Chief Advisor: Li Tie, Director of the China Center for Urban Development, National Development and Reform Commission

　　At the end of December last year, when presiding over a symposium on regional development and reform in Jiujiang, Jiangxi, Li Keqiang said: "The potential of domestic demand exists in the east, but the central and western regions have greater room for maneuver and development space, and the areas along the Yangtze River are important strategic fulcrums." He also suggested including Anhui in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River city cluster. A few months later, Changsha, Hefei, Nanchang, and Wuhan signed the "Strategic Cooperation Agreement on the Middle Reaches of the Yangtze River City Cluster and Changsha, Hefei, Nanchang, Wuhan (Wuhan Consensus)" in Wuhan, with the four provincial capitals joining hands to advance toward the fourth growth pole of China's city clusters.

　　City clusters have become an important strategy for promoting new urbanization. Xu Shaoshi, Director of the National Development and Reform Commission, previously stated clearly when reporting to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress that urbanization will take city clusters as the main form, rely on large cities, focus on small and medium-sized cities, and gradually form city clusters with strong辐射 effects. It is foreseeable that China will promote the optimization of urban layout. In the process of formulating the new round of urbanization planning, various regions are competing for city cluster quotas, creating a game pattern in multiple hotspot areas.

　　From the Central Triangle to the Middle Reaches of the Yangtze River City Cluster

　　In addition to the "Wuhan Consensus," 11 departments of the four provincial capitals, including transportation, science and technology, commerce, and health, also signed agreements separately to further strengthen transportation infrastructure, promote mutual opening and sharing of scientific and technological resources, encourage the flow of scientific and technological elements such as technological achievements, scientific and technological talents, and entrepreneurial capital, and establish shared medical services and cross-city settlement of the New Rural Cooperative Medical Scheme. For example, in terms of transportation, the vision is to strive to build a two-hour economic circle among the four provincial capitals. With the five passenger dedicated lines of Wuhan-Guangzhou, Hefei-Wuhan, Beijing-Kowloon, Shanghai-Kunming, and Nanchang-Ji'an-Ganzhou as the main body, accelerate the construction of fast channels such as high-speed rail and intercity railways among the four provincial capitals, and study the construction of intercity railway lines such as Changsha-Nanchang, Jiujiang-Hefei, and Wuhan-Jiujiang as soon as possible, so that a ring-shaped fast railway network among the four provincial capitals covers the middle reaches of the Yangtze River city cluster.

　　Ruan Chengfa, Secretary of the Wuhan Municipal Party Committee, said that the "Wuhan Consensus" and the signing of cooperation agreements among 11 departments of the four provincial capitals mark that the construction of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River city cluster has entered a stage of comprehensive advancement and will become the "fourth pole" of China's economic growth.

　　The "Middle Reaches of the Yangtze River City Cluster" was initially a joint effort of Hunan, Hubei, and Jiangxi provinces to seek a new national regional growth pole, a key national planning area built through cooperation among the Wuhan metropolitan area, the Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan city cluster, and the Poyang Lake city cluster, also known as the "Central Triangle." The original "Central Triangle" had 29 cities; after Anhui joined, the number of cities in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River city cluster reached 40. The cooperation of the four provinces in the "Central Triangle" is a key move to deepen the strategy of the rise of central China.

　　Previously, Northeast China, the Guangxi Beibu Gulf, Chengdu-Chongqing, Central China, and the Guanzhong area of Northwest China had all proposed the concept of China's fourth growth pole, and the Chengdu-Chongqing city cluster is the strongest competitor to the middle reaches of the Yangtze River city cluster.

　　Ye Qing, Deputy Director of the Hubei Provincial Bureau of Statistics, pointed out: "Now the only competitor is the Chengdu-Chongqing city cluster, but in terms of basic conditions for manufacturing development and transportation, Chengdu-Chongqing clearly cannot catch up with us. In addition, when it comes to ecological capacity, many places in the west are not very good. In the central region, there is us and the Central Plains Economic Zone. We have advantages such as the golden waterway, so we are undoubtedly the best choice."

　　Multiple Regions Compete for City Cluster Quotas

　　In the formulation of the new round of urbanization planning, city clusters, as the main form of future urbanization development, have been given more attention. Southern Metropolis Daily learned that future urbanization will aim to build world-class city clusters, comprehensively upgrade the development level of the three major eastern city clusters, and cultivate and strengthen 17 regional city clusters.

　　The world's top five metropolitan areas are the New York metropolitan area, the Tokyo metropolitan area, the London metropolitan area, the Paris metropolitan area, and the Great Lakes metropolitan area of the United States and Canada. These metropolitan areas represent the pinnacle of today's world economic development.

