CHARACTERISTICS AND FORMATION MECHANISMS OF POLYCENTRIC SPATIAL STRUCTURE IN BEIJING METROPOLITAN AREA

This paper examines the characteristics of the polycentric spatial structure in Beijing metropolitan area and investigates the determinants of the emergence of sub-centers based on a binary Logit model.We find that there existed five employment sub-centers in Beijing metropolitan area in 2008,which were mostly located in the near suburbs and around the major commercial districts,the scientific and technological parks,or the large-scale state-owned enterprises.Through analyzing the determinants of the emergence of the sub-centers,we find that agglomeration economies and transportation accessibility are the major explanations for the formation of sub-centers in Beijing metropolitan area.And the probability of the emergence of sub-centers decreases with the increase of the distance to the city center,which implies that the sub-centers emerged in Beijing metropolitan area are mostly close to the central area of the city and that the decentralization of employment in the metropolitan area is still limited in spatial scale.Meanwhile,the spatial scheme planned in the city's master plan can also explain the formation of the sub-centers,but not quite significantly.So far the polycentric spatial structure emerged in Beijing metropolitan area is still different from the planned spatial development scheme,mainly due to the underdevelopment of sub-centers in the outer suburbs.We also find that the rapid increase of the share of service industries in the local economy can raise the probability of the emergence of subcenters,which implies that,with the tertiarization of Beijing's economy,the growth of service industries may be the important mechanism for the formation of sub-centers in Beijing metropolitan area.