I. URBAN DEVELOPMENT AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS
[ I-A | I-B | I-C | I-D | I-E | I-F ]
E. Suburbanization in Shanghai
[ E | E-1 | E-2 | E-3]
3. The characteristics of Shanghai’s suburbanization
In the perspective of Shanghai's evolving urban spatial formation (figure 7), its suburbanizadon is still at the primary stage where the striking characteristics of low-degree suburbanization coexist with concentrated urbanization with no apparent distinctions.
In spite of what has been listed above, Shanghai’s spatial formation has not changed significantly. Shanghai is still a uni-cored metropolis and its suburbanization has not reached the multi-cored level. At the same time the central city proper still shows strong attractions and cohesion as it expands and extends outward. About 68.3 per cent of its population still live in the central city while only 26.0 per cent live in the immediate suburbs and 5.7 per cent in the outer suburbs. Besides, its suburbanization is not complete and still regards basic urban functions such as residence and industry as its dominant factors. Its infrastructure and auxiliary facilities for social life are not good enough for the suburbs to dispense with reliance on the central city.
Two factors determine the low level of Shanghai's suburbanization. Firstly, its social productive force is underdeveloped and its economy is not strong enough to compete with that of developed countries. Secondly, its social structure, especially its industrial structure, is unbalanced. In the process of its urbanization, its tertiary sector has been prohibited to develop its industry as a first priority and been made to lag behind the urbanization of other city functions. Thus the unbalanced structure has slowed down the urbanizing procedure.
We analyze Shanghai's urbanization to determine precisely its regional characteristics, predict its scale, property and direction of city development and promote its healthy and sustainable urbanization.
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