Urbanization Level in Chinese Counties: Imbalance Pattern and Driving Force

Urbanization level is a key indicator for socioeconomic development and policy making, but the measurement data and methods need to be discussed further due to the limitation of a single index and the availability and accuracy of statistical data. China is urbanizing rapidly, but the urbanization level at the county scale remains a mystery due to its complexity and lack of unified and effective measurement indicators. In this paper, we proposed a new urbanization index to measure the Chinese urbanization level at the county scale by integrating population, land, and economic factors; by fusing remote sensing data and traditional demographic data, we investigated the multi-dimensional unbalanced development patterns and the driving mechanism from 1995 to 2015. Results indicate that: The average comprehensive urbanization level at the Chinese county scale has increased from 31.06% in 1995 to 45.23% in 2015, and the urbanization level in the permanent population may overestimate China’s urbanization process. There were significant but different spatial and temporal dynamic patterns in population, land, and economic levels as well as at a comprehensive urbanization level. The comprehensive urbanization level shows the pattern of being high in the south-east and low in the north-west, divided by “Hu line”. The urbanization of registered populations presents high in the northern border and the eastern coastal areas, which is further strengthened over time. Economic urbanization based on lighting data presents high in the east and low in the west. Land urbanization based on remote sensing data shows high in the south and low in the north. The registered population urbanization level is lower than economic and land urbanization. County urbanization was driven by large population size, reasonable industrial structure, and strong government capacity; 38% and 59% of urbanization levels can be regarded as the key nodes of the urbanization process. When the urbanization rate is lower than 38%, the secondary industry plays a strong role in powering urbanization; when the urbanization rate is higher than 38% but less than 59%, the promotion effect of the tertiary industry is more obvious, and the secondary industry is gradually weakened. When the urbanization rate exceeds 59%, the tertiary industry becomes the major driver