Abstract:
Taking the 341 county-level administrative units in the Loess Plateau as the study subject, the characteristics of geographical differentiation and formation mechanism of the county urbanization from 1990 to 2015 were analyzed systematically using the methods of statistical analysis, zoning analysis and geography detectors. The results show that the urbanization level of the county in the Loess Plateau showed a steady upward trend, and the urbanization rate increased from 23.83% to 54.33% from 1990 to 2015. Geographically, the macro-pattern was low in the west and high in the east and middle regions. The centrality of provincial capitals and prefecture-level cities and other high-urbanized counties was obvious. Area of high urbanization rate centered on the Ordos Plateau being gradually strengthened. Since 1990, the regional differences of population agglomeration and socio-economic development of county have shown a decreasing trend, and the balanced development trend of county urbanization county in the Loess Plateau has been obvious. In geographical division, the regional differences of county economic development in the wind-sandy area of Loess Plateau have increased significantly, while the regional differences in population agglomeration and economic development in other districts tend to shrink. There are many factors affecting the formation and evolution of county urbanization differentiation pattern, mainly including economic development, proportion of non-agricultural industry, per capita total retail sales of consumer goods, per capita output of grain, population density, the shortest travel time to central cities and urban per capita disposable income. Therefore, regional urbanization should be scientifically positioned and promoted according to the geographical differences in natural environment and social economy. The relationship between urbanization construction, agricultural production and ecological environmental protection should be coordinated through regional function optimizing, industrial transforming and upgrading, population migration and agglomeration, infrastructure construction and sharing, and ecological compensation, to achieve the goals of steady improvement of county urbanization and high-quality development of urban and rural construction in Loess Plateau in the new era.
