Distinguishing Three Spatial Concepts of Cities by Using the Idea from System Science
本文利用系统科学思想，区分了城市的三种基本空间概念：城市实体区域、城市化地区和都市区，指出前两者是结构概念、更本质，后者是功能概念、更实用。
Three basic spatial concepts of cities,including city proper(CP),urbanized area(UA),and metropolitan area(MA),are discussed by using the idea from the system science in this paper.CP and UA are both the concepts of structure meaning,while MA is a concept of function meaning.According to system theory,structure determines function,function reacts structure.In this sense,CP and UA are more essential than MA.In fact,CP and UA are more significant in theoretical exploration of urban systems,such as allometric growth and rank-size rule,etc.,while MA is more important in practical work,esp.urban administration and management.