Emerging third tier regional Metropolises away from the coastal regions and the second tier cities play a critical role for the development of central and western China and for the management of China s overall urbanization. Tt}ese cities grow from market towns and regional administrative centers to metropolises with one to three million residents. How can they develop and what economic basis may sustain them? In what way can they compete with coastal China and second tier metropolises，and how can they be complementary in China s new economic geography? Is it enough to identify an economic niche，locate universities，develop the local markets，to create local value from endogenous resources? Could it be a competitive advantage to develop them as beautifully scaled，beautifully landscaped，livable cities with high environmental quality standards and relatively lower densities-compared with Chinas three megalopolises and the second tier metropolises?