Since China entered the stage of rapid urbanization in the mid-1990s, the rapid expansion of cities has led scholars to think about the original standard of city size.In 1998, Professor Wang Xingping proposed that "ChinaUrban Planning Law》With regard to the lack of operability of the "concept of suburban areas" in "taking the number of non-agricultural population in urban areas and suburban areas as the criteria for the division of cities", we should adjust the criteria for measuring the size of cities, divide the types of preparation according to the strength of planning, and expand the scope of legal definition.Lei Jing, Zheng Lin and other scholars believe that it is one-sided and limited to divide the urban scale hierarchy by the level of urban administrative level and the size of population size, and propose to use the intensity of urban flow to divide the scale hierarchy of central cities.Mr. Yao Shimou once used the urban flow intensity to divide the central cities of the Shanghai Nanjing Hangzhou city cluster into central cities with high urban flow intensity values, central cities with medium urban flow intensity values, and central cities with low urban flow intensity values.Some scholars have redefined the population scale. For example, some define cities with a population of more than 2 million as megacities, and cities with a population of more than 1-2 million as megacities;Some regard more than 2 million people as megacities and 1-2 million people as megacities.These results provide important reference for government decision-making.
Practical background
Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, China has made many adjustments to the criteria for the division of city size in order to meet the actual development of its national conditions.In 1955, the report of the State Construction Commission on the current urban construction work and several issues first proposed the criteria for the division of large, medium and small cities, that is, "large cities with a population of more than 500000, medium-sized cities with a population of less than 500000, medium-sized cities with a population of more than 200000, and small cities with a population of less than 200000",Since then, the Interim Provisions on Quota Indicators of Urban Planning revised by the State Construction Commission in 1980 has adjusted the criteria for urban delimitation, focusing on naming cities with a population of more than 1 million as megacities.Promulgated by the State Council in 1984《urban planning regulation》Returning to the standard of 1955, the Urban Planning Law promulgated in 1989, on the basis of clarifying the standard of 1984, pointed out that the urban scale was calculated according to the non-agricultural population in the urban and suburban areas.However, the law was repealed in 2008.Instead, the Urban and Rural Planning Law did not define the city size.In the documents recently issued by the state, there are signs of preliminary adjustment.Such as《National New Urbanization Plan (2014-2020)》The current standards have been used in the Opinions of the State Council on Further Promoting the Reform of the Household Registration System.
Original notice
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The State Council issued the Notice on Adjusting the Standards for City Scale Division
Recently, the State Council issued the Notice on Adjusting the Criteria for City Scale Division (hereinafter referred to as the Notice), which adjusted the original criteria for city scale division and clarified the new criteria for city scale division.
The Notice clarifies that the new urban scale division standard takes the urban permanent population as the statistical caliber, and divides cities into five categories and seven levels:
Cities with a permanent resident population of less than 500000 in urban areas are small cities, of which cities with a permanent resident population of more than 200000 but less than 500000 are small cities of type I, and cities with a permanent resident population of less than 200000 are small cities of type II;
Cities with a permanent resident population of more than 500000 but less than 1 million in urban areas are medium-sized cities;Cities with a permanent resident population of more than 1 million but less than 5 million in urban areas are large cities, of which cities with a permanent resident population of more than 3 million but less than 5 million are Type I cities, and cities with a permanent resident population of more than 1 million but less than 3 million are Type II cities;
Cities with a permanent resident population of more than 5 million but less than 10 million are megacities;Cities with a permanent resident population of more than 10 million are megacities.(The above figure includes the figure, and the following figure does not include the figure)[1]
Important adjustments
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Increase of city type
The type of cities has changed from four to five, and megacities have been added.
Urban standard subdivision
Divide small cities and large cities into two grades. Subdividing small cities is mainly to meet the needs of urban planning and construction, and subdividing large cities is mainly to implement population classification management.
