The Effect Of Urbanization Spatial Structure On Rural Sustainable Development Ability In China

As China’s urbanization enters the late stage of rapid development,how to exert the spatial agglomeration effect of urbanization to drive the sustainable development of rural areas has become an important topic,so as to achieve coordinated development between urban and rural areas and improve the overall social welfare.This research uses farmers’ income,agricultural mechanization modernization and rural ecological environment as the three dimensions of rural sustainable development.The essence of urbanization is the centralized development of economic activities in space.By analyzing the influence of urbanization spatial structure at the provincial level and urban agglomeration level on rural sustainable development ability and its influence and constraint mechanism,this study is expected to provide a reference for promoting the coordinated development of urban and rural areas in China.Based on the location theory,urban-rural dual economic structure theory and induced technological change theory,we collected panel data at provincial and urban agglomeration spatial scales in China from 2004 to 2017,and used the systematic generalized moment method to estimate the impact of spatial structure concentration on rural development.At the provincial level,firstly,the influence of spatial structure on rural sustainable development ability and its influencing mechanism are analyzed.Then,we estimated the differences of the influence of the spatial structure of the eastern,central and western provinces on the sustainable development of rural areas and the reasons for the differences.At the level of urban agglomeration,firstly,whether urban agglomeration as the carrier of new urbanization can help improve the rural sustainable development ability,and the degree of impact of urban agglomeration on the rural sustainable development ability are tested.Then,it analyzes the influence of urban agglomeration on rural sustainable development ability,and the influence and constraint mechanism of different kinds of urban agglomerations on rural sustainable development ability are also analyzed.Finally,combined with the influence of the spatial structure of urbanization at the provincial and urban agglomeration levels on the rural sustainable development ability,the paper points out the urbanization development mode to improve the rural sustainable development ability in the future.The results showed that:(1)Provincial spatial structure concentration has a positive impact on rural sustainable development ability,and there are different positive impact mechanisms.Under the influence mechanism of rural labor force’s non-agricultural employment,the three dimensions of rural sustainable development ability are positive influenced.The influence mechanism of agricultural products market has a positive effect on the sustainable development ability of rural areas in the dimension of resources and environment.The mechanism of agricultural science and technology progress has positive influence on the rural sustainable development ability of economic and social dimension and resource and environment dimension.(2)There are differences in the influence of provincial spatial structure on rural sustainable development ability in the eastern,central and western regions.Firstly,the spatial structure of provinces in the central and western regions can improve the rural sustainable development ability through the non-agricultural employment of labor force,and the eastern region can improve the rural sustainable development ability through the agricultural product market.Secondly,the spatial structure of provinces in central China can improve the rural sustainable development ability through the progress of agricultural science and technology.(3)Under different constraint mechanisms,the provincial spatial structure of the three regions has significant different impacts on the rural sustainable development ability.Firstly,the development of the secondary industry can improve the influence of the concentration of provincial spatial structure on the rural sustainable development ability through the non-agricultural employment of labor force and agricultural technology progress in the central and western regions.It can improve the influence of the concentration of provincial spatial structure on rural sustainable development ability through agricultural products market of in the eastern.Secondly,the expansion of urban population can improve the rural sustainable development ability through the non-agricultural employment of labor force which is promoted by the concentration of provincial spatial structure in the central and western regions.It can improve the rural sustainable development ability which is influenced by the concentration of provincial spatial structure through the progress of agricultural technology in central regions.Thirdly,the increase of foreign investment can improve the rural sustainable development ability which is influenced by the concentration of provincial spatial structure through non-agricultural employment in the central and western regions,and improve the rural sustainable development ability through agricultural technology progress the central region,promote the eastern region to improve the rural sustainable development ability through agricultural products market.(4)Urban agglomeration has a positive impact on rural sustainable development ability.Different spatial structure types of urban agglomerations have different impacts on rural sustainable development ability.Flat urban agglomerations has a greater positive impact on the economic and social dimensions and the resource and environment dimensions of rural sustainable development ability.(5)Under different constraint mechanisms,centralized and flat urban agglomerations have different influences on rural sustainable development ability.The development of the secondary industry is more conducive to the improvement of the three-dimensions of rural sustainable development ability in the concentrated urban agglomeration.The expansion of urban population scale and the increase of foreign investment are more conducive to improving the rural sustainable development ability of flat urban agglomeration.This study explores the relationship between the coordinated development of urban and rural areas in the process of urbanization development,and finds that the spatial development direction of urbanization in relatively backward areas still needs to be concentrated,so as to expand the agglomeration effect and its positive impact on the sustainable development ability of rural areas.In the long run,flat urban agglomeration,as the main carrier of China’s new urbanization,is more conducive to giving play to the effect of scale economy and improving the sustainable development ability of rural areas.The results of this study can provide a reference for decision-making to improve the agglomeration effect of urbanization and radiate the sustainable development of rural areas in China.