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Greater Pearl River Delta: Historical Evolution towards a Global City-Region

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  • Jiangbo Bie
  • Martin de Jong
  • Ben Derudder

Abstract

The Greater Pearl River Delta (GPRD) consists of 11 municipalities, nine of which are located in mainland China (Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Dongguan, Foshan, Zhuhai, Jiangmen, Zhongshan, Zhaoqing, and Huizhou, jointly constituting the Pearl River Delta) and two are Special Administrative Regions (Hong Kong and Macao). All of them have undergone different historical trajectories, with Guangzhou, Macao, Hong Kong, and Shenzhen emerging as key cities within the region at different moments in time and for different economic and political reasons. This article gives an overview of the historical evolution of the GPRD as a geographic region in a number of distinct phases (history until 1949, 1949-1978, 1978-1997/9, and 1997/9-2014), and then poses the question whether it has, anno 2014, evolved into a "global city-region". Our analysis indicates that different cities have been prominent in different periods and that population numbers, economic figures and mutual interconnectedness among the various cities within the GPRD through various urban infrastructures, but also with regard to production and R&D have grown to such an extent that it can indeed be qualified as a global city-region as defined by Allen Scott (2001), with global city Hong Kong acting as a hinge to the global market. Currently and in the future, the GPRD is the most poly-centric global city-region in the world, although it also appears that its political fragmentation has acted as a barrier to vigorous further development since economic indicators show a relative decline compared to the Yangtze River Delta.

Suggested Citation

  • Jiangbo Bie & Martin de Jong & Ben Derudder, 2015. "Greater Pearl River Delta: Historical Evolution towards a Global City-Region," Journal of Urban Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(2), pages 103-123, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:cjutxx:v:22:y:2015:i:2:p:103-123
    DOI: 10.1080/10630732.2014.971575
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Scott, Allen J. (ed.), 2001. "Global City-Regions: Trends, Theory, Policy," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198297994.
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    Cited by:

    1. Haiyan Lu & Martin De Jong & Yawei Chen, 2017. "Economic City Branding in China: the Multi-Level Governance of Municipal Self-Promotion in the Greater Pearl River Delta," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(4), pages 1-24, March.
    2. Bo Liu & Desheng Xue & Yiming Tan, 2019. "Deciphering the Manufacturing Production Space in Global City-Regions of Developing Countries—a Case of Pearl River Delta, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(23), pages 1-26, December.
    3. Xiaowen Li & Yiming Tan & Desheng Xue, 2022. "From World Factory to Global City-Region: The Dynamics of Manufacturing in the Pearl River Delta and Its Spatial Pattern in the 21st Century," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-19, April.
    4. Diogo Lopes & Joana Ferreira & Ka In Hoi & Ka-Veng Yuen & Kai Meng Mok & Ana I. Miranda, 2021. "Emission Inventories and Particulate Matter Air Quality Modeling over the Pearl River Delta Region," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(8), pages 1-15, April.
    5. Haiyan Lu & Erik Braun & Martin de Jong & Yun Song & Miaoxi Zhao, 2023. "‘Thin’ Regional Identities: Economic Instrumentality or Pathway to Thickness? The Case of the Pearl River Delta," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 114(2), pages 94-116, April.
    6. Bo Liu & Desheng Xue & Sijun Zheng, 2023. "Evolution and Influencing Factors of Manufacturing Production Space in the Pearl River Delta—Based on the Perspective of Global City-Region," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-22, February.
    7. Allen J. Scott, 2019. "City-regions reconsidered," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 51(3), pages 554-580, May.

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