Lead the overall rise of the region with the thinking of "piling mountains"

Author: Deng Zhituan is a researcher at the Institute of Urban and Population Development, Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences

Looking at the world, competition between individual cities has given way to competition in urban agglomerations led by central cities leading coordinated regional development. As a national strategic layout, the construction of the twin-city economic circle in the Chengdu-Chongqing region inevitably requires Chengdu, as one of the cores of the pole, to accelerate the upgrading of industrial energy levels and enhance regional driving force. The Yangtze River Delta is one of the regions with the highest economic development and integration development in the mainland, as the core city of the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration, how to plan and develop in the process of leading and promoting regional integration, respect the objective economic laws of Chengdu, continue to enhance the polar nuclear energy level in the construction of the Chengdu-Chongqing area twin-city economic circle and the construction of the Chengdu metropolitan area, and then achieve the industrial energy level jump in leading the coordinated development of the region and the overall rise, which has reference value.

Development of central cities

It is necessary to "pile up hills" to lead the overall rise of the region

At present, metropolitan areas, metropolitan areas and urban agglomerations, which are led by the first city or central city, have become the main spatial forms of high concentration of population and economic activity. An in-depth understanding of the interrelationship between the central city and the region on which it is based will help to better play the leading role of the central city and accelerate the coordinated development of the region.

First, the transformation from a single city to a metropolitan area, metropolitan area and urban agglomeration is an objective economic law. With the accelerated transformation of transportation and information technology, cities are cities in the region, and cities are also cities in the network. The central city is more and more closely related to the region, especially the neighboring cities, and forms different spatial forms. As early as 1910, the United States began to use metropolitan areas to describe and count urban complexes, and the Greater London Plan in 1944 became the world's first metropolitan area plan across urban administrative boundaries, which also directly gave birth to the 1946 Shanghai Metropolitan Plan and the 1958 Tokyo Metropolitan Area Construction Plan in Japan. By the 1950s, the scholar Gottman formally proposed the so-called urban agglomeration, especially the criteria for identifying urban agglomerations he proposed at that time and the concept of the world's six major urban agglomerations are still widely recognized today. With the deepening of theoretical research and policy practice, metropolitan areas, metropolitan areas, metropolitan areas and urban agglomerations as central cities release regional driving forces at different spatial scales, which is an objective economic phenomenon in which population and economic activities are concentrated in advantageous areas.

Second, the development of central cities should "pile up hills" and not "build lonely buildings". The development of the city is mainly determined by the two key forces of agglomeration and diffusion, and the relationship between the central city and the region is also dominated by these two forces. In order to truly become a sustainable competitive metropolitan area or urban agglomeration, the coordinated development of the central city and the neighboring cities not only needs to achieve 1+1>2, but also to make the benefits of each participating city greater than the loss, that is, their respective 1> 1。 The development of the central city and the area is like a "pile of hills", in order to make the central city as a "mountaintop" higher, it needs a wider hinterland and a higher mountain, that is, the area should be upgraded as a whole, and can not build a towering "lonely building", so the central city should overcome the doubts about the convenient flow of factors and goods, and promote regional coordination with a more proactive attitude. For example, there are cities such as Chiba, Yokohama, and Saitama on the outskirts of Tokyo, of which Yokohama, with a population of nearly 4 million, is only 30 kilometers away from the center of Tokyo; and there is the city of Newark, which is 15 kilometers away, on the outskirts of New York. From the perspective of domestic experience, the development of Shanghai and Suzhou, Guangzhou and Foshan is a typical 1+1>2 and 1>1 each.

Third, the driving force of the central city area comes from functional dislocation and industrial division of labor. There is a misunderstanding of the central city's regional driving force, that is, the so-called higher urban primacy is regarded as the more competitive the city. However, we need to understand that urban primacy is a symptom of a city's competitiveness, an outcome, not a cause. The empirical phenomenon of urban primacy from the initial distribution of urban population size is mistakenly regarded as an objective law after breaking through the circle from the academic circle into policy practice, which inevitably misleads the concepts and policies based on this. Stretching the historical line, the first city's first city's first place at different spatial scales, such as the global, national and regional levels, is bound to continue to decline (the first city in some developing countries is mainly rising, but as the regional imbalances in these countries are alleviated, the first city will also decline), but their competitiveness has not been seen as weakening, such as New York's first place in the world or the United States is declining, Tokyo is in Asia or Japan, and Shanghai is also in the mainland or the Yangtze River Delta. Therefore, the regional driving force and even global competitiveness of the central city, the scale of the first degree is important, but more importantly, the core function and industrial energy level, which requires the central city to attach importance to functional upgrading and industrial upgrading in order to maintain and enhance competitiveness in the coordinated development of the region. For example, the Tokyo metropolitan area has formed a division of labor in which Tokyo has a headquarters economy, professional services (including functional headquarters such as regional headquarters and R&D) + peripheral cities focusing on service industry and manufacturing, and the total economic volume of peripheral cities is rising, and Tokyo's industrial energy level and regional driving force are also improving simultaneously.

