关键词: 城市体系, 规模分布, 自组织, 中部地区

Abstract:

In order to optimize the location and structure of regional cities, it is important to realize the city size distribution and the evolution mechanism of urban system. According to primacy index, Gini coefficient of city size and Markov transfer matrix, this article describes the size distribution of 81 prefectural-level cities in China′s middle area over the period 1985-2010. Then self-organization and organization mechanism of urban system′s evolution are analyzed. Results show that the largest city grew more quickly than the others, leading to a increasing primacy index from 1985 to 2000. But the primacy index has continued to fall since 2000 because of the fast growth of Zhengzhou. With the change of urban population in middle area of China, Gini coefficient of city size decreased after increasing, and increased again. The gap between city-size indicated the weak trend of widening since 2002. The Markov Chains analysis shows a low interclass mobility, the large cities display higher persistence than the medium and small-sized cities. Transformations between different classes of cities are stable and the importance of major cities is strengthened. The evolution of urban system in middle area is affected by the mechanism of self-organization and organization. Self-organization is mainly represented by agglomeration of production factors, industrial adjustment, and technological innovation. Organization is reflected in the role of government. Based on the above analysis, some recommendations are put forward. The orientation of city function should be appropriate to size distribution of cities. Both the mechanism of self-organization and organization should be considered to facilitate the harmonious development of urban system.

Key words: urban system, size distribution of cities, self-organization, middle area of China