　　At present, China has formed ten city clusters: three national-level city clusters—Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Yangtze River Delta, and Pearl River Delta—and seven city clusters that have already taken shape—Central and Southern Liaoning, Shandong Peninsula, Taiwan Strait, Central Plains, Middle Reaches of the Yangtze River, Guanzhong, and Chengdu-Chongqing. According to the indicators of the National Development and Reform Commission, the next step is for the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Yangtze River Delta, and Pearl River Delta city clusters to develop into world-class city clusters and participate in international competition and cooperation at a higher level. In addition, 10 regional city clusters will be built: Harbin-Changchun, Hohhot-Baotou-Ordos-Yulin, Taiyuan, Ningxia along the Yellow River, Jianghuai, Beibu Gulf, Central Guizhou, Central Yunnan, Lanzhou-Xining, and Urumqi-Changji-Shihezi.

　　A reporter recently learned from a person close to policy formulation that during the current formulation of the national urbanization plan, many provinces hope that the regional central cities within their provinces will be included in the city cluster plan, and some areas already included in the city cluster plan also hope to be upgraded to national-level city clusters, resulting in the phenomenon of multiple regions competing for city cluster quotas.

　　Yang Baojun, Vice President of the China Academy of Urban Planning and Design, pointed out in a recent interview with Southern Metropolis Daily: "Some local governments have impure motives; they think that once they get the city cluster plan, they will have quotas and can build new cities, new districts, and development zones. This is completely wrong. Moreover, the current phenomenon of city clusters in China is that big cities bully small ones. In the future, big cities should lead small ones. Not all good things should be taken by big cities, leaving small cities with no way out forever."

　　Industry insiders analyze and predict that some provinces worry that if no city is included in the city cluster development plan, they will be neglected in future project applications and economic development. Therefore, the final urbanization plan is likely to take balance into account, with the number of city clusters expanded and the layout of city clusters relatively balanced.

　　Intense Non-Cooperative Game among Cities

　　In the formulation of the new round of urbanization planning, various regions are trying their best to enter the ranks of city cluster construction. However, experts suggest that improperly using administrative power to piece together city clusters can easily lead to "urban diseases," and the division of labor and cooperation between large and small cities must be handled reasonably.

　　An internal research report from the National Development and Reform Commission previously obtained by Southern Metropolis Daily shows that China lacks a cross-administrative city cluster cooperation and coordination mechanism. The report points out that under the current urban administrative system, there is serious administrative fragmentation between urban areas that do not have administrative subordinate relationships. Based on local interests, there is an intense non-cooperative game among city governments, which seriously hinders horizontal cooperation among city governments.

　　Although a consensus has been reached on the development plan for the middle reaches of the Yangtze River city cluster, according to field research by researchers, there are still some problems: administrative barriers and competition among cities still exist; there is a gap between enthusiasm for development and action—Hubei Province is highly enthusiastic, while the other three provinces are less so; although the four provinces and municipalities are adjacent, their levels of economic development are similar, their economic structures are similar, and their market connections are relatively few.

　　In an interview with Southern Metropolis Daily, Ye Qing said that there is still competition among the four core cities of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River city cluster because the cooperation among the cities has been relatively short. However, as development progresses, cooperation among the core cities will increase. Hubei is the most enthusiastic because it is in a rather awkward "bottom of the pot" position, while the other three provinces can draw support from the east or the south.

　　As for promoting the integrated development of city clusters, a research report previously submitted by a research institution under the National Development and Reform Commission pointed out that the current urban administrative division management system causes cities to treat their neighbors as enemies, making it difficult for production factors to flow across administrative regions, and public infrastructure is fragmented and difficult to co-build and share.

　　Xu Fengxian, a researcher in regional economics at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that the radiation and driving role of the core cities of city clusters should be fully utilized. City cluster construction can drive each city to optimize its industrial structure, achieve balanced and coordinated industrial development, and grow the total economic volume. The connections and exchanges among cities within the city cluster economic circle can also promote exchanges in education, talent, medical care, and other aspects, effectively enhance the core competitiveness of the region, and effectively attract foreign investment.

　　In the United States, its three major city clusters account for 67% of US GDP. According to 2009 data, China's three major city clusters contributed less than 40% to GDP, with the Pearl River Delta city cluster contributing only 9.57% to GDP, less than 10%, not fully reflecting the role of the Pearl River Delta city cluster as a major city cluster in promoting the economy.

　　Xiao Jincheng, Director of the Institute of Land Development and Regional Economy of the National Development and Reform Commission, analyzed and pointed out that to achieve coordinated regional development, one approach is industrial transfer, and the other is population transfer. At present, the population pressure in large cities within city clusters is already very high, but medium-sized and small cities still have a lot of space. The ten major city clusters carrying more population will help narrow the gap between regions. "Urbanization needs to solve where people go; in fact, people should move to city clusters."

　　According to insiders, the National Development and Reform Commission had previously formulated a plan for urbanization, but due to significant disagreements among parties, it was ultimately not approved. Among them, the main disagreement was concentrated between the National Development and Reform Commission and the land department. According to the plan of the National Development and Reform Commission, local governments can apply to the land department for large amounts of land, "but the land department does not have that much land to approve," the person revealed. In addition, regarding the construction of city clusters, although the "12th Five-Year Plan" clearly proposed "relying on large cities and focusing on small and medium-sized cities," decision-makers also have different opinions, believing that urbanization should focus on developing small towns.