Urban Development in Contemporary China
نویسنده
چکیده
Known for its ancient metropolises, China has recently amazed the world with its rapid urban development as it enters the new millennium. Although China is still a predominately agrarian society with only 36 percent of its population living in cities in 2000, it has more people living in cities (456 million) than the total population of any other nation in the world except India (National Bureau of Statistics 2002). With millions of rural-to-urban migrants every year, China is also one of the most rapidly urbanizing regions in the world. This unprecedented urban development in China is transforming not only China’s economy, urban landscape, and culture, but also the global economy with massive exports of products “Made in China.” Urban development in China has long been considered unique in balancing social equality and economic efficiency. Although socialist Chinese cities were formerly crowded and poorly serviced compared to cities in developed countries, they were virtually free of many of the urban problems that were widespread and seemed unavoidable in other developing nations, such as high crime and unemployment rates, and acute inequality (Whyte and Parish 1984). At the same time, China has achieved rapid industrialization and economic growth. Since 1978, economic reforms have injected new energy into Chinese cities, especially those in the coastal regions, which have contributed to the country’s spectacular economic growth (see chapter 10). Many scholars and commentators have asked whether Chinese cities offer an alternative model for urban development in developing countries. In this chapter, we examine the dynamics of urban development in China, focusing on the post-1949 era. We will specifically consider the role of government policies and ideology, and how they affect the social and spatial structure of Chinese cities.
منابع مشابه
Grassroots Efforts in Contemporary Urban Mapping: An Analysis of Alternative Uses of Collaborative Platforms
Technologies have started to overlap new virtual communication and information layers on top of the urban physical territory, thus bringing along distinct possibilities of social organization. Regarding this phenomenon and intending to achieve improvement in a great variety of fields from Politics to Urban Planning, the terms of Smart or Digital Cities among others have been adopted, still with...
متن کاملPromoting Social and Cultural Aspects of Contemporary Apartment Residences in Tehran, Iran
For several decades,Iranian cities are experiencing major and fast urban growth. At the top of them is Tehran, Iran’s capital city, with doubled population in 30years from approximately 6 to 12.5 million in 2016. Undoubtedly such a magnificent raise in population has increasedthe need for settlements and the city has to respond to it. Today, Tehran,is the center for such exogenous development w...
متن کاملUrban underground development an overview of historical underground cities in Iran
The increasing rate of urbanization and rate of population growth over the 20th century has led to various problems such as traffic congestion, air pollution, and lack of open and green spaces that have affected the cities and their citizen's life. This condition has led to increasing demands for more land use, homes, and work places, more public transport and mass transit systems and modern in...
متن کاملRegional variation in family support for the elderly in China: a geodevelopmental perspective
The author examines the impact of rapid social change and economic development on family support for older parents in contemporary urban China. Based on the 1992 Survey on China's Support Systems for the Elderly, the author uses three levels of economic development as proxies for developmental stages in a study carried out from a geodevelopmental perspective. It is found that intergenerational ...
متن کامل