Comprehensive Evaluation and Spatial Pattern of Regional Urbanization Level in Henan

Based on the urbanization connotation,an indicator system for evaluating urbanization level is put for-ward to reflect the urbanization levels and distinctions of the districts in Henan Province.By the entropy weight-ed technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution method(TOPSIS),the synthetic urbanization lev-el is evaluated for the period from 2001 to 2009 in Henan,and then,the evolvement of spatial pattern from 2001 to 2009 of the urbanization level is also probed deeply by the exploratory spatial data analysis method(ESDA).Results show that the synthetic urbanization level has been enhanced continuously since 2001,and the extent of urbanization has been extending continuously too.Although the geographical distribution of urbanization hot-spot areas has been evolved from concentration to random,the core-periphery spatial pattern composed of cen-tral plain urban agglomeration and borderline regions is greatly remarkable.The evaluation and spatial statistical analysis of integrated urbanization level is beneficial to identifying the timing sequence and spatial characteris-tics of urbanization process in Henan Province,but also can provide theoretical reference to the urbanization pol-icy making.And at last,it is considered that great efforts should be made to promote the urbanization process in the marginal traditional agricultural areas in Henan,which will play a key role in coordinating regional urbaniza-tion development.