Abstract: In this paper we make a research on complexity of the spatial structure of Shanghai. It is found that the spatial structure of Shanghai not only shows the typical Burgess structure and Lo sch sector but also shows a sign of complexity. The evidences are as following: Firstly, the commercial cg (center of gravity) and the central business center (CBD) of Shanghai are separated. The CBD of Shanghai is quiet stable because the existence of industrial inertia. But the commercial cg always moves after the population cg to pursue maximal profit. The interaction of the commercial cg and the CBD may cause a sudden transition of the CBD. This phenomenon is the mutation in Chaos theory. Secondly, the industrial zones may not always be of united Burgess Structure. Different period may produce different Burgess rings because of different technique. In 1950’s and 1960’s there’s only one peak in Shanghai which stands for the agglomeration of industry. It is near the central business center. And in 1970’s and 1980’s another peak appeared in the area 7~8 kilometers away from center. After 1990 the third peak came out further away from the CBD. There are stable low density industrial areas between the first peak and the second peak from the center. So the industrial zones appear alternatively in spatial. As to the case of Shanghai, it is showed as an industry oriented multiple structure. Thirdly, edge cities will appear after the central city overcomes the potential threshold. Edge cities appear in a hierachical way, and look like flying spots in spatial. It is seemed that in Shanghai the edge cities are controlled by the round force and sector tension simultaneously. The scales of the edge cities are controlled by the spatial distance between the center of Shanghai and edge cities. But the control power shows no linear character. If the edge cities are too near to the center, they are of course more likely to accept the leakage from the center, but it also raise the rent of edge cities. So the scale of these edge cities will be neither too large nor too small. As the distance becomes longer, edge cities will be sparse. But as the rental comes down the scale of the edge cities are larger although the number of them are small. In general, the spatial distribution of the edge cities in Shanghai shows the evidences of chaos.

Key words: City spatial structure, complexity, Shanghai