Chen Xian On the first working day after the Spring Festival of the Year of the Ox, Li Qiang, Secretary of the CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee, visited places directed by the policy of building “five new cities” to learn about the construction progress and presided over a symposium on accelerating the implementation of Shanghai’s major strategic task of building “five new cities” according to the 14th Five-Year Plan. Building new cities around Shanghai’s central urban area has been talked about for a long time. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, the five cities, namely Jiading, Qingpu, Songjiang, Fengxian and Nanhui, will focus on improving industrial development, public services, comprehensive transportation and environmental governance across the board. As a result, five independent node cities with comprehensive functions will emerge around the central urban area. However, the significance of building “five new cities” goes beyond this. More importantly, they will serve as sub-centers connecting cities near Shanghai. Node cities and cities near Shanghai will work with the central urban area to complete the spatial structure of Shanghai Metropolitan Area. Since the middle of the 20th century, hub cities in developed economies have successively undergone a dual transformation, namely the transformation in the industrial structure, which mainly refers to the formation of an industrial structure dominated by modern service industries, and that in the spatial structure, which means the establishment of a spatial structure with central urban areas, new cities in suburban areas, and surrounding cities, namely metropolitan circles (areas), based on the rail transit network. Despite the contradictions in the process, the transformation is a result of the mutual promotion between industrialization and urbanization, and a manifestation of laws of economic and social development. Therefore, a new structure will eventually emerge no matter how complex the contradictions are and how difficult the process is. The plan of building Shanghai Metropolitan Area, the construction of “five new cities” and the regeneration of the central urban area mean that the spatial structure of Shanghai, the hub city, has experienced and will continue to undergo profound changes. Firstly, “3+1” circles will take shape in the spatial structure of Shanghai. The “3” circles constitute an economic function zone. The first circle is the central or main urban area of 660 square kilometers, which is familiar among people. The second circle that surrounds the main urban area connects the five new cities, namely Jiading, Qingpu, Songjiang, Fengxian and Nanhui. The third circle is the Shanghai Metropolitan Area. The “1” circle that refers to Shanghai’s districts is an administrative division. As the status and role of the economic function zone keep increasing day by day, the planning and construction of Shanghai Metropolitan Area and “five new cities”, and the regeneration of the central urban area will be accelerated during the 14th Five-Year Plan period. Relevant opinions on the planning, construction and implementation, special work in key areas, and action plans for planning and construction are being released and put into practice one after another. Secondly, Shanghai’s urban spatial structure has evolved from a single center to several centers, and developed into a typical one of metropolitan areas. Shanghai Metropolitan Area is an important part of the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta. The Outline of Integrated Regional Development of the Yangtze River Delta (hereinafter referred to as the Outline) points out that it’s important to promote the joint development of Shanghai, areas near Shanghai, and the Suzhou-Wuxi-Changzhou Metropolitan Area, and build Shanghai-centered Large Metropolitan Area. It’s necessary to strengthen coordinated development of Nanjing Metropolitan Area and Hefei Metropolitan Area to create a model for the coordinated development of eastern and central China. It’s crucial to promote close docking as well as cooperation and division of labor between Hangzhou Metropolitan Area and Ningbo Metropolitan Area to achieve integrated development of Hangzhou, Shaoxing and Ningbo. The Outline puts forward the concept of “Shanghai-centered Large Metropolitan Area”, which refers to Shanghai Urban Agglomeration or Shanghai-Jiangsu (including Suzhou, Wuxi, Changzhou and Nantong) Urban Agglomeration. Meanwhile, it’s called a large metropolitan area because it wants emphasize that Shanghai’s position as the hub city of the world-class Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomeration, and that Shanghai Metropolitan Area is an urban area of the world-class Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomeration. The Outline requires that the focus should be placed on integrated infrastructure and public services card to accelerate the construction of Nanjing, Hangzhou, Hefei, Suzhou- Wuxi-Changzhou and Ningbo Metropolitan Areas, and enhance the integration of urban development in these areas. According to the above understanding of Shanghai-centered Large Metropolitan Area, there is another Shanghai Metropolitan Area that includes the areas near Shanghai in Jiangsu and Zhejiang and the one-hour commuting circle. Generally speaking, the spatial structure of a metropolitan area is polycentric, which means one center plus several sub-centers. I once wrote in an essay, “in recent years, Shanghai has built 1-million-square-meter Hongqiao Transportation Hub, a huge transportation hub rarely seen in the world, which integrates an airport and a high-speed rail station. In addition, there is an exhibition center covering an area of 1 million square meters, which is the place where China International Import Expo is held, and there are 1 million square meters of office space, which is the CBD in the west of Shanghai. These three jointly form Hongqiao Hub. Compared with People’s Square, Hongqiao Hub suits the position of the center of Shanghai Metropolitan Area better.” The Shanghai Metropolitan Area with Hongqiao Hub as the center and a radius of 80 kilometers includes Shanghai’s districts and areas near Shanghai in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, namely some of Jiaxing’s municipal districts, Pinghu, Jiashan County and Haiyan County, some of Suzhou’s municipal districts, Kunshan, Taicang and Changshu, and some of Nantong’s municipal districts and Qidong. The building of the “five new cities” has produced five sub-centers. If we take Jiading New City, Qingpu New City or Songjiang New City as the center, with a radius of 60 kilometers, the spatial scope of Shanghai Metropolitan Area will cover more areas in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. A metropolitan area is not an administrative region in the traditional sense, but a modern economic and social function zone. Ecological protection, building of transportation networks and social governance often require efforts across administrative divisions, metropolitan areas, and even urban agglomerations. Therefore, viewing the “five new cities” from the perspective of Shanghai Metropolitan Area will help us better understand the significance of this great endeavor. (Author: Chen Xian, Professor of Antai College of Economics and Management, Shanghai Jiao Tong University)