Spatial Analysis of the Urban System in Guangdong Province of South China Using Population and Economic Indicators

Much advance has been made in the study of the new urbanization process in post reform China. But the resulting urban system in Guangdong province has not been thoroughly analyzed creating a knowledge gap between the new urbanization process and the new urban system. This paper attempts to reveal the emerging urban system hierarchy in the 1990s in Guangdong province under socialist market economy using rank-size distribution as a yardstick. As there was substantial discrepancy among the rank-size distributions of cities in terms of population and economic indicators especially due to the existence of “temporary population” and the policy of “designating a whole county as a city”, the urban system in Guangdong province was analyzed using demographic and economic indicators. The significant role of economic development in urban growth was also identified through cross-sectional comparison and correlation analysis of time-series data on economic and urban indicators.