Study On The Urban Spatial Expansion Of Zhengzhou City

Urban spatial structure refers to the spatial distribution and organizational pattern of inner-cityelements, and it is the projection of urban political, economic and social activities onto the space. Since theindustrial revolution, industrial capital has accumulated in cities quickly, and urban spatial expansionaccelerated dramatically with the rapid urbanization. Since the beginning of the reform and opening up,with the gradual implementation of the market economic system, China has witnessed rapid economicdevelopment. As the spatial carrier of social and economic activities and natural resources, cities haveaccumulated massive industrial capital, social resources and population, and the quantity and scale of citiesare both on the increase. In the meanwhile, the phenomenon of rapid spatial outward expansion and drasticspatial morphological transformation has emerged, and the process of urbanization has shown posture ofrash advance, which caused excessive scalar expansion, disordered extension and low-density sprawl ofcities, and brought about a series of "urban diseases." Zhengzhou City started to develop from itsdesignation of the capital of Henan province. In the first five-year period, it was determined as one ofnational constructing cities, with the nature of “industrial city based on light industry, national keytransportation hub and the political, economic and cultural center of Henan Province”. In the developingprocess of nearly60years after the founding of the People’s Republic of China, with the establishment ofthe strategy of promoting coordinated development of new urbanization, new industrialization and newagricultural modernization in Henan Province, in particular with the rapid development of urbanization, theimplementation of the Central Henan Urban Agglomeration Plan, the acceleration of Zhengzhou-KaifengIntegration, and the construction of the Central Plains Economic Zone, Zhengzhou City, the core growthpole of the economic and social development of Henan Province and the central city of the Central PlainsEconomic Zone, has expanded rapidly in city scale and its urban space is continuously extending outward.At present, it has grown from a commercial port before the founding of the PRC into a large cosmopolitancity and major economic center of central China. Therefore, research on the urban spatial expansion of thefast-developing Zhengzhou city has certain theoretical and practical significance.The paper is written in five chapters. The first chapter clarifies the study background and significance,the profile of the study area, and research methods. The second chapter is a summary of researches at homeand abroad on urban spatial structure, urban spatial expansion and the status and progress of urban space in Zhengzhou City, which is used to build the theoretical analytical platform of this research and providestheoretical support for this study. The third chapter is to analyze the strength, direction and stagecharacteristics of land use change in urban expansion of Zhengzhou City. The fourth chapter is the analysisof the industrial development status quo, the spatial distribution pattern, and the stage of industrial spaceand urban space expansion of Zhengzhou City, and summarizes its expansion patterns and characteristics ofZhengzhou City during different stages. The last chapter is about conclusions and research deficiencies.This study shows the urban spatial expansion of Zhengzhou City has experienced three phases. PhaseOne: In the early years after the founding of the PRC, the expansion of urban space is along the LonghaiRailway and Beijing-Guangzhou Railway, mainly to the west and northwest, and the development was"Cross" axial extension, which laid the basic spatial structure of Zhengzhou City. Phase Two: With thedeepening of reform and opening up and rapid economic development, Zhengzhou City gradually adjustedits industrial structure, moving the second industry from the center to the suburbs while developing thetertiary industry in the city center, which resulted in industrial suburbanization. After the establishment ofZhengzhou National Economic and Technological Development Area and Zhengzhou National Hi-TechIndustries Development Zone, the expansion mode of Zhengzhou City has altered to "leapfrog" expansion.Phase Three: After entering the21st century, Zhengzhou City has become the central city of central Chinaand the Central Plains Economic Zone, and experienced rapid social and economic development. Its urbanpopulation increased in large scale, and it re-planned the Zhengdong New District and constructedZhengzhou Airport District, thus form the "multi-center, multi-polar" urban spatial pattern.In each phase of the urban spatial expansion, industrial structural adjustment and spatial distributionhave played important role, which also resulted in changes of the city’s land use structure. However, theland-use change is not consistent with urban development. In the last century,, the expanding rate of urbanpopulation is greater than that of urban construction land in Zhengzhou City, resulting in crowded cities andtraffic congestion; while in the21st century, the expanding rate of construction land use is greater than thatof urban population, resulting in a waste of land resources.