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]

2. Suburbanization of urban economic activities

The suburbanization of urban economic activities is the basic impetus to detach the suburbs from the central city to form independent outer cities and to change a uni-cored city to a multi--cored metropolis.

(a) The suburbanization of industry

The suburbanization of industry in Shanghai appeared after 1980s and the industry in the suburbs of which township enterprises played an important role developed more quickly than those in the central city (figure 6).

Figure 6. Spatial variation of industrial economy in Shanghai

The industry suburbanization led to the fast development of industry in the suburbs and the rapid fading of industry in the city proper and it spread to far larger areas such as the outer suburbs. Its new characteristic was that many industrial development zones were built in groups and this kind of layout saved land resources, protected the environment, reduced the cost of infrastructures and formed a certain attractiveness and cohesion in promoting the suburbanizing development.

(b) The suburbanization of the tertiary sector

As the 1980s advanced, the tertiary sector has taken the dominating place of the traditional tertiary sector in Shanghai and the tertiary sector in the suburbs developed in such ways as: (i) It developed much faster that in the city and its diversity and level has been enriched. (ii) Advanced tertiary sector, especially real estate, started to flourish and showed great potential. (iii) The dispersion of the central city has shown its effects.

Because of its weak foundations, the tertiary sector developed quickly in the central city as well as in the suburbs. However, the latter has developed more quickly. The changed rates of work force in finance from 1982 to 1990 in the central city, the immediate suburbs and outer suburbs were 15.8 per cent, 216.0 per cent and 78.6 per cent respectively, and so even the most centripetal tertiary showed an obvious trend of suburbanization.

The suburbanization of the tertiary sector is preponderant in the process of urbanization. When the city formation fissures from one core in multiple cores, population and industry also generate spatial variation, but the final determining factor is a complete tertiary allocation, for the tertiary sector is the cohesive core of the urbanization of the suburban area.

Top