Intercity relationships within urban agglomeration and their impacts on urban economic development in the case of GuangdongHong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area, China

Urban agglomerations are the results of flows of production factors and industrial division of labour among cities within a specific geographic area. In the context of economic globalization and regional integration, urban agglomerations have become important spatial units that represent a country’s participation in international competition and complementarity. The development of urban agglomerations should be conducive to the optimal allocation of resources within the region. However, cities mostly ignore the interests of the other cities to attract capital, business, talent and investment, thus promoting their own economic development. This often leads to regional problems such as industry contradiction, function duplication, and uneven development levels among cities. Therefore, how to understand cities’ positions within urban agglomeration, and how to promote economic development through complementarity-ness is a significant or worthwhile research subject. This study uses 11 cities from Guangdong-Hong Kong-Greater Bay Area, one of the most developed urban agglomerations in China, to explore above questions. These 11 cities show a clear hierarchy in terms of political positions, economic development levels, comparative advantages and industrial characteristics. Since 1980s, based on their own comparative advantages, a strong network of competition and complementarity has formed among these cities. However, several factors have also led to fierce disorderly competition and unscientific complementary behaviors among these cities. First, due to the fact that Hong Kong, Macau, and PRD’s mainland cities enjoy three different administrative, currency and economic systems, the complementary obstacles between these three regions always exist. Second, due to the lack of scientific regional development guidance, cities tend to develop similar highvalued industries, even in the case they do not have the comparative advantages. This leads to geographic and functional niche overlaps among cities. In this context, research set out to find out how cities within GBA can develop their economies by dealing well with the competition and complementary relationships with each other. Starting from analyzing the overall characteristics of intercity relationships, this thesis analyzed the economic spatial distribution of GBA, urban economic network among cities, and the industrial division of labour. After the description of the overall characteristics of intercity relationships, in the second section, intercity relationships were defined as three types: competition, complementary, and non-relation. Based on results of D-S model, each two cities were evaluated as one of the three intercity relationships in terms of three sectors of industries, either competition, complementary, or non-relation. Finally, intercity competition and complementary relationships were considered as one of the factors influencing urban economic development to analyze the impacts of intercity relationships on urban economy. In terms of policy recommendations, it is important to design a regional management mechanism that considers the integrity of GBA. Also, it is crucial to establish a benefit sharing and compensation mechanism, as well as a cooperative incentive system for the better development of the less developed regions. What is more, multiple parties should be encouraged to participate in urban complementarity relationships. It not only provides opportunities for small private enterprises, it also stimulates the motivation of multiparticipators to participate in cross-regional cooperation.