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Nearly 40 years of reform and opening up witnesses the remarkable achievements of economic cooperation among Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao. The economic relations among Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao have evolved from a unitary pattern of "front shop and back factory" orienting at regional labor division at an earlier stage to a combination of multiple patterns including the "factory and shop combined" pattern. The regional scope has been expanded and the connotation of cooperation has been enriched. After entering into the 21st century, Hong Kong, who is experiencing its economic transformation, faces the challenges brought about by the thriving of service industry in Guangdong Province. The three areas have been fighting over the hinterland through infrastructures connection and optimization, in order to realize an expansion of economic development space that can break through the restriction of land resources. In addition, under the background of strategies of the "Belt & Road Initiative" and "internationalization of the RMB," financial cooperation becomes the development emphasis at the third stage of economic cooperation among the three regions. When their economic relations change, the spatial pattern among Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao gradually shifts from "concentrating on a small scale and dispersing on a large scale" toward "dispersing on a small scale and concentrating on a large scale." Based on an analysis on the development direction of the economic relations among Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao in the future, the paper points out that the regional cooperation will transit from disperse development to border breaking, the region will develop from a livable bay area to a world-level bay area, and the spatial pattern will develop from center-hinterland to hub-network, which ultimately realizes a spatial response to the transition of economic relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper makes a systematic analysis on the development characteristics and evolution process of the built-up areas, as well as the substructure of the network connectivity and the functional division, of core cities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao region from the dual perspectives of "space of places" and "space of flows." It does so by using data of satellite remote sensing and industrial census to describe the spatial development trend and to establish an urban connectivity network based on the headquarter-branch data of enterprises. It also reveals the development differences within and outside of the Bay Area in Guangdong Province. The research shows that, firstly, since the new century, the integration of the Bay Area has become more obvious for Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao region, as it has developed in a highly-concentrated way around the Bay Area of the Pearl River Estuary. Secondly, Guangdong, Shenzhen, Hong Kong, and Macao exhibited a more obvious regional division of labor, and their functions have been increasingly complementary to each other. Thirdly, a regional hub of "two sectors" - linking outside to the world city network and driving internal development of regional hinterland has been formed. Finally, based on the conclusion of the empirical research, development and planning implications of the Bay Area are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]