Similarities and differences of city-size distributions in three main urban agglomerations of China from 1992 to 2015： A comparative study based on nighttime light data

• Published in: Journal of geographical sciences Vol. 27; no. 5; pp. 533 - 545
• Main Author: 高宾 黄庆旭 何春阳 窦银银
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Heidelberg Science Press 01.05.2017; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Cities; Comparative studies; Earth and Environmental Science; Geographical Information Systems/Cartography; Geography; Nature Conservation; Physical Geography; Remote Sensing/Photogrammetry; Rivers; Urban areas; Urban development; 中国; 城市规模分布; 异同; 无人机; 时间序列数据; 灯光; 珠江三角洲城市群; 长江三角洲; China; urban agglomeration; comparative study; nighttime light data; city-size distribution; rank clock
• ISSN: 1009-637X; 1861-9568
• DOI: 10.1007/s11442-017-1391-7

Comparing the city-size distribution at the urban agglomeration（UA） scale is important for understanding the processes of urban development. However, comparative studies of city-size distribution among China＇s three largest UAs, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei agglomeration（BTHA）, the Yangtze River Delta agglomeration（YRDA）, and the Pearl River Delta agglomeration（PRDA）, remain inadequate due to the limitation of data availability. Therefore, using urban data derived from time-series nighttime light data, the common characteristics and distinctive features of city-size distribution among the three UAs from 1992 to 2015 were compared by the Pareto regression and the rank clock method. We identified two common features. First, the city-size distribution became more even. The Pareto exponents increased by 0.17, 0.12, and 0.01 in the YRDA, BTHA, and PRDA, respectively. Second, the average ranks of small cities ascended, being 0.55, 0.08 and 0.04 in the three UAs, respectively. However, the average ranks of large and medium cities in the three UAs experienced different trajectories, which are closely related to the similarities and differences in the driving forces for the development of UAs. Place-based measures are encouraged to promote a coordinated development among cities of differing sizes in the three UAs.