scholarly journals Divergent Trajectories of Urban Development in 287 Chinese Cities

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shenhao Wang ◽  
Jinhua Zhao
Keyword(s):  
Urban Development ◽  
Urban Form ◽  
Cluster Structure ◽  
Low Density ◽  
Mobility Patterns ◽  
Small Cities ◽  
Temporal Dimension ◽  
Chinese Cities ◽  
Large Cities ◽  
Development Literature

The urbanization and motorization of Chinese cities follow divergent trajectories. However, how the diversity occurred, particularly within the small and medium cities, is understudied. Using panel data from 287 cities from 2001 to 2014 and a time-series clustering method, this study identified representative trajectories along which Chinese cities were urbanized and motorized. Urbanization was measured by scale, wealth, urban form, and infrastructure; motorization by automobile, taxi, bus numbers, and subway lines. Chinese cities were classified into four clusters: 23 Cluster-1 cities were the large cities with heavy rails; 41 Cluster-2 cities were the low-density wealthy cities with auto-oriented mobility; 134 Cluster-3 cities were the low-density medium-wealth cities with moderate mobility levels; and 89 Cluster-4 cities were the high-density poor cities with lowest mobility levels. Comparing to the traditional three-tier structure, exclusively based on political tiers, the four-cluster structure respects the multi-dimensional nature of cities and reflects the essential diversities among the medium and small cities. While political tiers remain critical, other features including scale, density, infrastructure, and mobility patterns are also important: scale differentiates Cluster-1 from others; low density characterizes Clusters 2 and 3; heavy rail and auto-oriented mobility respectively identify Clusters 1 and 2. We contribute to China’s urban development literature by explicitly examining the temporal dimension, analyzing both urbanization and motorization, and incorporating all the medium and small cities in China. The distinct patterns of Clusters 2, 3, and 4 are evident, and the variation within them were as important as that between them and large cities.

An Investigation on the Urban Form Transformations in Contemporary Chinese Cities

2011 ◽  
Vol 368-373 ◽  
pp. 3525-3528
Author(s):  
Ze Li ◽  
Tian Jie Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Literature Review ◽  
Urban Development ◽  
Economic Reform ◽  
Urban Form ◽  
Development Process ◽  
Chinese Cities ◽  
Substantial Body ◽  
The Past ◽  
Contemporary Chinese

The paper investigates the urban form transformations of Chinese cities in the past three decades. Through literature review, it explores the forces of these urban form transformations. The research identifies that despite the substantial body of literature that sheds light on China’s economic reform and urban development, understanding of the development process remains vague.

Urban Transformation in China, 1949 – 2000: A Review and Research Agenda

2002 ◽  
Vol 34 (9) ◽  
pp. 1545-1569 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurence J C Ma
Keyword(s):  
Urban Development ◽  
Urban Form ◽  
Chinese Economy ◽  
Urban Land Use ◽  
Urban Transformation ◽  
Socialist Revolution ◽  
Urban Migration ◽  
Chinese Cities ◽  
Spatial Reorganization ◽  
The Many

Through a review of the literature, the author identifies the achievements as well as the deficiencies in the study of China's urbanization and urbanism in the second half of the 20th century. A number of issues that merit scholarly research are suggested and the need for theorization is emphasized. During the last half century, Chinese cities underwent dramatic transformations as a consequence of two major systemic changes. During the first three decades after the socialist revolution of 1949, sustained low levels of urbanization and a brief episode of antiurbanism accompanied centralized planning and city-based industrialization. Since the economic reforms of 1978 Chinese cities have witnessed major economic and spatial shifts away from the socialist patterns. Among the many facets of urban transformation since 1978 are a more heterogeneous urban population, rural – urban migration, spatial reorganization through urban land-use change, new housing development, globalization, suburbanization, polycentric restructuring of urban form, and changes in the spatial/administrative systems of cities. It is argued that, as the Chinese economy is inherently political, political economy perspectives should be foregrounded to enrich our understanding of the complexity of China's economic and urban transformation. In this regard, the continuously powerful and multiple roles of the Party-state as the ultimate decisionmaker, regulator, and participant in the urban economy should be emphasized, despite globalization and decentralization of administrative and fiscal powers from the central to local levels. The Chinese trajectory of urban development is seen as more different from than similar to the experiences of other economies undergoing structural change away from socialism, and context-based country-specific theorization of urban change is called for. More general theories of urban transformation which are applicable to a number of former socialist nations, and which transcend the idiosyncrasies of individual countries, should be developed where possible. A closer engagement among scholars working on the urban development of China and those working on other former socialist countries is necessary if ‘the socialist city’ is to become a firm typology of cities.

Size and urban growth of Chinese cities during the era of transformation toward a market economy

2017 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chengri Ding ◽  
Zhi Li
Keyword(s):  
Parametric Method ◽  
Growth Control ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Floating Population ◽  
City Size ◽  
Small Cities ◽  
Chinese Cities ◽  
Large Cities ◽  
Urban Migrants ◽  
Population Counts

