial distribution and clustering characteristics of‘density-infrastructure’ relations in mega-city regions in the world and comprehensively analyzes the spatial evolution and governance process of Shanghai-Suzhou region since 1946.After induction,interpretation and preliminary verification,this dissertation holds that the spatial development of Shanghai-Suzhou region shows a procedural logic of the shifting of ‘involutional space’ with the spatial fluctuation of‘density-infrastructure’,forming a spatial evolution and governance mechanism of partly getting rid of low-quality dilemma in the long process of spatial involution.This mechanism is the result of China’s mega-city regions’ choosing alternative‘density-infrastructure’ adjustment paths with different cost according to the institutional characteristics and public resource conditions under an external political and economic environment.At the current stage,the outlying belt has become the key area for Shanghai-Suzhou region to deal with spatial involution.The practice of‘density-infrastructure’ repair in typical spaces such as the surrounding area of Shanghai’s central city and Shanghai-Suzhou cross-border area shows a new trend of improving infrastructural service through governance innovation.Finally,this dissertation also proposes preliminary suggestions for optimizing‘density-infrastructure’ relations and improving settlement quality in Shanghai-Suzhou region.