The Changing Character of Chinese Urbanization: 2000 - 2021

The Changing Character of Chinese Urbanization: 2000 - 2021 | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article The Changing Character of Chinese Urbanization: 2000 - 2021 Wei-Qiang Chen, Lulu Song, Jose Lobo, Luis Bettencourt This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-5479882/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract The scale and pace of urbanization in China over the past few decades is one of the most significant transformations of any human society in history. However, studying urbanization in China encounters an empirical difficulty common to many urban systems: Are there spatial units corresponding to cities as spaces of socioeconomic interaction? To address this question and analyze the transformation of Chinese cities and China’s urban system over the last few decades, we analyze a rich set of data comprising of 297 Chinese Prefecture-level Cities (PLCs) from 2000 to 2021. Our analysis fills a number of important gaps by carefully considering the difference in scaling effects result from using total versus registered population, and full PLCs definitions compared to their restriction to Urban Districts (UDs). Our results show that PLCs as well as their UDs exhibit scaling effects when measured with resident population. PLCs have become better urban units of analysis, characterizing functional cities in similar ways to other urban systems, especially after 2015. Their scaling exponents for GDP are also somewhat closer to theory than those obtained in UDs. The substantial redistribution of the population, with a growing concentration in larger and coastal cities and urban districts resulting in the scaling behavior. The future of Chinese urbanization is that these trends will intensify, leading to continued stronger growth of larger cities and relative population decline of many small and more rural places. Scientific community and society/Social sciences/Society Social science/Science, technology and society Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files ExtendedDataFigure.docx SupplementaryInformation.docx Supplementary Information: The Changing Character of Chinese Urbanization: 2000 - 2021 SupplementaryInformation.docx Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-5479882","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":412773679,"identity":"10956544-6954-42a3-a884-fa0bf7126e88","order_by":0,"name":"Wei-Qiang Chen","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAsElEQVRIiWNgGAWjYHACNiC24SFZSxrpWg6ToN7gePKzBx93nJcxON7A+OEHg10eYS1nnpkbzjxzm8fgzAFmyR6G5GKCWsxu5LBJ87YBtdxIYJBmYDiQ2ECUlr9t53gM7j9g/k28Fsa2A0BbGNiIs8X+zDMzyd62ZB7JM4ltlj0GyYS1SLYnP5P42WZnz3f88OEbPyrsCGthYEiAMRiBig0Iq0fWMgpGwSgYBaMABwAAq7A6jsOiL54AAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7686-2331","institution":"Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Wei-Qiang","middleName":"","lastName":"Chen","suffix":""},{"id":412773680,"identity":"3b4c29ed-1e6e-4f28-9b10-46abd1c4eea0","order_by":1,"name":"Lulu Song","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6040-9348","institution":"Institute of Urban Environment","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Lulu","middleName":"","lastName":"Song","suffix":""},{"id":412773681,"identity":"6b7f0fbf-0f67-4ec9-9143-3113d547d8b0","order_by":2,"name":"Jose Lobo","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0814-7168","institution":"Arizona State University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Jose","middleName":"","lastName":"Lobo","suffix":""},{"id":412773682,"identity":"977080c9-98c4-41e5-84a6-6b3f3510977c","order_by":3,"name":"Luis Bettencourt","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6176-5160","institution":"University of Chicago","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Luis","middleName":"","lastName":"Bettencourt","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2024-11-19 04:00:10","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-5479882/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-5479882/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":96915623,"identity":"e564c77d-b78c-40bc-ab6e-133b6e89ad38","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-11-27 14:07:27","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":2773789,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Scalingbehavior11192024.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-5479882/v1_covered_1286425a-0f76-4e24-acae-0d5fc7d701e8.pdf"},{"id":76005997,"identity":"82af6ad4-7318-449f-96de-6d55ca4abf2b","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-02-11 11:22:39","extension":"docx","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":1445430,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"ExtendedDataFigure.docx","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-5479882/v1/188897fa26b499a46cd46246.docx"},{"id":76006945,"identity":"0d53642b-46be-46ac-9dd0-afcda0133731","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-02-11 11:30:39","extension":"docx","order_by":2,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":3367056,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Supplementary Information: The Changing Character of Chinese Urbanization: 2000 - 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However, studying urbanization in China encounters an empirical difficulty common to many urban systems: Are there spatial units corresponding to cities as spaces of socioeconomic interaction? To address this question and analyze the transformation of Chinese cities and China\u0026rsquo;s urban system over the last few decades, we analyze a rich set of data comprising of 297 Chinese Prefecture-level Cities (PLCs) from 2000 to 2021. Our analysis fills a number of important gaps by carefully considering the difference in scaling effects result from using total versus registered population, and full PLCs definitions compared to their restriction to Urban Districts (UDs). Our results show that PLCs as well as their UDs exhibit scaling effects when measured with resident population. PLCs have become better urban units of analysis, characterizing functional cities in similar ways to other urban systems, especially after 2015. 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