SIZE COLLAPSE OF THE LARGEST CITIES IN CITY SIZE DISTRIBUTION AND THE INFLUENCING FACTORS

WANG Yan-yan; SUN Bin-dong; ZHANG Ting-lin

doi:10.13959/j.issn.1003-2398.2024.03.011

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HUMAN GEOGRAPHY ›› 2024, Vol. 39 ›› Issue (3) : 105-112. DOI: 10.13959/j.issn.1003-2398.2024.03.011

CITY

SIZE COLLAPSE OF THE LARGEST CITIES IN CITY SIZE DISTRIBUTION AND THE INFLUENCING FACTORS

WANG Yan-yan^1,2,3, SUN Bin-dong^1,2,3, ZHANG Ting-lin^1,2,3

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Abstract

Metropolises, especially the largest part of them, play a vital role in the national development. However, in-depth analyses focusing on the relative collapse of the largest cities compared to the overall city size distribution are severely lacking. Based on the population and build-up data of the Global Human Settlement Layers from 1975 to 2015 and applying the unified definition of cities, this paper explores the extent, causes and mechanism of the size collapse of the largest cities in more than 100 countries. The results show that the sizes of the largest cities in a third of the countries in the world are collapsed, that is lower than its simulated value based on the overall city size distribution. With the increase of the largest cities' sizes, the extent of collapse first deceases and then increases as a result of the dynamic equilibrium between agglomeration economy and agglomeration diseconomy. The application of advanced transportation technology can reduce the size collapse extent of the largest cities. But with the continuous growth of city sizes and exceeding the capacity of transportation technology, the collapse extent of the city sizes will be further enhanced. The findings support the hypothesis that the collapse of maximum city size is attributed to the presence of agglomeration diseconomies and constraints from the technological, economic, and managerial capabilities of large cities within a certain period.

Key words

city size distribution / rank-size rule / the largest city / agglomeration diseconomies / subway

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WANG Yan-yan, SUN Bin-dong, ZHANG Ting-lin. SIZE COLLAPSE OF THE LARGEST CITIES IN CITY SIZE DISTRIBUTION AND THE INFLUENCING FACTORS[J]. HUMAN GEOGRAPHY. 2024, 39(3): 105-112 https://doi.org/10.13959/j.issn.1003-2398.2024.03.011

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