关键词: 城市群, 边界效应, 边界地区, 武汉城市圈, 中原城市群, 信阳市

Abstract:

China has been stepping into a new spatial growing stage leaded by conurbation, which results in a new border region due to the interaction between the conurbations. Based on the differential analysis on the backbone industries, the article takes the conurbation as a relatively independent territorially economic system and puts forward the border effect model resulting from interaction between conurbations according to the basic principle, of which homogeneity brings about competition and heterogeneity induces cooperation. Xinyang City, located between the Wuhan conurbation and Zhongyuan conurbation, is took as the case study region. The research result shows that border effect model could measure the potential impacts on the border region from the interaction between the conurbations. For the current development stage, Xinyang City is exposed to a good intervention opportunity by the interaction between the Wuhan and Zhongyuan conurbations. In more detail, IO (intervention opportunity) remains the high level of 0.64~0.71 (the average level is 0.69 per year ) in 2000-2008 without the border effect emerging. During the time, UE ( border effect) fluctuates between 0.16 and 0.31 (the average is only 0.23), and the level grows to 0.37 dramatically in 2009. According to the analysis, the weak intervention capability of Xinyang City may contribute to the situation, which could conclude that the border effect is the result of external intervention opportunity and internal intervention capability. What is more, globalization and conurbation reconstruct the external development environment of the border region and exerts the important influence on it. The article divides the border region into three different development stage, which are localization-dominating, regionalization-dominating and globalization-dominating, represented by localization index (LI), regionalization index (RI) and globalization index (GI) respectively. This is a dynamic mechanism stage pattern different from classical characteristics stage pattern, by which we could seek the dynamic analysis and development direction of the border region. Through the empirical study of Xinyang City, a city is still situated in the localization-dominating stage, LI is large than 0.5 (except some year) during 2000-2008, and slows down to 0.45 in 2009; RI grows to 0.55 above. All data illustrate that Xinyang City beings to step into the regionalization-dominating stage, but the globalization development keeps in the initial level since GI has been remained below 0.001 2. The conclusion basically could testify the Xinyang City’s current development situation, which is corresponded with the initial industrialization stage by Chenery. So the article proposes that the optimization of internal development environment, and the advance of inner intervention capability and regionalization process would be the future development strategy direction.

Key words: conurbation, border effect, border region, Wuhan conurbation, Zhongyuan conurbation, Xinyang City