The Optimal Urban Scale from Different Perspectives and under Different Development Goals Based on the CES Utility Function

Abstract

To analyze the differences in the optimal urban scale of a country, a government, and residents under different urban development goals and to provide a reference for urban development, an urban development model is constructed based on the constant elasticity of substitution (CES) utility function. The objective function includes four indicators: the economic level, the traffic level, environmental quality, and living conditions. The urban development model is constructed by integrating an urban road planning model, bus route planning model, land use model, and four-stage traffic sharing and traffic allocation model. Based on the setting of different development goals, this model is used to calculate the urban utility value perceived by each stakeholder at different urban scales. Through comparative analysis, we determine the following: (1) When the urban development goals are different, the optimal urban scale of residents and the government differs greatly, and the optimal scale of the country differs very little. (2) When facing the same development goal, the optimal urban scales of the three stakeholders are not the same. However, the three stakeholders are closely related to urban development. Therefore, the selection of the optimal urban scale should comprehensively consider the interests of the three stakeholders.