Characterizing spatial patterns, economic impacts, and governance of airport regions in China

Abstract

Airports are catalysts for regional economic growth. The emergence of airport-adjacent employment agglomerations has attracted interests from scholars and planners in recent decades. Following global trends, China has developed Airport Economic Zones (AEZs) as a strategic policy initiative in many cities. With the marketisation and privatisation of airports, various airport-related urban development models such as “aerotropolises” and “airport regions” have been seen worldwide. Less is known, however, about their development in the Chinese context and their impacts on and interactions with multi-scalar politics and city-regional governance. This thesis addresses three key research questions: (1) What are the spatial patterns of airport-related urban development in China? (2) How does the relevant policy, namely AEZs, affect local economic growth? (3) How are airport regions governed in the context of city-regional governance and intercity competition? The research draws upon the literature on aerotropolis development and China’s city-regional governance as well as follows geographical research traditions to delineate the spatial patterns, economic impacts, and governance process of airport regions in China. Three related empirical studies were conducted to address the research questions and based on combined qualitative and quantitative approaches. The first study utilizes gridded enterprise registration information to identify employment centres around 59 major Chinese airports and assesses economic activities’ distribution around airports and planned AEZs. The second study adopts a quasi-experimental approach to scrutinize the causal effects of establishing AEZs on local economic growth and potential influencing mechanisms. The third study, focusing on Ezhou Huahu International Airport, unravels the interactions between public-private partnerships, airport region governance and city-regional development. The findings reveal limited employment centres near airports, with those that do exist tending to specialize in manufacturing, transportation and logistics, and wholesale trade rather than financial and business services. AEZs with stronger policy supports, longer periods of development, and locations in more advanced cities are more likely to have employment clusters. Empirical results point to AEZ’s positive impacts on local economies, primarily mediated by the promotion of trade openness, technological innovation, and public investment. Development patterns demonstrated in the Ezhou Huahu case align with the concept of an aerotropolis, where the private sector has taken the lead in the planning process and the development of certain industrial parks. However, the state remains significant for policymaking and intercity coordination, as evidenced by the vital role of the provincial government in regional coordination through various institutional mechanisms. This thesis enriches the existing studies on airport regions and regional development in China. It is among the early attempts to depict a more fully-fledged portrait of airport cities in China. The findings of this research offer valuable policy implications and expand our understanding of airport region development as well as city-regions in China.