Recently, Hangzhou released the "Mid-term Assessment Report on the Implementation of the 14th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development of Hangzhou and the Outline of the Long-Range Objectives for the Second and Third Five-Year Plans", revealing exciting news: the Hangzhou metropolitan area plan has been approved by the stateThis means that the Hangzhou metropolitan area has officially ushered in national recognition and has become the tenth national metropolitan area. This news not only caused heated discussions in the local area, but also aroused widespread attention. Why did Hangzhou become the tenth national metropolitan area?What's the mystery in this?Let's have a hard time.
In terms of economic strength, Hangzhou's performance is eye-catching. In the first half of this year, Hangzhou's GDP surpassed Wuhan's, ranking eighth among the top 10 in terms of GDP in the country. As of 2022, the total amount of funds is second only to Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, reaching 6,959.2 billion yuan, almost twice that of Wuhan, successfully widening the gap with Chengdu. In terms of population, Hangzhou's permanent population will reach 1,237 in 202260,000 people, second only to Shanghai, ranking second in the Yangtze River Delta. The rise of Hangzhou cannot be ignored.
However, the Hangzhou metropolitan area was not built overnight, as early as 2007, and has been developing for more than 15 years. Initially, it was composed of four cities: Hangzhou, Huzhou, Jiaxing and Shaoxing, and later Quzhou and Huangshan joined to form an inter-provincial metropolitan area with a total area of 53,441 square kilometers. Up to now, the Hangzhou metropolitan area has achieved coordinated development in many aspects, such as planning and co-drawing, facility co-construction, industrial co-prosperity, brand co-building, market co-development, environmental co-protection, and talent sharing, and has achieved remarkable results.
It is worth noting that the approval of national metropolitan areas is often accompanied by two major benefits. First of all, in the construction of transportation infrastructure, there will be more policy preferences for rail transit and other fields. Secondly, it will also receive more support in terms of funds, which is expected to promote the faster development of the Hangzhou metropolitan area.
So, why are all over the country applying for metropolitan areas?According to the "China Metropolitan Area Development Report 2021" by the China Institute of New Urbanization of Tsinghua University, there are 34 metropolitan areas in China, including 6 mature ones, 17 development types, and 11 cultivation types. This also reflects the reality that the central city can no longer expand in a disorderly manner, coupled with the policy orientation of the state to support the construction of metropolitan areas, it has become an inevitable trend for all localities to actively apply for metropolitan areas.
In recent years, the state has made it clear that it is necessary to reasonably determine the spatial scope of the metropolitan area to prevent blind expansion of scale. The scope of the Hangzhou metropolitan area has reached 5More than 30,000 square kilometers, almost twice the size of other approved metropolitan areas. This also makes people wonder whether the Hangzhou metropolitan area will adjust its scope to adapt to national policies in the future.
As for who the next national metropolitan area is, the Jinan or Qingdao metropolitan areas in Shandong are generally optimistic. As the third largest province in China's economy, Shandong Province is increasingly calling for the development of a metropolitan area. With the country's requirements for the scale of super-large and mega-cities, the trend of forming metropolitan areas with surrounding cities will be unstoppable.
The Hangzhou metropolitan area has been approved by the national level, which means that its development has entered a new stage and will usher in more policy and financial support. In the future, we look forward to seeing this up-and-coming metropolitan area play an increasingly important role on the national stage.