STUDY ON DEFINING THE METROPOLITAN AREAS OF YANGTZE RIVER DELTA——Comparison between Standards for Defining Metropolitan Areas in China and Those in America
LUO Hai-ming, ZHEN Feng
Department of Urban and Resource Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China
Abstract In recent years, standards for defining Metropolitan Areas in China have been studied and the Metropolitan Areas of Yangtze River Delta have been defined according to the data in 1995. With great changes taking place in the Yangtze River Delta, this paper is dedicated to use standards for defining Metropoliltan Areas in China to redefine the Metropolitan Areas of Yangtze River Delta according to the data in 2002, which shows big changes in three aspects-Center city, Outer county and Metropolitan Interlocking Region. Since standards for defining Metropolitan Areas in China cannot adjust to these changes.
Firstly, this paper introduces the development of standards for defining the metropolitan areas in America in the past one hundred years from four aspects:functional integration, metropolitan feature, central core and geographical unit.
Secondly, this paper compares the standards for defining Metropolitan Areas in China with those in America. There are four main distinctions as follows:1) The standards in China are lacking in the data of flow by comparison with those in America; 2) The number of Metropolitan features in China is smaller than that in America; 3) The minimum size of center core in China is larger than that in America; the center core is limited by the administrative rank; the value of size of center core is hard to get; 4) The standards in China are short of the center county contrasting with those in America.
Thirdly, this paper divides these distinctions into two groups:1) The first group includes the smaller number, different types and the lower value of Metropolitan features, lacking in center county, the center core limited by the administrative rank, etc.; 2) The second group includes lacking in the data of flow, difficulty in getting the value of center core, larger size of center core and so on.
Finally, in light of the distinctions between standards for defining Metropolitan Areas in China and those in America, the paper is to give six main suggestions to these in China.
2005, Vol. 20 
