Urbanization and Development in China: Processes, Problems and Opportunities

Principal Investigator:
Shen, Jianfa

Co-investigator(s):
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Summary:
After nearly three decades of under-urbanization, the urbanization process in China has no doubt accelerated since the late 1970s. With the largest population in the world, urbanization brings tremendous development opportunities for peoples, skilled and unskilled; and business, domestic or international in China.

On the other hand, recent experience of urbanization in China and in the developing world points to potentially huge socio-economic and urban problems, such as urban poverty, disorder and chaos. Is China becoming over-urbanized? Are urban problems necessary evil for Third World urbanization? What are the main similarities and differences between China's urbanization and that of other Third World countries? There are numbers of empirical studies on China's recent trends in urbanization and policy changes; however, only a few explore on the concepts and theories behind those processes.

This project will focus on two main issues:

(1) Empirical studies will attempt to identify development opportunities in urban China using a spatial analytic approach. A comprehensive analysis of Chinese cities and country-level units will be conducted by using recent census and statistical data; and

(2) Conceptual studies on the process of Chinese urbanization and its relation with national and regional development will be carried out based on the recent experience of urbanization inside and outside the country