## 3 Results  
### Characteristics of Temporal and Spatial Changes in Urbanization  
The results of the comprehensive evaluation of the UANST show that the urbanization level of the urban agglomeration shows a growing trend in 1990, 2000, 2010, and 2020, and the average values of the urbanization level are 0.0630, 0.0860, 0.1244, and 0.1908, respectively (Figure 6). The growth rates of the urbanization level are 37%, 45%, and 53%, respectively, in the years 1990-2000, 2000-2010, and 2010-2020, and the growth rate of the urbanization level is increasing. From 1990 to 2020, the urbanization level growth of each county and city in the urban agglomeration varied greatly; Urumqi had the most significant growth, 0.5269, followed by Shihezi, with a growth of 0.1732, and Sha Wan, with the smallest growth of 0.0473. In 1990, the highest level of urbanization was in Shihezi, followed by Urumqi and Karamay, with relatively low levels in Mulei, Jimusar, and Qitai. By 2000, Shihezi, Urumqi, and Kuitun had relatively high urbanization levels, with the gap between the urbanization levels of Urumqi and Shihezi having narrowed from 0.13 in 1990 to 0.07 in 2000; Tokson, Jimusar, and Mulei remained the bottom three when ranked by urbanization. By 2010, Urumqi had the highest level of urbanization, followed by Shihezi and Kuitun, with Urumqi's urbanization level rising by a large 88%; the urbanization levels of Usu, Qitai, and Kuitun counties and cities also rose significantly, with increases of more than 65%. Shawan, Jimusar, and Mulei were in the last three places due to a low base for urbanization and a slow growth rate. By 2020, the top three counties and cities in terms of urbanization level were Urumqi, Shihezi, and Karamay; the gap between the urbanization level of Urumqi and that of other cities is widening, and the urbanization level of Shihezi and Karamay is maintaining a steady increase; during the period from 2010 to 2020, Jimusar has the most significant increase in its urbanization level, with an increase of 188%. The last three counties and cities ranked by urbanization are Mubi, Tokson, and Shawan; where Mubi had a significant increase in its urbanization level during this period, but the base is low, and Tokson and Shawan had a low urbanization level and slow growth rate at the same time. In 1990, 2000, 2010, and 2020, the urbanization levels of counties and cities in the UANST ranged from 0.0186 to 0.6851, and the urbanization levels were classified into five types: low level (0.00-0.10), lower level (0.10-0.20), medium level (0.20-0.30), higher level  
Figure 6: Urbanization level of the UANST from 1990 to 2020. (0.30-0.40), and high level (0.40-0.70). ArcGIS10.6 was used to produce thematic maps (Figure 7) that visualize the differences in the urbanization development levels of counties and cities in the UANST. In 1990, there was only one medium-level city in Shihezi, two lower-level cities in Urumqi and Karamay, and the rest of the counties and cities were low-level. In 2000, the urbanization level type of the urban agglomerations did not change significantly compared to that in 1990, in which the urbanization of Urumqi was transformed from a lower level to a medium level, and the cities of Kuittun and Wujiaqu changed from a low level to a lower level. The pattern of urbanization of the urban agglomeration began to develop gradually from point to point, and the urbanization of the peripheral areas around the central city, especially Wujiaqu and Kuittun around the cities of Urumqi and Karamay, was enhanced. By 2010, the urbanization of Urumqi, the central city of the urban agglomeration, had increased significantly, transforming from a medium-level to a high-level city, and continued to radiate and drive the urbanization of Changji and other peripheral cities.