Geographical study on the development process of international urban system in Asia

考虑到东亚特大城市的发展、城市功能的变化和城市间联系的加强，本研究考虑了这些城市是如何融入东亚和世界高级城市体系的。1980年代，东亚正在形成一种等级城市体系，所有东亚国家的首都都与各自的国家城市体系相协调，但与世界城市的联系较弱。然而，目前，即使是这些国家的第二和第三大城市也在与外国城市建立联系，形成了水平网络式的城市体系。信息和资本的流动、技术的传播正从世界城市走向各国首都，各国第二、第三大城市正在从单向分层流动走向双向流动。此外，随着不同国家的城市之间相互依存程度的提高，国界对经济活动施加的“摩擦”正在减少。未来，日益加剧的城市间依存度和竞争将有助于东亚特大城市作为核心金融和管理职能的集聚地，巩固其对东亚国际城市体系的控制。在20世纪80年代，只有东京在这一领域占据主导地位，但现在它正与新加坡和香港分担这些责任。在即将进入21世纪之际，笔者相信，新加坡凭借其优越的地理位置，将超越其他两个国家。新加坡甚至还有通往欧洲和北美的便利通道。与此相比，就交通便利而言，位于远东末端的东京将变得不那么有吸引力。

Taking the growth of East Asian mega-cities, the changes in urban funcitons, and the strengthening of intercity linkages into account, this study considers how each of these cities is being incorporated into East Asian and upper-level world systems of cities.Main findings of this analysis are summarized as follows. In the 1980s, a hierarchical city-system was forming in East Asia in which the capitals of all East Asian countries were coordinated with their respective national city-systems but had weak linkages with world cities. Presently, however, even the second-and third-largest sities of these countries are establishing ties with foreign cities, resulting in a horizontal network-type city-sisytem. The flow of information and capital and the dissemination of technology is going from world cities to the capitals of all countries, and the second-and third-largest cities of countries are moving away from one-directional hierarchical flow to two-way flow. Furthermore, the "friction" imposed on economic activities by national boundaries is decreasing as cities in different countries are increasing their mutual dependencies. In the future, increasing inter-city dependencies and competition will help East Asian mega-cities, where core finance and managerial functions are concentrating, to solidify their control over the international city-system of East Asia. In the 1980s, only Tokyo exercised dominance in this area, but now it is sharing those duties with Singapore and Hong. As we approach the 21st century, this author believes that singapore will surpass the other two due to its excellent geographical situation. Singapore even has convenient access to Europe and North America. Compared to this, in terms of accessibility, Tokyo, which is situated at the for end of the Far East, will become much less attractive.