Urban-rural Coordinated Development in China from the Perspective of New Urbanization:A Case Study of Jinan City

2015-12-17 02:02:28KaiLIUMeiRENJianlanREN
Asian Agricultural Research 2015年8期

Kai LIU,Mei REN,Jianlan REN

School of Geography and Environment,Shandong Normal University,Jinan 250014,China

1 Introduction

Since the reform and opening up in 1978,China has witnessed an increasing discrepancy between urban and rural areas:the income disparity between rural and urban resident is growing[1-2]and dual structure ratio is getting bigger[3].The unbalance pattern of urban-rural development hampered the development of rural society and economy and the lag of agriculture and country restricted the development of industry and urban even the national economy's development.The government has paid high attention to this serious problem,and the Sixteenth CPC National Congress came up with"overall planning of the urban-rural economic and social development".Urban-rural relationship is a deeper problem of social structure[4],and building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects needs to narrow the gap between urban and rural areas,and achieving modernization needs urban-rural coordinated development[5].New urbanization is a kind of urbanization characterized by urban-rural integration,urban-industry interaction,and coordinated economic and ecological development.It emphasizes urban-rural coordination[6-8],and requires building new town,new country and new urban-rural relationship.So new urbanization conforms to the objective requirement of our country's economic and social development in new period[9-11],and it provides new way to realize urban-rural coordinated development.In the process of urbanization,Jinan must pay high attention and spare no effort to solve the problem of urban-rural discordance.According to the requirement of integration of urban and rural development and based on survey results of Jinan's urban and rural areas,this paper takes Jinan City as an example,to analyze the constraints on coordinated urban and rural development in Jinan City,as well as path choice,urban and rural primary missions.The strategies and measures are finally put forward.This paper will help to solve the problem of the uncoordinated development of urban and rural areas,enrich the research content of urban and rural areas,and provide a reference for other cities.

2 Overview of the study area

Jinan,located in the central part of Shandong Province,is the political,cultural,scientific,educational and financial center of Shandong Province,and the central city of Shandong Peninsula City Cluster.In recent years,Jinan's urbanization level is higher than China and Shandong Province's urbanization level,but the growth rate begins to lower.Jinan's industrial structure is gradually reasonable,primary industry,secondary industry and tertiary industries are well developed.Jinan has6 districts,1 county-level city,3 counties,86 sub-district offices,51 towns,4 villages.Urban residents' per capita disposable income is 28892 yuan,3677 yuan more than previous year;rural per capita net income is 11786.2 yuan,1374.4 yuan more than previous year;urban residents' Engel coefficient is30.8%,0.9%lower than the previous year;rural residents' Engel coefficient is 35.6%,0.8 lower than the previous year.On the whole,urban and rural areas maintain relatively rapid pace of development,and urban and rural residents' living standards improve steadily.But rural are as have a weak economic foundation,and there is obvious discrepancy between urban and rural areas,so there are still some problems to be solved.

3 Constraints on coordinated development of urban and rural areas in Jinan City

3.1 Difference in institution between urban and rural areas restricts rural developmentThe different institution makes urban and rural areas lack contact.Household registration system,land system and social security system are three fields that restrict coordinated urban and rural development in Jinan.In the aspect of the household registration system,because of having no urban household registration,rural population can't enjoy public service like urban residents,and even it affects next generation's education,employment and medical treatment.In the aspect of the land system,farmers can't get earnings from the contracted land and homestead because of the existing land property right system,and can't share urbanization's achievement because of the existing system for land expropriation and requisition.In the aspect of the social security system,urban social security system is gradually perfect,but rural social security system is backward for a long time.The social security system's dual structure is obvious,and the fundamental public service between urban and rural areas is hard to realize equalization and integration.

3.2 Urban-rural social coordinated level lags behind economic coordinated levelBased on the comprehensive assessment,Jinan's urban-rural social coordinated level is only 0.18,lagging behind economic coordinated level distinctly(0.57).Based on the survey result,rural residents' living standard can reach urban residents' living standard.By way of going out as migrant workers and engaging in business deals,villagers' income is much higher than before.Economic progress does not bring about development in an all-around way,and rural social cultural undertakings still lag behind.For example,rural education level cannot be compared with urban education level,and rural residents' cultural life is extremely poor.

3.3 "Industry nurturing agriculture and city supporting village"takes effectNowadays,China is in a high-speed transitional period.In addition to the fundamental function that urban areas need to have,urban areas also bear the responsibility of driving the development of rural areas,adjusting rural industrial structure and promoting the coordinated development of urban and rural areas.The 4th Plenum(Plenary Session)of the 16th CPC Central Committee has put forward the policy of"industry nurturing agriculture and city supporting village"."Industry nurturing agriculture"is the inherent concept at a certain stage of economic development.In 2012,Jinan's GDP was 4803.67 billion yuan,and the proportion of secondary and tertiary industries was 94.73%,but the effect of industry nurturing agriculture was not outstanding.Some companies set up branches in country,which help to increase peasants' income,but as to promoting village's overall level of economic progress and improving village appearance,its effect isn't obvious."City supporting village"is the inevitable requirement of high level of urbanization.In 2012,Jinan's urbanization level was65.7%,nearly14%higher than the national average,and city's agglomeration effect surpassed diffusion effect.