Shanghai is leading the integration of the Yangtze River Delta

Enhance the energy level of the industry

At present, in addition to the twin-city economic circle in the Chengdu-Chongqing region, there are three major urban agglomerations in The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region, the Yangtze River Delta and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. As one of the regions with the most active economy, the highest level of openness and the strongest innovation ability in the mainland, the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration has a long history of integrated development and a high overall level. In recent years, as the leading city in the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration, Shanghai has given full play to its leading role, focused on the comprehensive energy level and core competitiveness of the city, and continuously improved the industrial energy level in driving the coordinated development of the region.

The first is to firmly plan development in the service of the overall situation of national development. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out when working in Shanghai that to do a good job in Shanghai, we must put the strategic positioning of the central government for Shanghai's development, in the context of economic globalization, in the overall pattern of national development, and in the overall deployment of the country to the Yangtze River Delta. Since the Eighteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the central government has entrusted Shanghai with the new task of "three major tasks and one big platform", and in the process of implementing the new tasks, Shanghai has enhanced the first driving force for scientific and technological innovation, promoted the integration of reform systems, promoted high-level institutional opening-up, enhanced the ability to allocate global resources, improved the modernization level of urban governance, and planned Shanghai's urban development in serving the overall situation of national development.

The second is to focus on giving full play to regional driving forces to enhance core functions. Shanghai is the largest economic center city in the mainland, in recent years, adhere to the requirements of high-quality development, focus on the global resource allocation, scientific and technological innovation sources, high-end industry leadership and open hub portal "four functions", deepen the construction of international economy, finance, shipping, trade and scientific and technological innovation "five centers", make every effort to launch "Shanghai service", "Made in Shanghai", "Shanghai shopping" and "Shanghai culture" four major brands, adhere to hardware and software construction together, and strive to build a strategic advantage in the development of Shanghai in the new era. Accelerate the upgrading of urban energy level and core competitiveness, comprehensively enhance the soft power of the city, and implement the "Opinions of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China on Enhancing the Energy Level and Core Competitiveness of Shanghai City facing the global future", "Several Opinions of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee and the Municipal Government of the Communist Party of China on Making Every Effort to Launch Shanghai's "Four Major Brands" to Take the Lead in Promoting High-quality Development", "Opinions of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China on Planting the Spirit of the City to Highlight the City's Character and Comprehensively Enhance shanghai's Soft Power", etc. In the process of actively giving play to the leading role of regional integration in the Yangtze River Delta, we will enhance the comprehensive functions and industrial energy levels of cities.

The third is to attach importance to the strong driving force of major strategic major projects. Regional coordinated development, the purpose is in development, the focus is on coordination, the key is to focus on key areas, key areas, major projects, and major platforms. In the process of promoting the integration of the Yangtze River Delta, the Lingang New Area of the Shanghai Free Trade Zone, the Yangtze River Delta Ecological Green Integrated Development Demonstration Zone and the construction of the Hongqiao International Open Hub have successively become major national strategies. Lingang New Area focuses on a deeper, broader and greater all-round high-level opening up, creating an important springboard for the Yangtze River Delta and domestic enterprises to go out and develop, and making better use of the important channels of the two markets and two resources. The eco-green integrated development demonstration zones in Qingpu, Wujiang and Jiashan are experimental fields for integrated system innovation, focusing on the integration of planning management, land management, investment management, factor flow, fiscal and tax sharing, and public service policies. The Hongqiao International Open Hub has built a development pattern of "one core and two belts" in Shanghai's Hongqiao Business District, northbound expansion belt and southbound expansion belt, focused on building an international central business district, focused on building a new platform for international trade centers, focused on improving the ability to serve the Yangtze River Delta and connecting the world, and led the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta with a high level of collaborative opening-up.

The fourth is to pay attention to contributing to the "long board" to strengthen the industrial dislocation division of labor. The Outline of the Regional Integration Development Plan for the Yangtze River Delta clearly requires the three provinces and one city to deal with the relationship between commonality and individuality, cooperation and competition, agglomeration and radiation, contribute the "long board" and avoid duplicate construction. Shanghai adheres to the strategic positioning of modern service industry as the main body and advanced manufacturing industry as the support, focuses on the "three major industries" of integrated circuits, biomedicine and artificial intelligence, develops the "five-type economy" of innovation, service, headquarters, openness and traffic, pays attention to the functional dislocation and industrial division of labor with the cities in the Yangtze River Delta, actively promotes the industrial chain and value chain, and continuously improves the level of industrial development. In particular, with the improvement of the integration level of transportation infrastructure and public services in the Yangtze River Delta, the flow of talents and factors is more convenient, the industrial division of labor in the Headquarters and R&D in Shanghai, the production and manufacturing in Suzhou, Zhejiang and Anhui are gradually taking shape, coupled with the "Yangtze River Delta Science and Technology Innovation Community Construction And Development Plan" and the "Yangtze River Delta G60 Science and Technology Innovation Corridor Construction Plan" have been introduced, which has also continuously optimized the pattern of industrial division of labor and scientific and technological innovation cooperation in the Yangtze River Delta region. Shanghai's scientific and technological innovation source function and high-end industry leading function have been enhanced.

Source: Chengdu Daily