Radically reoriented under market reform, Chinese cities are playing an important
role in China’s overall economic development. The creation of housing and
land markets is rapidly changing the face of Chinese cities, and they present the
landscapes of both the First and Third Worlds. Yet, radical marketization coexists
with the ever-present state control.
Urban Development in Post-Reform China provides the first integrated treatment
of China’s urban development in the dynamic market transition. Focusing
on land and housing development, the authors show how the market has been
‘created’ under post-reform urban conditions, which in turn challenges state regulation.
Urban space constitutes a critical component of China’s new growth
strategies and through the reconfiguration of this space, market-oriented land
development has been launched into the Chinese version of local boosterism.
The authors examine ‘the state in action’ and highlight how changing urban governance
towards local entrepreneurial state facilitates market formation. City
planning has been transformed from allocating state resources to place promotion;
and municipal governments have formulated various competitive urban
strategies through place-making. The resulting changes in urban structure are
manifested in the renewal of the city centre and urban sprawl at the periphery,
creating a ‘novel’ urban landscape of redeveloped central districts, university
towns, science parks, and ‘urban villages’.
This innovative book, based on the authors’ first-hand research in major
Chinese cities over the past fifteen years, rethinks the relationships between pervasive
marketization, proactive state action, and the transformation of urban
spaces. It is illustrated throughout with over fifty figures and tables.