From Intercity Competition to Collaborative Planning

By reviewing changes in relationships during the past 50 years among cities in the Yangtze River Delta region of China, the author explores underlying forces affecting the relationship between a service center (Shanghai) and manufacturing bases (cities in the region surrounding Shanghai). Key internal factors, such as the development stage of cities and the government's promotion policies, together with external factors, including national politics and policy shifts and the strategy of foreign direct investment, are found to be influential in the dynamic relationship. Suggestions based on the Chinese case are offered for a regional alliance.