The “Integration Race” of Urban Agglomerations: How the Yangtze River Economic Belt Is Rewriting China’s Urbanization Logic
A study on urban-rural integration among the three major city clusters in the Yangtze River Economic Belt reveals that urban competition is shifting from individual cities to systemic governance of city clusters and their rural hinterlands. This paper analyzes the structural changes in the second half of China's urbanization from the perspectives of global urban system restructuring, regional inequality, and long-term strategy.
Based on a 2025 study in *Frontiers in Sustainable Cities*, the level of urban-rural integration in the three major urban agglomerations of the Yangtze River Economic Belt has generally risen, but Chengdu-Chongqing is significantly lower than the Yangtze River Delta and the middle reaches; spatially, it shows clustering with high levels in the east (north) and low levels in the west (south); the interaction effects of driving factors are significant. The article argues that this is not only an assessment of regional policy, but also reflects a shift in global urban competition from individual cities to urban agglomeration governance, with urban-rural integration becoming a source of strategic competitiveness. Future urban strategies need to go beyond infrastructure expansion and turn toward systematic coordination among institutions, industry, population, and space.