4 Path choice for Jinan's urban-rural coordinated development

4.1 Government-domination as the subject of urban-rural coordinated development:government should shoulder the historical taskThe purpose of urban-rural coordinated development is eliminating the rural-urban disparity resulting from system and institutional factors.Government is not merely the spokesman of urban areas,and it is urban-rural relationship's founder and new institution's feeder.As the leading force of urban-rural coordinated development,government should shoulder the responsibility.Overseas experience suggests that government's creation of conditions for rural areas from legislation,finance,technology and education is the basic guarantee of urban-rural coordinated development.Since 2004,Central Document No.1 has taken"three rural issues"as the theme,forming the policy framework of rural reform and development.The purpose of urban and rural overall development is for urban and rural residents' fair national treatment.Policy and system construction's subject is government,so we should transform government functions and build service-oriented government,and explore policy and institutional system that helps to promote urban-rural coordinated development.Firstly,it is necessary to reform and perfect household registration system and its derivative system.Secondly,it is necessary to build unified urban and rural market system,fiscal transfer payment system,public goods supply mechanism,urban and rural social redistribution system and employment system.Thirdly,it is necessary to strengthen examination and evaluation of urban-rural coordinated development.Finally,government should shoulder the task from ideology,planning and construction,supervision and inspection.

4.2 Urban-rural interaction as the object of urban-rural coordinated development:urban and rural areas should be dynamically integratedIn history,city and village are human settlements' different space entity.City is power's symbol,and city governs village at the political level.With new urbanization's arrival,urban and rural areas should exploit the advantages to increase mutual support and mutual benefit.Firstly,we should acknowledge rural-urban disparity's objectivity and inevitability.Secondly,urban and rural areas are complementary,that is,urban areas have advantage of capital,technology and information while rural areas have abundant resources.Manpower resource's interaction is urban-rural interaction's key.Experts say that in the stage of urban and rural gap becoming smaller,rural residents will turn into urban residents.But from the present development pattern,a large number of rural residents have become urban peasant laborers,leading to bigger rural-urban disparity.Migrant workers in the city will bring demographic dividend,but rural areas will lose demographic dividend at the same time.In the process of the current development,shifting rural population should be scientific and orderly,and we should not only guide rural population to urban areas,but also pay attention to interaction between urban and rural areas.Government should encourage talents to stay in rural areas.

4.3 Pluralistic mixture:establishing urban-rural coordinated development's impetus and safeguard mechanism from various meansUrban-rural coordinated development's essence is realizing Pareto improvement from benefit pattern's adjustment.In the process of benefit pattern's adjustment,in addition to government's guidance,multiple means are necessary.Investment,consumption and export are the three important factors to push the economy forward,and investment is more important.Rural-urban disparity's enlargement has close relationship with investment.In the current market economy condition,capital tends to pursue high profit,and city becomes the market investment hot spot.So it is necessary to adjust national income distribution structure and fiscal expenditure structure and guide more capital to rural areas.The emphasis of investment should be placed on infrastructure construction,agricultural science and technology and agricultural education,and at the same time,rural ecological environment needs to be protected.

4.4 Priority breakthrough:finding urban-rural coordinated development's entry point for orderly developmentThe urban-rural coordinated development can't be achieved in an action,and the urgent affair is the innovation of land use system.Land is the most essential and important resource possessed by peasants,and it's the interest's intersection of urban-rural integration development.So the reform of rural land management system is the key link of realizing urban-rural coordinated development.Firstly,contractual right of land's circulation market should be established,so that farmers can shift contractual right of land by subcontracting,renting,exchange,transfer and joint stock partnership.Secondly,a unified construction land market should be established,so that farmers can shift land usage right.

5 Primary missions for Jinan's urban-rural coordinated development

5.1 Improving the urban and rural planning system and planning management mechanismIt is necessary to setup the planning idea of"Smart Growth"and"Compact and Complex City",and establish the urban and rural planning system including urban master planning,county-rural system planning,township planning,new rural community planning,village planning and all kinds of special planning;improve the system of urban and rural integration planning and implementation management,promote urban and rural planning informatization construction,and establish a system of regularly assessing the implementation of urban and rural planning revision;strengthen the construction of urban and rural planning law enforcement team,strengthen the planning for the supervision and administration,improve planning's executory effect,and maintain planning's seriousness and authority.

5.2 Optimizing urban and rural industrial structure and promoting the development of urban and industry's integrationBased on the harmonious development of new industrialization,informatization,urbanization and agricultural modernization,it is necessary to speed up the development of modern agriculture,advanced manufacturing industry,and modern service industry;accelerate the construction of agriculture's modernization,develop efficient ecological agriculture and high quality agriculture;improve the modern agricultural industry system and agricultural products' modern circulation and distribution system,cultivate new agricultural operators and improve agricultural comprehensive production capacity;construct harmonious urbanization strategy pattern,promote urban system's professional farm-out and improve acceptance capability of the industry.

