关键词: 分形, 吉林省中部地区, 空间关系, 空间图景, 中心地体系

Abstract: As the most dynamic and potentially the core region, central Jilin plays a vital role in the distribution of productive forces for future economic development of Jilin province. It is important to organize the central urban agglomerations in a more rational way. This paper presents a futuristic view of the central urban agglomerations and control structures by using Central Place Theory as a work hypothesis and Fractal Theory as a quantification tool. Fractal theory is an excellent tool to study the mathematical rules of random aggregation and physical mechanism of urban spatial expansion in the systems of cities and townships. In this study, swing radius method is used to measure the fractal dimensions of the central places at four levels in the central region of Jilin province, with Changchun city as the first level city at the center. The fractal dimensions are calculated as follows: D=2.342 as the second level, 1.842 as the third level, 1.026 (for Changling system) and 1.212 (for Jiaohe system) as the fourth level. Analysis of the fractal dimensions suggests that the three levels of central places have different structural characteristics. The second level central places don’t have clear functions and are nearly nonexistent, because they are either shadowed and inhibited by Changchun city, or functionally substituted by the third level central places. By contrast, the third level central places show well-defined identities with clear boundaries. The fourth level central places are spatially scattered and their development is directly impacted by the natural environment. Based on the Vector data of settlements in the central region of Jilin, the original view of the places’hierarchy in the central region of Jilin is reconstituted by using the rules of space and composition, and a hexagonal network is completed through patching and abstracting. Based on the space compositions, the central region of Jilin appears to belong to K=3 system (the marketing principle in Christ?ller’s Central Place Theory). It differs, however, from a conventional K=3 system. With regard to the establishment of a balanced and optimized system of cities and townships in the central region of Jilin, the development of certain third level central places needs to be facilitated in order for them to be upgraded to the second level, and the problem of scattered distribution of fourth level central places needs to be solved.

Key words: central places, central region of Jilin, geographical fractals, spatial relationships, view