Spatial pattern evolution and casual analysis of county level economy in Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan urban agglomeration, China.

In order to evaluate whether or not the county units' economy in the Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan (Chang-Zhu-Tan) Urban Agglomeration was growing as expected, this study analyzed the spatial economy pattern at county-level by using the Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis (ESDA) method. In this process, the global Moran's I and local Getis-Ord G* indexes were employed to analyze indicators including per capita GDP and three industrials (i.e. primary, secondary and tertiary industry) from 2000 to 2010. The results show that: 1) the county units' economy in the Chang-Zhu-Tan Urban Agglomeration has exhibited a strong spatial autocorrelation and an accelerated integration trend since 2008 (Moran' s I increased from 0.26 to 0.56); 2) there is a significant difference in economy development between the northern and southern county units in the Chang-Zhu-Tan Urban Agglomeration: the hotspot zone with high economic level was formed among the northern county units whereas the coldspot zone with low economic level was located in the southern areas. This difference was caused primarily by the increasingly prominent economic radiation effect of Changsha 'upheaval'; 3) town density, secondary industry, and the integration policy are the major contributors driving the evolution of the spatial economy pattern in the Chang-Zhu-Tan Urban Agglomeration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]