Development and Transition of Resource-based Cities in China''s Arid Northwest
西北干旱区资源型城市发展与转型研究

Resource-based cities are a unique type of city, with economies which rely primarily on the extraction and processing of natural resources. There have been resource-based cities in arid areas of northwest China since 1949, such as Karamay, Altay and Koral in the Uighur Autonomous Region of Xinjiang; Yumen, Jinchang, and Jiayuguan in Gansu province; and Golmud in Qinghai province. This paper uses life-cycle theory to analyze the development phase and present conditions of these cities, and describes the challenges and difficulties that affect urban development and transition, such as a simplified economic structure, exhaustion of mineral resources, restricted water resources and limitations of the natural environment. Shortages of water resources and environmental vulnerability are two particular challenges that resource-based cities in arid areas currently face. Based on the special characteristics of northwest China's arid areas and the cities' respective development phases, this paper makes suggestions for the transition of cities in different age categories. Due to unique characteristics and actual conditions, not all cities should use the same method; cities may use different countermeasures and methods of pursuing economic transition and sustainable development. For young cities, long-term planning of the city should be completed early on, and not all resource sites should be built up into urban areas. For medium-age cities, the industrial structure should be adjusted and resource advantages should be shifted as quickly as possible to facilitate a structural economic transition, while the current economic situation makes this period a good time for transition. For older cities, it is too late for an effective economic transition, so any measures are difficult to successfully implement. However, the capital, technology and skilled labor that have accumulated in resource-based industries should be used to develop alternative non-resource-based industries. In addition, older cities will require support from local and central government to realize sustainable development and a transition to an alternative economic structure.