Abstract：Urban agglomeration is one of the forms of human settlement which comes with the agglomeration of city development,when the affect area of city function is beyond its traditional administrative boundary,and the collaboration between the cities emerges and is gradually strengthened. The research on urban agglomeration could be traced back to Howard's "city cluster" in the early 20th century. Although the term of urban agglomeration is still under discussion,the foreign academic accepts it basically,and looks it as a new form of human settlement. The domestic research on urban agglomeration began in 1980s. The definition of urban agglomeration which is still vague refers to such as "megalopolis","metropolitan area" abroad. Compared to the more cautious attitude of foreign researchers,the domestic research does not go into the definition of the concept of urban agglomeration,and also lacks the reflection on the relationship between the urban agglomeration and the existing terms. The existing domestic researches mainly focus on the macro and qualitative description. Meanwhile,there are many different terms about urban agglomeration emerged,and the research scope on urban agglomeration is uncertain,and the relevant statistics is the lack. Under this condition,this study points out that the domestic research on urban agglomeration ought to unify the definition of the term,and strengthen the empirical research based on the analysis of statistics data of the urban agglomeration. On this basis,the essential characteristics of china's urban agglomeration and its mechanism of creation ought to be explored. Apart from the economic and population,it is also necessary to consider the effect from the individual,organizations,local and national governments on urban agglomeration. The researches should reflect the background of the time,face the problems during the development of urban agglomeration,and look for the ways to promote its sustainable development.
刘玉亭, 王勇, 吴丽娟. 城市群概念、形成机制及其未来研究方向评述[J]. 人文地理, 2013, 28(1): 62-68.
LIU Yu-ting, WANG Yong, WU Li-juan. REVIEW ON THE DEFINITION AND MECHANISM OF URBAN AGGLOMERATION AND ITS FUTURE RESEARCH FIELDS. HUMAN GEOGRAPHY, 2013, 28(1): 62-68.
