Measurement and Optimum of the Spatial Structure of Urban System in Hubei Province

The spatial structure of urban system in Hubei Province has been measured by fractal method and GIS technique,and the whole urban system has been divided into four sub-urban system by use of Breaking Point Model.On the basis of that,the rule of the evolution of the spatial structure of the urban system has also been deduced.The results show:Firstly,there is higher distribution density of cities,and the distribution of population is similar to that of cities;Secondly,the types of the spatial structure of the urban system are agglomerative in which the distribution of cities is along roads,rivers and transport lines,and there exist a tendency of uniform distribution for the evolution of the urban systems;Thirdly,the changing of the spatial structure of the urban system is a network stage,where there exist an equilibrium between concentric forces of major cities and eccentric strength of small cities,meanwhile,there exist a dispersive tendency for spatial distribution of the cities from along alone lines to along three-following.At last,according to the results and the urbanization planniog in Hubei Province,the paper has put forward the optimum ideals of the spatial structure of urban system.