ARTICLES
CHEN Shun-Qing
1999, 1(1): 12-18.
This paper approaches the topic in 4 steps. The first study concerns the forces of urban growth and the interaction theory of centripetal force, centrifugal force, and friction force. Supported by the new institutional economics, the centripetal force, centrifugal force , and friction force have had a solid fundament in microeconomics. The interaction of the three forces which impel urban growth has been demonstrated through the evolution of labor division, the firm clustering and industrial syntheses forming, and incubator process.The second one focuses on the theory of urban growth. The three stages of urban growth consist of the clustering stage, which is mainly driven by centripetal force, the suburbanization stage driven by centrifugal force, and the networking stage by the interaction of the three forces. According to the three stages of urban growth, urban structure and urban form of the Western developed countries in macroscale (interurban geography) and microscale (intraurban geography) dimensions are discussed. Comprehensive analyses show that the three stages of urban growth and the corresponding changes of urban form are the commonness of every country in the course of market economy.The third one discusses the theory of urban land value and value increment. In this study, the land value is considered a summation of social use value, economic value, and ecology value. The land value increment is classified into invested increment and public increment. Public increment, especially when it is induced by land use externalities, is the bottleneck of increment analysis. The transaction cost economics is introduced to analyze the externalities of urban land use. The fourth one tries to develop a comprehensive theoretic framework of urban growth and, land value increment. Starting with the classical model of urban growth and land value, a typical mode of land value increment of different stages of urban growth is explored. Finally, a six-phase urban growth and land value increment theory is deduced from the above studies.