The Connotation and Mechanism Changes of Coordinated Development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area in the New Period

Abstract

Regional coordinated development is a complex, systematic and scientific issue advancing with the time which has attracted much attention. The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) aims to develop into a world-class bay area and urban agglomeration. The development of GBA depends on regional coordinated development to enhance its international competitiveness. At present, the process of globalization has experienced multiple turning points, the regional governance system has been continuously optimized, and the technological innovation has evolved rapidly. The coordinated development of the GBA is facing institutional changes. Therefore, through the systematic analysis of the connotations and mechanisms of the coordinated development of the GBA, this paper describes the three stages of regional coordinated development since 1978, including the integration of regional production factors represented by the ‘front shop, back factory’ mode (1978-1996), the regional system integration led by institutional cooperation (1997-2014), and the regional all-round integration guided by national strategy (2015- ). In the meantime, the paper analyzes the five dimensions of the coordinated development of the GBA in the new period, including industrial collaborative innovation, environmental collaborative governance, resource collaborative allocation, service collaborative sharing and institutional collaborative arrangement. These five dimensions are helpful to understand the key areas to promote the coordinated development of the GBA in the coming decades. Furthermore, this paper holds that the regional coordinated development of the GBA is undergoing mechanism changes at four levels, which are mainly reflected in the transformation of globalization, the integration of the internal and external market, the rescaling of governance, and the energization of regional in-depth development facilitated by the new infrastructure. These institutional changes have the potential to generate a new model for the coordinated development of the GBA. This paper takes into account the retrospective review and forward-looking prospect on the coordinated development of the GBA, aiming to provide an entry perspective and analysis framework for related issues.

Keywords

• guangdong-hong kong-macao greater bay area
• coordinated development
• globalization
• regional governance
• technological innovation