交通经济带是以交通干线或运输通道为发展轴逐步形成的产业和城市高度发达的经济集聚地带。交通经济带是“点轴开发理论”的重要体现形式 ,产业的集聚与扩散是交通经济带形成的基本动力。通过典型经济带的实证分析发现了“工业自生长点沿着交通轴集聚、扩散及再集聚的动态过程”,将其命名为工业波。工业集聚 -扩散的波浪式运动是经济在空间上扩散的一个基本模式。新技术及生产方式首先在最有利的地点逐步成长为增长极。然后沿着交通线逐步向外扩散 ,在有利的地点形成新的生长点。这一扩散过程如同波浪 ,既有波峰 ,也有波谷。增长极与新生长点相互之间在资金、技术、人员、商品营销、原料供应等方面保持着密切的联系。交通轴线是工业波在空间扩散的主要依托基础。轻纺工业、原材料工业等不同工业部门的交通需求有别 ,分别沿着不同的交通线路扩散。

Traffic economic belt (TEB) is a kind of belt shaped regional economic organization system, which aggregates industries, population, resources, information, cities and towns, interflows of passenger, interflows of goods and so on. In the paper, the author explored the development mechanism of the traffic economic belt firstly. The author points out that three basic factorsal are essential to the formation of TEB: the traffic trunk line, group of towns, and the industrial system based on the secondary industry and the tertiary industry. The traffic trunk line is a basic premise of the development of TEB. The large and medium sized cities and group of towns with advantageous location tend to play such critical roles as those of growth cores to support the development of TEB. The aggregation and diffusion of industries and the evolution and promotion of industrial structure are important factors to maintain TEB and motivate its development. Then the author analyzes the spatial process of concentration and distribution of industries along the traffic trunk line. In the analysis, the basic theories concerning the industrial wave have been introduced. Based on empirical studies of the dynamics of textile industry, metallurgical industry and petrochemical industry in the Yangtze River delta region, the author explores the relationship between the development of traffic economic belt and the dynamics of industrial wave. The paper is ended with author’s conclusions on the spatial pattern of industrial wave.