Formation and its Driving Mechanism of Metropolitan Areas in China

Since reform and opening policy, big cities have rapidly developed and metropolitan areas have emerged in China. Metropolitan areas will be an important spatial form in China in new era, but they will also bring new challenge to traditional urban development strategy, urban plan, and urban management. This paper firstly analyses the appearance of metropolitan areas phenomenon and its prospect in China. Then it discusses the concept and definition criterion of metropolitan area,and explore in detail the formation mechanism of Chinese metropolitan areas.