Characteristics and driving forces of peri-urban areas: the case of shanghai, china

Peri-urbanization has been taking place in the surrounding areas of metropolitan area in China due to the influence of outside investment and rural industrialization, and the conflicts of urban and rural dual track management system. Nowadays, while growing quickly in GDP, peri-urban area has been facing many problems in industrial structure, land use efficiency,and environmental protection. Based on literature review, this paper takes Peri-urban Shanghai as a case study, summarizes its evolution and characteristics in terms of social-economic structure, population, employment and land use; than analyzes its driving force in both top-down and bottom-up levels.