The first high-level forum of the World Mega City Development
opened Saturday in Nantong, east China's Jiangsu
Province?for promoting exchanges and cooperation among the
mega and big cities in the world.
More than 300 participants, including more than 100 mayors or
delegates from 43 cities of 25 countries and 16 Chinese mayors of
Yangtze River Delta cities, attended the forum held in Nantong, a
city located in the Yangtze River Delta which boasts the most of
China's mega cities. Among the attendants are foreign politicians,
including Fidel Lamos, former President of Philippines, Lee Sou
Sung, former Prime Minister of Republic of Korea, Jenny Shipley,
former Prime Minister of New Zealand.
Mega cities are playing a key role in promoting the economic
globalization and regional integration and are greatly influenced
by the globalization and integration as well. Although the maga
cities in Yangtze River Delta have taken lead in the economic
growth rate around the world for more than ten years, it is still
very necessary for them to exchange and cooperate with other
developed mega cities, said Gu Xiulian, vice chairman of the
Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress.
"In our time, mega cities are not only the showcases but also
the nuclei of regional development. This forum will focus on the
common cultural, ecological, humanistic and social problems in the
development, and will exchanges views on how best to overcome
them," said Fidel Ramos, also the chairman of the Boao Forum for
Asia (BRA).
"Mobility, technology and the increasingly borderless nature of
our world means that we need to search for new ways to grasp the
best practices, the best ideas, the best economic and environmental
remedies and the new innovations and share them in such a way that
many benefit," said Jenny Shipley.
Several foreign mayors and experts gave speeches at the opening
ceremony, including vice mayor of Washington Rober C. Robb, Chief
Executive of the Greater London Authority Jeffery Mayer, British
economist Tom Cannon.
The forum, jointly held by Nantong Municipal Government, BRA and
China Association of Mayors, is expected to pass the "Nantong
Initiative" on Sept. 27.
In 1950, French geologist Jean Gottmann put forward, when he was
engaged in a research about the densely populated northeastern
coastal cities of the United States, a definition of Megalopolis
(also translated to super city or giant city), suggesting that the
eligible mega cities should meet with the minimum requirement of
having at least 25 million residents and a population density of at
least 250 persons per square kilometer. Mega Cities is the highest
level of organization when a group of cities shoulder into mature
stage of their development. The scale of mega cities can either be
national level or even international level.
In light of Jean Gottmann's criterion, six different mega cities
around the world can meet the requirement to top themselves as real
Mega Cities, including the Coastal cities along the Atlantic Ocean,
Northeastern USA., Mega cities of Great Lakes, North America,
Pacific Ocean Coastal Cities of Japan, Mega cities of Northwestern
Europe, Mega cities centered around London, Great Britain, Yangtze
River Delta mega cities centered around Shanghai, China.
The Yangtze River Delta with 16 mega cities, covering only one
percent of china's total land and six percent of the whole
population, creates about 20 percent of the total Gross Domestic
Production (GDP), 22 percent of the total income, 48 percent of
total foreign investment and 31 percent to the total export volume
of China, the official statistics show.??
(Xinhua News Agency September 26, 2004)