By Cheng Huiqiang, Ma Yurong & Wang Haiqin, DRC

2016-12-23

As China enters the mid-term of industrialization, quite many resource-based cities are confronted with the problem of resource exhaustion.

First, the transformation of resource-based cities is urgent. China has 262 resource-based cities, in which 208 are grow-up and recessionary ones, accounting for 79% of the total. These cities are now facing the main problems like exhausted mining, city recession, simplex industrial structure, limited employment opportunities, severe environmental problems and weak overall competitiveness, leading to “lock-in effect” in lifecycle evolution of industrial clusters induced by “path dependence”. These issues would finally result in the recession of industrial clusters.

Second, circular economy is the optimal model of solving resource-based cities’ crisis. Circular economy is to use eco-economic law to guide economic activities and reconstruct economic system according to the law of circulation and energy transformation of natural ecosystem. Through circular system, we can adjust industrial structure and develop non-mining industry to shore up economic growth; by developing circular economy, we can extend industrial chain and lifecycle of resource-based cities. On such a foundation, overall transformation of city, society, ecology and development will be realized.

Third, resource-based cities have innate advantages of developing circular economy. Resource-based industry is located at the upstream end of industrial chain, which could be extended through technical reform. In the post period of resource-based cities, we can reconstruct resource-based industry and realize transformation of economic development mode through developing circular economy in a big way.

Fourth, Tongling city in Anhui province has laid emphasis on its economic function, public demand, and gradual improvement of ecological environment. Its practice is a successful model in realizing resource-based cities’ transformation driven by circular economy.

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