More sprawl than agglomeration: The multi-scale spatial patterns and industrial characteristics of varied development zones in China

Development zones contribute significantly to the course of industrialisation and urbanisation across the globe. China's development zones are highly representative and encapsulate three functional types: industrial, economic and technological, and diversified. These functions can further be divided into 13 categories. This study proposes a new theoretical framework based on the theory of the production of space to explain the spatial patterns and industrial characteristics of the development zones. The results indicate that the entire country comprises spatial modes representing single-core and multi-centre, as well as dual-core and dual-centre. The eastern region contains more than half the nation's development zones and is more densely industrialised than the other regions. Cities above the prefecture level generally show a €-shaped distribution. Municipal districts represent the principal county-level spaces for the establishment of industrial clusters and parks. The eastern coastal provinces in the three urban agglomerations denote active spaces for large-scale centralised establishments. This spatial production process exhibits numerous typical multi-scale disparities. Spatial scales operate on a hierarchy spanning national, regional, provincial, prefectural, county and urban–rural dimensions. Power games create imbalanced allocations of capital and space, causing development zones to resemble more land sprawls than industrial agglomerations. Policy planning powers and the authority to establish administrative divisions inherited in space are dispersed through governments at all levels. However, sustainable economic growth and population urbanisation are neglected. Prospective studies should be grounded in theoretical and empirical evidence to more frequently and comprehensively discuss the evolutionary mechanisms and transformation paths of development zones.