Shaping a Polycentric Metropolis: A Case Study of the Intra-city Polycentricity of the Yangtze River Delta

Abstract

The Yangtze River Delta (YRD) has emerged to become one of the most populous metropolises in the mainland China those days. While the government has reinforced the coordination of major cities located in the YRD, multiple issues have been found to interfere with the city agglomeration of the metropolis area. The objective of the study is to reveal the level of intra-city polycentricity of the cities in the YRD and provide possible solutions to improve the intra-city polycentricity. The study suggests that 63% of cities in the YRD have 2 or more centres and have an average polycentricity measure of 0.5449. Furthermore, the study suggests that most of the large cities have attempted to develop a polycentric urban system, though the development of intra-city centres is unbalanced.