Abstract
The impressive economic success of China in the past four decades is largely energy-intensive, which has been bringing numerous environmental impacts on its governance. The combination of limited resources and demand-led growth came at the cost of widening domestic imbalances and lead to an extensive debate of development ethics. The Central Government of China responded by proposing a strategy of urban agglomeration in The National Urban System Planning (2006-2010) to further promote regional economic development and the allocation of resources. By the end of November 2018, the official number of Chinese city regions had been extended to 14, accounting for over 85% of GDP of the nation in 2019. Based on a regional transportation network accessibility assessment and a construction of spatial development index, this paper aims to evaluate the spatial growth and connection performance of 88 cities, involving 8 national urban agglomerations (Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Urban Agglomeration, Yangtze River Delta Metropolitan Area, Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area, Chengdu-Chongqing City Agglomeration, Wuhan Urban Agglomeration, Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan City Cluster, Central Plains City Agglomeration and Harbin-Changchun City Agglomeration). With 13 primary index layers and 27 specific indicators, the construction process of the spatial development index is conducted within 5 correlative dimensions. The conclusion concentrates on a summary of spatial growth feature and a discussion of developmental disadvantages. What needs to be illustrated is that the high data accessibility and operability of the index provide a clear perspective for researchers and practitioners in other developing countries undergoing society transition.
