Beijing News (Reporter Zha Zhiyuan) On December 10, East China Normal University released the "Yangtze River Economic Belt Cities Coordinated Development Ability Index (2023)". It is reported that the index has been released annually since 2015, and this year is the ninth time it has been released.
At the symposium on further promoting the high-quality development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt held on October 12 this year, the general secretary once again emphasized that "we must unswervingly adhere to the joint efforts to protect the Yangtze River Economic Belt, not to engage in large-scale development, and make greater efforts in high-level protection". The coordinated development of cities in the Yangtze River Economic Belt is not only a requirement for promoting the development of Chinese-style modernization in the new era, but also an important support for the joint protection of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, and an important starting point for solving the problems of the development system of the Yangtze River Basin.
According to reports, according to scientific theories such as regional coordinated development, regional innovation system, regional development resilience, and growth poles, the index has constructed an evaluation index system for the coordinated development ability index of cities in the Yangtze River Economic Belt with 18 specific indicators such as economic development, scientific and technological innovation, exchange services, and ecological support, including four major areas, including economic development, scientific and technological innovation, exchange services, and ecological support. The collaborative development capacity of 110 cities in the Yangtze River Economic Belt was systematically evaluated by using index calculation, spatial autocorrelation analysis, index trend analysis and big data of prefecture-level cities in the past three years to set target values and thresholds against the highest standards and best levels of global cities.
Professor Zeng Gang, chief expert of index development, director of the China Modern City Research Center, a key research base for humanities and social sciences of the Ministry of Education, and dean of the Urban Development Research Institute of East China Normal University, pointed out that the most noteworthy thing this year is that after the Yangtze River Development Symposium, the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt has entered a new stage.
To this end, the Yangtze River Index development team has included the "Foreign Cooperation Index" in the 2023 evaluation index system, aiming to highlight the high-quality comprehensive development capacity of the 110 cities in the Yangtze River Economic Belt and the importance of the unbalanced development between cities, so as to provide decision-making reference for improving the high-quality development level of cities in the Yangtze River Economic Belt, narrowing the development gap between the eastern coastal areas and the central and western inland regions, and achieving common prosperity.
According to the Yangtze River Economic Belt Cities Collaborative Development Capacity Index (2023), the top 10 cities in terms of collaborative development capacity are: Shanghai, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Chengdu, Wuhan, Suzhou, Wuxi, Chongqing, Hefei, and Changsha. Changsha has returned to the top 10 again since 2020 due to its balanced performance in all aspects. Xiangtan, Huainan, Xinyu, Yiyang, Huaibei, Guang'an, Bijie, Shaoyang, Jingzhou, and Suizhou are in the bottom 10 of the list.
Zeng Gang pointed out that the coordinated development capacity of cities in the Yangtze River Economic Belt has steadily increased, and the olive-shaped structure of the urban system has been continuously optimized. According to the Yangtze River Economic Belt Cities Coordinated Development Capacity Index (2023), 110 cities at and above the prefecture level show a 6-level olive-shaped structure characteristics: Shanghai is the leading city, and the coordinated development capacity ranks first in the Yangtze River Economic Belt;The 10 cities of Hangzhou, Nanjing, Chengdu, Wuhan, Suzhou, Wuxi, Chongqing, Hefei, Changsha and Ningbo are high-level regional central cities with strong capabilities36 cities, including Kunming, Changzhou, Guiyang, Zhoushan and Nanchang, are general regional central cities with outstanding performance in individual fieldsThirty-six cities, including Pu'er, Zigong, Chenzhou, Yibin and Zhuzhou, are regionally important cities, often located in relatively important locations or have unique resource endowmentsFifteen cities, including Bozhou, Bazhong, Ziyang, Tongling and Fuyang, are important local cities with room for improvement12 cities, including Loudi, Meishan, Xiangtan, Huainan and Xinyu, are general cities with shortcomings or weak outward service functions. At the same time, the average score of comprehensive synergy capacity of cities in 2023 is 1533 points, an increase of 2 from 202242 points.
In 2023, the number of cities with a comprehensive synergy capacity of 12 or more will increase from 37 in 2022 to 65, reaching 59 of the total of 110 cities09%, an increase of 25 percentage points compared to 2022. Zeng Gang said.
In addition, Zeng Gang believes that compared with the world-class level, there are still two major problems in the coordinated development capacity of cities in the Yangtze River Economic Belt: prominent ecological shortcomings and highly differentiated collaborative development capabilities of urban subgroups.
In view of the practical bottlenecks and shortcomings of regional development, Zeng Gang suggested that it is necessary to take action to make up for shortcomings from five aspects. The first is to focus on building an ecological community of the Yangtze River: strengthen the effective protection of ecological space and protect the "clear water of the Yangtze River flowing eastward". The second is to vigorously develop the green economy of the Yangtze River, build a new model of green transformation and upgrading in different regions, and jointly promote the green transformation of the industrial economy. The third is to build an innovation community: make breakthroughs in key core technologies and strengthen cross-regional collaboration between scientific and technological innovation and industrial innovation. Fourth, build an open community: enhance the status of opening up, smooth and efficient domestic circulation, and create a new pattern of "dual circulation" development. Fifth, optimize the regional collaborative and integrated governance system: break down the administrative barriers between different types of cities, and promote the coordinated development of large, medium and small cities.
At the press conference, experts and scholars from the China Meteorological Administration, Sichuan Academy of Social Sciences, Nanjing University and other experts and scholars conducted in-depth exchanges and comments on the Yangtze River Economic Belt Cities Coordinated Development Index (2023), and fully affirmed and spoke highly of the Yangtze River Economic Belt Cities Coordinated Development Capacity Index (2023).
Edited by Corrie.
Proofread by Zhao Lin.