By Li Shantong, Department of Development Strategy and Regional Economy, DRC & Wang Fei, School of Public Policy and Management, Tsinghua University

Research report No.13, 2017 (Total 5088) 2017-2-6

Abstract: In the new era, the scale and quality of China’s transportation infrastructure construction have remarkably improved. The construction of multi-layer urban transportation network is speeding up and the integrated transportation system in urban areas is gradually perfected. These achievements will have a significant impact on environmental quality and spatial pattern of China’s urbanization drive, including encouraging population inflow into cities, enhancing planned spatial expansion of cities, boosting the development of regional urbanization and industrialization around the cities, promoting the division of functions and cooperation between city clusters and urban areas, and facilitating the city’s sustainable development and urbanization quality improvement. For China’s future transportation infrastructure construction, we need to address the following issues. 1. We need to strengthen the traffic connection in city-agglomeration areas, increase the overall population carrying capacity and provide adequate room for economic activity in terms of urban system. 2. We need to scientifically and reasonably plan the transportation infrastructure construction. While satisfying the public service demand caused by city expansion, we need to avoid excessive investment and the waste of money. 3. We need to make full use of public transportation’s advantages like intensive and high efficiency and energy conservation and environment protection, and also take public transportation construction as the key field for the implementation of public policy in cities.

Key words: transportation infrastructure, urbanization, impact mechanism