Increase upper and lower limits
The upper and lower limits of population size have generally increased: the upper limit of population in small cities has increased from 200000 to 500000, the upper and lower limits of population in medium-sized cities have increased from 200000 and 500000 to 500000 and 1 million respectively, the upper and lower limits of population in large cities have increased from 500000 and 1 million to 1 million and 5 million respectively, and the lower limit of population in megacities has increased from 1 million to 5 million.
Definition of statistical caliber
The statistical caliber is defined as the urban permanent population.The urban area refers to the area under the jurisdiction of the residents committee and other areas connected to the actual construction of the district and municipal government residence in the municipal district and the city not divided into districts.
The permanent resident population includes: people who live in the streets of the township and have their registered permanent residence in the streets of the township or whose registered permanent residence is to be determined;People who live in the township street and leave the township street where the household registration is located for more than half a year;People whose registered permanent residence is in the township street and who have been away for less than half a year or have worked and studied abroad.[1]
Comparison of new and old standards
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Figure 1
The scale division standard of new and old cities is shown in Figure 1.[2]
Practical significance
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The theoretical research and repeated demonstration of the criteria for urban scale division by scholars in various fields have never stopped, and the theoretical results are very mature. The theoretical value of this standard adjustment is not great, but the practical significance is very prominent.
Reflect the times and science
Since China's reform and opening up, with the acceleration of industrialization and urbanization, the number and size of cities have increased significantly. The original standards and guidelines for the division of city size have been difficult to meet the requirements of the new situation of urbanization development, leading to the excessive expansion of megacities and large cities in the process of urban development, and medium-sized and small cities are competing to move towards large cities,Many small towns are lagging behind in development.Moreover, the original standardNon-agricultural populationDefining urban standards is difficult to meet the basic requirements of implementing the new urbanization plan to allow migrant workers to settle down.The new standards not only adapt to the rapidly improving urban scale system, but also define urban population by urban permanent population, which is more in line with the actual employment of labor force and the normal distribution of population space, which can ensure that each city maximizes the balance between supply and demand when planning infrastructure and providing public services, while weakening the impact of household registration on the access to public services,Urban public services will be extended to permanent residents.
Facilitate optimization and management
There are 657 cities in China, but in the last 10 years of high-speed urbanization, the number of cities has not increased but has continued to decrease.According to the original standard, the current proportion of large, medium and small cities in China is 1:1.42:0.77. The proportion of medium-sized cities is small, and small cities are seriously insufficient.This is not in line with the pyramid rule of urbanization development, nor with the objective requirements of urban and rural coordinated development. Moreover, many small towns in China are not counted in the ranks of cities, resulting in various development restrictions by policies.After the adjustment of the criteria for defining the city size, not only the recognition of megacities has been increased, but also the recognition of the city size is no longer restricted by the restrictions of the city hierarchy. It really depends on the market configuration and is determined according to the bearing capacity and population gathering capacity of the city.After the standard changes, the number of cities in China will increase significantlyMost of the 940000 organic towns are expected to be transformed into "cities", truly forming a pyramid structure of urban scale.
Beneficial to the classified management of urban population
China's urbanization is in a critical period of in-depth development. Adjusting the criteria for urban scale division is conducive to better implementation of population and urban classification management, and meets the needs of economic and social development《Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Several Major Issues Concerning Comprehensively Deepening Reform》National New Urbanization Plan (2014-2020)《Opinions on Further Promoting the Reform of the Household Registration System》They are complementary policies.Through the above policies, we will fully relax the restrictions on the settlement of organic towns and small cities, orderly relax the restrictions on the settlement of medium-sized cities, reasonably determine the conditions for the settlement of large cities, and strictly control the population size of megacities.Taking the household registration management system as an example, it is clear at a glance what cities need to restrict population and what cities need to be moderately liberalized.
Beneficial to new urbanization
The new standard unifies the caliber of urban population statistics, weakens the concept of household registration, clears a major obstacle for accelerating the reform of household registration system, and opens a door for town to city reform.Moreover, the new standard does not set a lower limit for the standard of small cities, which provides conditions for the development of a wide range of counties and central towns, is conducive to promoting local urbanization, and promotes the substantive promotion of coordinated development of urban and rural areas.[3]
