Abstract:

The Yangtze Delta Interlocking Metropolitan Areas is one of the largest city regions in the world,and the structure of its urban system has had a great change in recent years.Fractal study is one of the most important content in modern theoretic geography,and the urban system fractal study is a new way for the study of the city geography especially,fractal dimension is an effective parameter describing the structure of the urban system.This paper commenced with the application of the urban system fractal theory and tried to find the rule of the urban system of the Yangtze Delta Interlocking Metropolitan Areas.Based on the fractal theory,the paper analyzed the scale structure and spatial structure of urban system,and found out that the urban system has the fractal properties,so the fractal theory could fit to calculate and analyze the scale structure and spatial structure of urban system of the Yangtze Delta Interlocking Metropolitan Areas.According to the results of calculation and analysis,the paper drew the conclusions below: (1) Scale structure of urban system of the Yangtze Delta Interlocking Metropolitan Areas presents rankscale properties,the monopolies of primacy city are evidence,the quantities of middle scale city are less than bigger and smaller one,the development between different cities become more competitive than ever.(2) Spatial structure of urban system of the Yangtze Delta Interlocking Metropolitan Areas has fractal characteristic,the state of urban distribution is in equilibrium,the degree of interspaces conjunction between the cities is adequate compactness,and the intensity of the interactions of the cities is strong.According to the conclusions mentioned above,the paper presents that the effective measures must be taken to improve the situation of the urban〖JP2〗 system structure of the Yangtze Delta Interlocking Metropolitan Areas.

Key words: fractal characteristics/urban system, scale structure/spatial structure/the Yangtze Delta Interlocking Metropolitan Areas