Urban Development in Post-Reform China

Radically reoriented under market reform, Chinese cities are playing an important role in China's economic development. The creation of housing and land markets is rapidly changing the face of Chinese cities. Mushrooming skyscrapers in the newly established central business district contrast shapely with the nearby old urban areas and unruly migrant settlements in urban fringes. Chinese cities present both the landscapes of the first and third world. Yet, radical marketization co-exists with ever-presence of state control. Urban Development in Post-Reform China explores the interaction of China's market development, state regulation and the resulting transformation and creation of new urban spaces. It 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. Through the reconfiguration of urban space, market-oriented land development has been launched by 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 government formulated various competitive urban strategies through place-making. The resulting changes in urban internal structure are manifested in the renewal of the city center and urban sprawl at the periphery, creating "novel" urban landscape of redeveloped central districts, university towns, science parks, and "urban villages."China has been very successful in using urban land development as an economic growth engine. The authors examine complex interactions between the market and state in creating China's new urbanism. State power is unlikely to wane and will persist. Despite more market orientation, the state is still playing an important role in urban development, especially in making the cities more competitive in the era of globalization and the development of service industries.