Spatiotemporal evolution and influencing factors of urban shrinkage in the Yellow River Basin, China

Abstract

The phenomenon of urban shrinkage has spread across the world as the political and economic landscape changes worldwide. The urban development in China has entered a post-development era characterized by coexisting urban expansion and local shrinkage whilst urbanization continues to progress in this country. This paper investigates the urban shrinkage of 80 cities in the Yellow River, China from the perspective of population and economy, based on urban shrinkage models drawing from western countries. It also analyzes the spatiotemporal evolution and influencing factors of urban shrinkage in this area using a spatial panel data model. The results show the following. (1) The phenomenon of urban shrinkage in the Yellow River Basin has gradually occurred and the degree of shrinkage has aggravated. (2) The shrinking cities in the Yellow River Basin are mainly population-related and potential. (3) The phenomenon of urban shrinkage in the Yellow River Basin shows significant spatiotemporal differences. Shrinking cities are mainly distributed in the upper and middle reaches of the Yellow River Basin and the number of shrinking cities has gradually increased over time. (4) In terms of influencing factors, financial, traffic, and medical conditions have a greater impact on population-related and economy-related shrinkage in these cities.

Environmental Regulation, Scientific and Technological Innovation, and Industrial Structure Upgrading in the Yellow River Basin, China

“…The Yellow River Basin has a long history of development, a good industry foundation, and great market potential [ 2 ]. Especially since the reform and opening up, the Yellow River Basin has developed regional economies with distinctive characteristics and achieved success in industrialization and industrial base construction, making it essential for supporting the sustained and stable development of the national economy [ 3 , 4 ]. In the meantime, the economic development of the Yellow River Basin relies mainly on the secondary industry, the industrial development stages within the basin have significant spatial differences, and its overall industrial structure is dominated by labor- and capital-intensive industries.…”

Spatiotemporal evolution and driving mechanism of regional shrinkage at the county scale: The three provinces in northeastern China

“…Demographic depression, as an important indicator of regional shrinkage, has been widely used in related studies [ 23 ]. The combination of population and economy has also become an important indicator for regional shrinkage [ 24 , 25 ]. In addition, there are multi-dimensional indicators for shrinkage [ 26 ] and the regional development indicator system [ 18 ].…”