From Corridors to Intercity Networks : The Role of the Emerging Urban System in Building Regional Networks in Northeast Asia

This paper is concerned with analyzing the role of Northeast Asia intercity networks in Northeast Asia in creating regional networks. For the purpose of this paper, we have followed Choe's (1996) definition of Northeast Asia which includes the Russian Fat East, the Northeast region of China, South Korea, North Korea and Japan. The central hypothesis of the paper is that the geopolitical conditions of Northeast Asia compared for example with Southeast Asia, favor bilateral rather than multilateral linkages between nation states. In these circumstances, it is our hypothesis that cities will play an important role in developing a "local image" of regio-nalism and intercity networks. In order to analyze this hypothesis, the paper is divided into three parts. Part A analyzes the emerging urban system of the Northeast Asia region using Choe's concept of the BESETO corridor and updating his data from the late 1980s to the mid 1990s just prior to the financial crisis. This analysis is further supported by the analysis of economic and transportation linkages within the urban system of the region with some discussion of emerging urban nodes. Part B looks at the specific case studies of the region including the Bohai Sea region, the Japan Sea and case studies of Sapporo, the Japan Sea and case studies of Sapporo, Pusan and Shandong province cities. Part C summarizes this preceding analysis and that the development of regionalism and servicing urban nodes is move likely to emerge from a myriad of linkages developed between the region's cities than from a supra-regional role of nation states. This finding has important implications for regional policy formation suggesting that there should be considerate national support for international linkages between cities.en cities.