A metropolitan area is a continuous urban zone consisting of one or more central cities, several medium and small-sized cities and many small towns. A metropolitan area is the byproduct of economic and social activities, which changes from spatial clustering to spatial diffusion, from full clustering to low-end spatial diffusion, and from simple spatial division of labor to complicated spatial division of labor.

More and more urban belts in China are becoming metropolitan areas. But in the process of regional integration, resources and factors are becoming more centralized rather than spreading to the surrounding areas, because of the centralization of quality public services and resources in central urban areas. Which has created a vicious circle and, as a result, central urban areas are suffering from urban diseases while the surrounding areas continue to battle under-development.

To break this vicious circle, not only more public service facilities should be transferred to the surrounding areas, but also more infrastructure facilities need to be built on the outskirts of the central urban areas.

To ensure the healthy development of metropolitan areas, the authorities should pay greater attention to and appropriately deal with the housing market and housing security issues. Also, the authorities should strive to build an integrative metropolitan area housing system, by taking measures to ensure the spatial integration of central urban areas, surrounding townships and rural housing including new commercial housing, second-hand housing and rental housing.

To effectively implement a spatial integrative housing project, the authorities should generally take into consideration a metropolitan area's population and structure, industrial development and spatial arrangement, land and other resources and housing stock, as well as the environment.

Moreover, a metropolitan area has a special way of separating offices and factories from residential areas and providing smooth commuting across different administrative districts. Therefore, different administrative areas should respect market players' choice of spatial arrangement given the high cost of such working arrangements. The different administrative areas should also sign integrative housing agreements with each other on the principle of equal supply of land, and sharing of infrastructure facilities, public services and taxes.

The real estate sector influences not only people's housing demand but also the social and economic development of metropolitan areas. The relationship between housing prices and the development of metropolitan areas is generally inverted: excessively low housing prices undermine the momentum of economic transformation, while excessively high prices undermine industrial upgrading and innovation.

Differences and dynamic changes in housing prices in various regions will prompt different industries and market players to adjust their choices accordingly. So the government should help control housing prices according to the actual financial conditions of the average population in a particular area.

To achieve that goal, the government should take effective measures to curb speculation in the real estate market to make sure houses are to live in, not for speculation.

Moreover, housing prices should play their role of optimizing a metropolitan area's spatial structure. There is a need to integrate the housing markets in metropolitan areas, and optimize the distribution of public services and infrastructure. And the reasonable differences and dynamic changes in housing prices in different regions should help promote the reasonable distribution of resources in metropolitan areas.

The author is director of the Center for City and Competitiveness, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. The views don't necessarily reflect those of China Daily.