The spatio-temporal patterns of urban-rural development transformation in China since 1990

China has undergone a dramatic transition echoed the unprecedented urbanization and economic growth since the late 1970s. The current research on urbanization has overlooked the transformation consistency between urban and rural areas. Although the Chinese central government has focused on improving rural residents' livelihood, it is still far from achieving coordinated urban-rural development. This paper provides a comprehensive assessment of China's urban-rural development transformation (URDT) based on three indicator systems, namely the urban-rural development level (URDL), the urban-rural structure level (URSL), and the urban-rural coordination level (URCL). Findings from this investigation show that universal and intense URDT has taken place in China over the last two decades. This has been accompanied by growth of URDL and URSL and deterioration of URCL. There are, however, obvious spatial disparities in the different aspects of URDT. The western and northeastern regions of China have experienced slower transformation than other regions between 1990 and 2010. Correlation analysis among the sub-index shows that coordinated urban-rural development needs a certain initial socioeconomic level and moderate changes of URDL and URSL. This paper suggests that more attentions should be paid to rural areas and lagging areas in central and western China. Given the regional disparities of URDT, the most effective way to achieve urban-rural integration in China is by taking the overall considerations of development policies of both region and urban-rural areas aimed at various urban-rural development transformation characteristics.