Abstract:

Over the past decade, many problems that surfaced in the process of urbanization can be attributed to uncoordinated development. Based on a human-environment relationship perspective, this article analyzes coordinated development of the new urbanization process using indicators concerning the coordination of urban and rural , urban and industrial, intra-regional, and resources/environment and urban developments. Taking the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) as a case, this study examines the convergence and conditional convergence of the coordination using the spatial Durbin panel data model empirically. The result shows that factors affecting the coordinated development of the new urbanization process vary between the eastern, central, and western areas of the Yangtze River Economic Belt. To facilitate the coordinated development of the new urbanization process, the eastern areas should promote the coordination between urbanization and resources/environment, and promote the coordinated development among regions; the central areas should change the demolition-construction urban development model and focus on the development of services and increase cooperation between cities; the western areas should continue the market opening-up process, reduce government intervention in the market and competition with regard to urban development, and develop services and promote local economic growth. Policies limiting urban population growth has had no significant effect on the coordinated development of the new urbanization process, but relaxing the household registration restrictions will increase migration to urban areas, which will have positive effects on the coordinated development of the new urbanization process with regard to the development of tertiary industry, integration of industrial and urban development, and coordination of urban and rural development.

Key words: new urbanization, coordination, conditional convergence, spatial Durbin panel data model, Yangtze River Economic Belt