5.3 Improving urban and rural public service facility and building new urban and rural management systemIt is necessary to promote the equilibrium of public educational resources' disposition,promote balanced development of the compulsory education,complete the school's standardized construction;promote urban and rural service level of public facilities,and construct urban and rural public cultural facilities service network and public cultural projects;strengthen the social management system reform and unified management,and improve social management ability;strengthen the urban and rural social security comprehensive treatment,enhance the capacity of public safety and social security protection and maintain social harmony and stability.

5.4 Strengthening comprehensive urban-rural ecological and environmental constructionIt is necessary to lay emphasis on urban and rural ecosystem protection,establish environmental protection and governance mechanism of complementary advantages between urban and rural areas;promote ecological protection's partitioned management and construction's systematic management,and construct rural ecological community pilot project;strengthen urban and rural ecological environment's regulation to realize mutual promotion of urban environmental management and rural ecological construction;launch urban and rural beautification activities,found civilized town,civilized community and civilized family;reform old city,raise the level of urban and rural greening and beautification,and build beautiful Spring City.

5.5 Improving urban and rural residents' livelihoodIt is necessary to realize the equalization of basic public service and mechanism innovation;establish and improve the overall urban and rural public service system,and enhance equal urban and rural fundamental public service;integrate urban and rural educational resources,promote education resource sharing and narrow the gap in education;promote balanced development of urban and rural medical and health services,erfect rural medical and health service network and urban community health service system,and establish a basic medical and health system covering both urban and rural residents.

6 Strategies for Jinan's urban-rural coordinated development

6.1 Deepening system reform and establishing a unified systemThere is a need to realize urban-rural coordinated development.Jinan must reform the unreasonable system and establish unified system,safeguard the equal opportunity between urban and rural areas and equal rights between citizen and villagers.In the aspect of the household registration system,it is necessary to perfect agricultural population household registration system,implement differentiation settlement policy and reform household regis-tration system.In the aspect of land system,it is necessary to guarantee farmers' interests maximization,and promote the rational flow of rural population to the city.In the aspect of the social security system,it is necessary to expand coverage for social security and improve the basic medical and health conditions,and promote urban and rural people's livelihood.

6.2 Determining the pattern of urban and rural development and constructing new pattern of"metropolis,city,town,village"At first,it is necessary to perfect Jinan metropolitan region's functional structure,strengthen the cooperation between seven cities,realize industrial layout and the division of labor,and develop metropolitan region's linkage ability.Secondly,as to urban district's development,it is necessary to optimize and promote old city,construct the western new city and eastern new city,lay emphasis on optimization of inside structure and development quality,intensively and economically use urban development land,and drive surrounding villages' development.Thirdly,the development of small-sized cities and towns is a strategy concerning China's economic construction.So Jinan should construct small towns,play small towns' function to balance urban and rural development and build new towns.Fourthly,it is necessary to perfect rural infrastructure,enhance the level of rural public service,and build a new socialist countryside.

6.3 Exploiting rural potential and promoting the rural social economyJinan's rural areas need to develop competitive industries and set up livestock production base based on geographical conditions and resource superiority;adjust agriculture production structure based on consumer market's demand,produce green food,organic food and pollution-free food,realize production's profession alization,large scale and intensification.Villages in southern mountain area can develop leisure tourism,promote rural economic development and increase farmers' income.The rural economic development needs leading enterprise,so every village should support leading enterprise,establish agricultural organizations,and solve the problem of agricultural employment;pay attention to the development of rural culture,and enhance the connotation of rural development.

6.4 Increasing investment in agriculture and rural areas and providing support for rural developmentUrban-rural development divide is the reason for"industry nurturing agriculture and city supporting village".It is necessary to shorten the gap between urban and rural areas,realize the harmonious development between urban and rural areas,and strengthen the support to rural areas.Firstly,there is a need to implement central authorities' policies of strengthening agriculture and benefiting farmers,increase government investment in rural areas,establish a new mechanism to increase investment in rural areas and ensure the proportion of financing for rural areas.Secondly,there is a need to increase agricultural capital construction,build long-term mechanism of"industry nurturing agriculture and city supporting village",and realize industry and agricultural interaction.

7 Safeguard measures for Jinan's urban-rural coordinated development

In order to guarantee urban-rural coordinated development,Jinan needs to formulate some safeguard measures.(i)Deepening the reform of the household registration management system.It is necessary to strengthen current policy to realize the connection of inhabitant and floating population.(ii)Deepening the reform of the land management system.It is necessary to complete land expropriation mechanism and regulate land acquisition procedures to guarantee farmers' interests.(iii)Widening investment and financing.It is necessary to efficiently use financial fund,financial capital and social capital,and establish new mechanism of investment and financing.(iv)Deepening the reform of system of administrative control.It is necessary to magnify county-level government's executive power and enhance administrative efficiency.

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