Research on the Development Mechanism of In-situ Urbanization Driven by Industry--Evidence from 87 cities in central China

Abstract

Some problems caused by traditional urbanization are becoming prominent. Compared with traditional urbanization, the rural population does not migrate to large and medium-sized cities in the process of in-situ urbanization. Rural residents realized the transition from traditional to modern production and lifestyle in their native land, which avoids the problems of ‘rural diseases’ and ‘urban diseases’ in the process of traditional urbanization. This study explores the influence mechanism of three industries on in-situ urbanization through the System Generalized Method of Moments and Ordinary Least Square. We found that (1) The simple development of agriculture does not directly promote in-situ urbanization. The process of agriculture driving in-situ urbanization needs to separate some non-agricultural industries from agriculture, which could accelerate the in-situ transfer of rural labor force for non-agricultural employment. (2) The secondary industry plays a significant direct role in driving the in-situ urbanization. Simultaneously, it is conducive to promoting the in-situ urbanization under the joint action of industry and agriculture. (3) The influence of the tertiary industry on in-situ urbanization is mainly reflected in the rural service industry and rural tourism. Through the combined development of agriculture, service industry and tourism, rural residents could achieve local non-agricultural employment and civic lives.