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"Urbanization China."
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The great urban transformation : politics of land and property in China
This book emphasizes the centrality of cities in China's ongoing transformation. Based on fieldwork in twenty-four Chinese cities between 1996 and 2007, the author forwards an analysis of the relations between the city, the state, and society through two novel concepts: urbanization of the local state and civic territoriality. Urbanization of the local state is a process of state power restructuring entailing an accumulation regime based on the commodification of state-owned land, the consolidation of territorial authority through construction projects, and a policy discourse dominated by notions of urban modernity. Civic territoriality encompasses the politics of distribution engendered by urban expansionism, and social actors' territorial strategies toward self-protection. Findings are based on observations in three types of places. In the inner city of major metropolitan centers, municipal governments battle high-ranking state agencies to secure land rents from redevelopment projects, while residents mobilize to assert property and residential rights. At the urban edge, as metropolitan governments seek to extend control over their rural hinterland through massive-scale development projects, villagers strategize to profit from the encroaching property market. At the rural fringe, township leaders become brokers of power and property between the state bureaucracy and villages, while large numbers of peasants are dispossessed, dispersed, and deterritorialized; their mobilizational capacity is consequently undermined.
eBook
Sustainable low-carbon city development in China
Cities contribute an estimated 70 percent of the world's energy-related greenhouse gases (GHG). Their locations, often in low-elevation coastal zones, and large populations make them particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. But cities often take steps, even ahead of national governments, to reduce GHG emissions. So it is with China's cities, which are well placed to chart a low-carbon growth path to help reach China's national targets for reducing the energy and carbon intensity of its economy. China's cities will need to act on multiple fronts, in some cases scaling up elements of existing good practice, in others changing established ways of doing business. Actions affecting land-use and spatial development are among the most critical to achieving low-carbon growth as carbon emissions are closely connected to urban form. Spatial development also has very strong 'lock-in' effects: once cities grow and define their urban form, it is almost impossible to retrofit them because the built environment is largely irreversible and very costly to modify. Furthermore, cities need energy-efficient buildings and industries. They need a transport system that offers alternatives to automobiles. They need to shift to efficient management of water, wastewater, and solid waste. And they need to incorporate responses to climate change in their planning, investment decisions, and emergency-preparedness plans.
eBook
Future challenges of cities in Asia
Since 1978 China's urbanization has risen from 18 to 45 per cent, over 350 million farmers have moved to cities or transformed their villages into towns, and the number of cities rose from under 200 to more than 650. These numbers are unprecedented in the course of human history and underscore the need for our attempt to understand what is going on in China as it rapidly urbanizes. This book examines China's urban environment to try and understand what is going on, and suggests improvements for planning the future while simultaneously preserving the past. The research in this book was conducted as part of the Urban Knowledge Network Asia (UKNA), an international research staff exchange scheme funded by the European Union's Marie Curie Actions and a continuation of the series of UKNA publications that includes Ideas of the City in Asian Settings, Cities in Asia by and for the People, and Future Challenges of Cities in Asia.
Book
Ghost cities of China
Featuring everything from sports stadiums to shopping malls, hundreds of new cities in China stand empty, with hundreds more set to be built by 2030. Between now and then, the country's urban population will leap to over one billion, as the central government kicks its urbanization initiative into overdrive. In the process, traditional social structures are being torn apart, and a rootless, semi-displaced, consumption orientated culture rapidly taking their place. Ghost Cities of China is an enthralling dialogue driven, on-location search for an understanding of China's new cities and the reasons why many currently stand empty.
eBook
Urban China
Over the past three decades, China's urbanization has supported high growth and rapid transformation of the economy. Today, more than half of the world's population lives in cities, and by 2030 that will rise to an estimated 60 percent. The report takes as its point of departure the conviction that China's urbanization can become more efficient, inclusive, and sustainable. However, it stresses that achieving this vision will require strong support from both government and the markets for policy reforms in a number of areas. The report proposes six main areas for reform: first, amending land management institutions to foster more efficient land use, denser cities, modernized agriculture, and more equitable wealth distribution; second, adjusting the hukou system to increase labor mobility and provide urban migrant workers with equal access to a common standard of public services; third, placing urban finances on a more sustainable footing, while fostering financial discipline among local governments; fourth, improving urban planning to enhance connectivity and encourage scale and agglomeration economies; fifth, reducing environmental pressures through more efficient resource management; and sixth, improving governance at the local level. The report also provides recommendations on the timing and sequencing of reforms. It stresses the need to first implement reforms related to land, fiscal, and public service systems. Doing so will facilitate China's transition to higher-quality economic growth. In the first section of this report, chapters one through four analyze China's achievements in urbanization and the challenges it faces in achieving efficient, inclusive, and sustainable urbanization. In the second section, a comprehensive reform agenda is proposed. Chapter five lays out the vision for urban China in 2030 and the reform package that will be needed to achieve it. It also describes the urban landscape in 2030 under the reform scenario. Chapters six through ten provide a detailed set of recommendations in the key areas of reform. Finally, chapter eleven proposes the sequencing and timing of reforms. This report is complemented by seven supporting reports, urbanization and economic growth, spatial design and urban planning, inclusive urbanization, land, food security, green urbanization, and financing urbanization that further deepen the analysis and expand on the policy recommendations.
eBook