By Liu Yunzhong, Research Department of Development Strategy and Regional Economy, DRC & Gu Jin, Urban and Rural Planning and Designing Research Institute of Shandong Province

Research Report, No.383, 2021 (Total 6448) 2021-12-10

Abstract: This paper illustrates a comprehensive evaluation index system for urban development in the Yellow River Basin, which consists of 11 indicators including total GDP, per capita GDP and per capita retail sales of consumer goods, among others. The 55 cities in the basin are divided into central, nodal and fringe cities respectively in line with the evaluation of the comprehensive urban development. The central cities are Xi’an, Zhengzhou and Ji’nan. The number of the three types of cities falls into a pyramid structure layout. Through analyses of urban networks in the Yellow River Basin, the paper proposes that the basin needs to develop a multi-core urban pattern with four city clusters. With provincial capitals at the core, urban city clusters are the major development forms in the basin. The urban clusters with the concentration of population, industries and towns in the basin include the city clusters located in the upper stream of the Yellow River covering Lanzhou, Xining and Yinchuan while the upper-to-mid-stream city clusters incorporate Hohhot, Baotou, Erdos and Yulin, the middle-stream city clusters consist of Xi’an, Taiyuan and Luoyang and the down-stream city clusters comprise Jinan and Zhengzhou.

Keywords: Yellow River Basin, city, development grade, space structure