Evaluation of the Urbanization Level in Henan Based on Projection Pursuit Cluster Model

In order to avoid subjectivity and incapable of dealing with high dimensional dataset arise from conventional methods,this paper proposed a new methodology based on Projection Pursuit Model(PPM) to evaluate the level of urbanization process.Based on the urbanization connotation,an indicator system was built according to 5 separate sub-systems that contain population urbanization,economy urbanization,society urbanization,landscape urbanization and environment urbanization.With the samples of every city’s quantitative data from 2001 to 2010 in Henan,the multi-dimension values of evaluation index were synthesized into one dimension projection data,accelerate genetic algorithm was introduced to optimize the function and seek the optimum projection vector,the projection value was got to measure the level of urbanization in Henan province.Results show that the synthetic urbanization level of every city has been enhanced continuously since 2001;although the disparity of regional urbanization level has been slowed down gradually,and the polarization trend in was also remarkable in Henan.Central plain urban agglomeration constituted the core areas of urbanization process,and the urbanization level of the northwest is higher than the southeast.And at last,it is suggested that great effort should be made to promote urbanization process in traditional agricultural areas in the east and southeast Henan,which will play a key role in coordinating regional urbanization development.