Since 2000,the Temporal And Spatial Situation And Dynamic Mechanism Of Country Population Urbanization In Shanxi Province

The county unit is a crucial foundation for regional industrialization and urbanization development,serving as a critical support for high-quality development.In May 2022,the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council issued the Opinions on Promoting Urbanization Construction with Counties as an Important Carrier,emphasizing that counties play a pivotal role in China’s urban system and are crucial for the integrated development of urban and rural areas.They are essential for promoting the construction of new urbanization and building new industrial-agricultural-urban-rural relationships,thus highlighting their great significance.Shanxi Province is a resource-rich province in China,where the urbanization process has experienced rapid development in recent years,albeit with significant development differences among counties and cities.It is,therefore,imperative to explore the spatial and temporal differences in the urbanization development of county units in Shanxi Province and reveal the urbanization influencing factors of different types of county units.Doing so would aid in promoting urbanization construction with county cities as critical carriers.This paper aims to analyze population urbanization differences among different types of counties,including municipal districts,suburban districts,key development zones,major agricultural product producing areas,and key ecological functional areas.It also aims to unveil the dynamic mechanisms that influence the evolution of population urbanization differences in county units,using data from the fifth,sixth,and seventh population censuses in Shanxi Province as the research unit.The results indicate that:(1)Between the years 2000 to 2020,the level of urbanization across counties has gradually increased.This increase follows a catching-up trend characterized by "low fast and high slow",with a greater number of areas experiencing medium-level urbanization and a stable number of high-level urbanized areas.Additionally,the gap in urbanization levels between counties has gradually decreased.(2)Since 2000,both the urban population concentration index and the imbalance index have decreased,resulting in a more balanced spatial distribution of urban population.However,it is worth noting that from 2010 to 2020,the spatial distribution of urban population began to show a concentrated trend once again,with a shift in the pattern of urban population concentration from a strip-like distribution in the east and west to a single-core distribution centered on provincial capital cities.(3)Significant differences in the urbanization levels of counties exist among the four major segments of northern,central,southern and southeastern Jin.However,the differences within each of these segments are even more pronounced and are the primary source of variation in urbanization levels.(4)The pattern of urban population concentration has transformed from a striplike distribution to a single-core distribution centered on provincial capital cities.This change has led to a more reasonable and orderly distribution pattern of urban population.(5)Against the backdrop of population loss,county urbanization has displayed different characteristics,with a trend towards an absolute loss of rural population,which magnifies the increase in urbanization level.Furthermore,a new type of urbanization has emerged in the province,namely,an increase in urbanization level caused by absolute population loss.(6)Based on the main functional zones of Shanxi Province,the level of urbanization follows a descending order of municipal districts,key development zones,major agricultural product producing areas,key ecological functional zones,and suburban areas.The differences in urbanization levels generally align with the positioning of the main functional zones.However,the growth characteristics of the urbanization levels differ among the different types of counties.Municipal districts are highly urbanized areas,but their growth rate of urbanization is relatively slow.Key development zones have high urbanization levels,but their growth rate is gradually slowing down.Suburban counties,although they have low urbanization levels as a whole,are experiencing rapid growth.The urbanization level of key agricultural product producing areas is relatively low,and the growth rate varies among counties.The urbanization level in key ecological functional areas is also relatively low,and the growth rate varies greatly among counties.(7)The level of urbanization is closely related to economic development,the proportion of non-agricultural and tertiary industries,fiscal revenue and expenditure,and total retail sales of social consumer goods per capita.The driving force behind county urbanization has shifted from "government-driven" to "market-driven." The contribution of each influencing factor in different types of main functional counties is relatively similar.Key development zones are less influenced by government-driven factors and more dependent on economic factors.In contrast,key ecological function areas and main agricultural production areas are more influenced by government-driven factors.