Characteristic towns have emerged along with China’s economic and social development. As a new model of small-town development, they have played an essential role in promoting industrial transformation and upgrade, improving the living environment, and promoting regional innovation and development. Accurate identification of the expansion characteristics of National Characteristic Towns (NCTs) is vital for optimizing the spatial layout of characteristic towns and adjusting the policies of characteristic towns. This study used a dataset on nighttime light to identify expanding NCTs and measure their expansion from 2000 to 2020. In total, 233 expanding NCTs were identified, accounting for 58.25% of the NCTs in China. The areas with the most significant intensity of expansion are primarily located in the East, South, and North economic regions. The critical period of NCTs expansion primarily occurred in the periods 2008–2011 and 2011–2014. Our results show that NCTs are highly consistent with the spatial distribution of urban agglomerations, and the development of NCTs is inherently related to the development of urban agglomerations in the region. The implementation of NCT policies has significantly promoted the development of NCTs in the Central and Western economic regions, which face challenging development issues and differ from those in the Eastern region. The method proposed in this study can effectively identify the ‘hot spots’ of expanding NCTs and the critical periods of their expansion.
Abstract:The unprecedented rate and scale of activities, simulated by human abode in its entirety, is having large and accelerating effects on the integrity of biophysical elements of spatial capital, at local, regional, and global scales. Real appreciation of these effects demands a dramatic change in human manipulation of the spatial capital. Spatial capital can be viewed as processes or a complex matrix, in which not only our spatial but social, economic, and intellectual needs are embedded. Through an extensive synthesis of literature, this study strives to situate as well as manage human abode in context of spatial capital. It focuses on the need of crafting spatial governance, which secures today's needs without compromising the needs of abode for our future generations. For harmonious human engagement with the spatial capital, we focused on following major requisites: (i) filling gaps in the understanding of processes of the respective spatial capital; (ii) integration of this intellectual capital; (iii) and spatial government supported by seamless institutionalisation, and governance processes in a global context. All modes of human abode are unique when analysed in the milieu of their social, economic, cultural, and intellectual yield, and their respective ecological footprint on spatial capital. An essential component of the sustainability of spatial capital is fundamental knowledge of the relevant biophysical processes, which yield the respective social, economic, cultural, and intellectual services we obtain from it. Action-oriented and integrated intellectual capital will yield the required awareness about the spatial capital, which when crystallised into proper institutions their OPEN ACCESS Sustainability 2014, 6 1204 processes will certainly produce promising outcomes for spatial management. Sustainable spatial constructs can only be produced through horizontal and vertical harmonization in governance institutions from the local to global level. It will not only help in the rehabilitation of the spatial capital but can also enhance it.
Characteristic towns represent relatively small industrial platforms, characterized by clear industrial positioning, cultural connotations, tourism, and certain community functions. Determining the spatial spillover scope of characteristic towns is of importance for both spatial decision-making and policy optimization. By using the gradient difference method, this paper aims to determine the spatial spillover scope of characteristic towns in 2014 and 2020. The research is based on the nighttime light data of the first three batches of Zhejiang characteristic towns. The results suggest that (1) there is a spatial spillover phenomenon in Zhejiang characteristic towns; namely, the results of 84 characteristic towns are either consistent or partially consistent with the expected results; (2) there is an inverse S-shaped decreasing trend from the boundary of characteristic towns; the trend rapidly decreases with an increase at the boundary distance of characteristic towns; and (3) characteristic towns are formed around the 1 km core spillover area and 2 km secondary spillover area. Provincial characteristic towns have relatively high maturity and account for 43.86% of the total. They are concentrated in the 1 km range. Compared to previous research, this study was able to accurately identify the spatial spillover scope of characteristic towns using the gradient difference method. Specifically, the spatial spillover scope is concentrated primarily in the core spillover area of 1 km. These findings serve as reference for the adjustment and optimization of characteristic town policies as well as of town’s spatial layouts.
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