ADMINISTRATIVE REGIONALIZATION ADJUSTMENT AND SPATIAL FRACTAL DIMENSION VARIATION OF URBAN AGGLOMERATION:A CASE STUDY OF THE YANGTZE DELTA

Adminstrative regionalization adjustment will lead to spatial structure variation of urban agglomerations,and thus exert a significant impact on the development of regioanl urban system and economy.In this paper the Yangtze Delta was chosen as the study area and the related basic data was downloaded from National Fundamental Geographic Information System(NFGIS).The software ArcGIS was employed to calculate the fractal dimensions of urban agglomerations in the Yangtze Dleta during the period from 2000 to 2009.Three kinds of fractal dimensions,namely,the aggregation dimension,the grid dimension and the spatial correlation dimension,were used to describe the spatial aggregation of urban agglomeration,the spatial equlibrium and the spatial interaction between urban agglomerations as well.The adminstrative regionalization adjustment in the Yangtze Delta included both the internal adjustment and the outwards expansion of municipal districts.The influence of Shanghai and Nanjing as the central cities has been strengthened while that of Hangzhou weakened.Urban agglomerations have been much more evenly distributed within the region as well.Integration of traffic network has promoted the spatial interaction of urban agglomerations and propelled the development of the region as a whole.