1. School of Urban and Environment Science, Huazhong Normal University, Wuhan 430079, China;
2. The School of Tourism Management, Beijing International Studies University, Beijing 100024, China
Abstract：In recent years, a lot of problems appeared in many resource-based cities in China, such as the rapid deterioration of ecological environment, the exhaustion of the leading resources, the recession of urban economy, and etc. Therefore, it is essential for these cities to solve the above mentioned problems in order to achieve the sustainable development. Based on the theory of life cycle, a theoretical model is constructed in this paper to optimize and regulate the life cycle of the resource-based cities. In this paper, we argue that:1) the life cycle of a resource-based city should be divided into four stages, i.e. the starting stage, the rapid development stage, the mature stage and the recession stage.2) Regulation means can be taken to moderately change the development path of life cycle in resource-based cities. 3) the emphasis of the life cycle optimization in resource-based cities should be put on such aspects as the strength of resource exploitation, ecological environment bearing capacity, the leading economic industries, preferential policies and etc. 4)Governments should be the main body of the life circle optimization and regulation in resource-based cities, and the driving forces are mainly from industries, policies and resources. Our study shows that:Daqing is a grade two potential city in the stage of optimization transition with the value of optimization and regulation potentiality being 63.71. In conclusion, a mechanism is proposed in the paper to optimize and regulate the life cycle in Daqing and promote its sustainable development from the following perspectives, such as the promotion of development concept, development basis, driving forces, core functions and supporting capacity.