The paper examines the growth of Chinese cities at prefecture level or above by first applying a non-parametric method. Kernel regression of the mean of growth rate conditional on city size reveals a U-shaped relationship between city growth and size, and rejects Gibrat’s law. That is to say that large cities take the form of divergent growth while small cities are convergent to each other. This U-shaped growth–size relationship holds for the registered ( hukou) population in 1989–2012 as well as for the permanent population in 1999–2012. Furthermore, our results show that the growth of large cities becomes more divergent using the permanent population than using the hukou population, whereas the growth of small cities becomes less convergent. The permanent population counts a portion of floating population, so it is then concluded that rural–urban migrants move to large cities disproportionately, making large cities grow faster than small cities. Estimated results from rank–size OLS regression confirm the divergent growth of large cities, and, at the same time, reject the notion of random growth of Chinese cities (which is also supported by panel root tests). Our findings have profound policy implications. The national strategy of urbanization that stresses the growth control of mega and super-big cities has had no effect in the past and may continue to be ineffective in shaping the urbanization trajectory in China in the next couple of decades. Sustainable urbanization will depend largely on whether and how well big Chinese cities prepare themselves in accommodating fast growth.

scholarly journals Sustainable Population Growth in Low-Density Areas in a New Technological Era: Prospective Thinking on How to Support Planning Policies Using Complex Spatial Models

Land ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (7) ◽  
pp. 221
Author(s):  
Eduardo Gomes
Keyword(s):  
Urban Development ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Spatial Models ◽  
Low Density ◽  
Large Cities ◽  
Electric Cars ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Internet Networks ◽  
Environmental Era ◽  
Planning Policies

Urban development is the result of the interaction between anthropogenic and environmental dimensions. From the perspective of its density, it ranges from high-density populated areas, associated with large cities that concentrate the main economic and social thrust of societies, to low-density populated areas (e.g., rural areas, small–medium-sized cities). Against the backdrop of the new technological and environmental era, this commentary offers insights on how to support spatial planning policies for sustainable urban growth in low-density areas. We propose the integration of technological drivers such as Internet networks, telecommuting, distance-learning education, the use of electric cars, etc. into the complex spatial models to project and thus to identify the best locations for urban development in low-density areas. This understanding can help to mitigate the disparities between high- and low-density populated areas, and to reduce the inequality among regions as promoted in the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals.

scholarly journals What is beyond the edges? Gated communities and their role in China’s desire for harmonious cities

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Badiaa Hamama ◽  
Jian Liu
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Real Estate ◽  
Urban Form ◽  
Gated Communities ◽  
Urban Fabric ◽  
Chinese Cities ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
Process Of Urbanization ◽  
New Urbanization

Abstract During the rapid process of urbanization in post-reform China, cities assumed the role of a catalyst for economic growth and quantitative construction. In this context, territorially bounded and well delimited urban cells, globally known as ‘gated communities’, xiaoqu, continued to define the very essence of Chinese cities becoming the most attractive urban form for city planners, real estate developers, and citizens alike. Considering the guidelines in China’s National New Urbanization Plan (2014–2020), focusing on the promotion of humanistic and harmonious cities, in addition to the directive of 2016 by China’s Central Urban Work Conference to open up the gates and ban the construction of new enclosed residential compounds, this paper raises the following questions: As the matrix of the Chinese urban fabric, what would be the role of the gated communities in China’s desire for a human-qualitative urbanism? And How to rethink the gated communities to meet the new urban challenges? Seeking alternative perspectives, this paper looks at the gated communities beyond the apparent limits they seem to represent, considering them not simply as the ‘cancer’ of Chinese cities, rather the container of the primary ingredients to reshape the urban fabric dominated by the gate.

scholarly journals Mobility Trends before and after the Pandemic Outbreak: Analyzing the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona through the Lens of Equality and Sustainability

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (14) ◽  
pp. 7908
Author(s):  
Lucía Mejía-Dorantes ◽  
Lídia Montero ◽  
Jaume Barceló
Keyword(s):  
Metropolitan Area ◽  
Spatial Arrangement ◽  
Individual Characteristics ◽  
Sources Of Information ◽  
Mobility Patterns ◽  
Multiple Sources ◽  
Temporal Dimension ◽  
Population Groups ◽  
Highly Educated ◽  
Before And After

The spatial arrangement of a metropolis is of utmost importance to carry out daily activities, which are constrained by space and time. Accessibility is not only shaped by the spatial and temporal dimension, but it is also defined by individual characteristics, such as gender, impairments, or socioeconomic characteristics of the citizens living or commuting in this area. This study analyzes mobility trends and patterns in the metropolitan area of Barcelona before and after the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak, with special emphasis on gender and equality. The study draws on multiple sources of information; however, two main datasets are analyzed: two traditional travel surveys from the transport metropolitan area of Barcelona and two coming from smartphone data. The results show that gender plays a relevant role when analyzing mobility patterns, as already highlighted in other studies, but, after the pandemic outbreak, some population groups were more likely to change their mobility patterns, for example, highly educated population groups and those with higher income. This study also highlights that e-activities may shape new mobility patterns and living conditions for some population segments, but some activities cannot be replaced by IT technologies. For all these reasons, city and transport planning should foster sustainable development policies, which will provide the maximum benefit for society.

scholarly journals Spatial Heterogeneity in the Determinants of Urban Form: An Analysis of Chinese Cities with a GWR Approach

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 479 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shijie Li ◽  
Chunshan Zhou ◽  
Shaojian Wang ◽  
Shuang Gao ◽  
Zhitao Liu
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Heterogeneity ◽  
Urban Form ◽  
Urban Expansion ◽  
Coastal Region ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Urban Systems ◽  
Theoretical Understanding ◽  
Chinese Cities ◽  
Shape Irregularity ◽  
Spatially Varying

It is of great significance to investigate the determinants of urban form for shaping sustainable urban form. Previous studies generally assumed the determinants of urban form did not vary across spatial units, without taking spatial heterogeneity into account. In order to advance the theoretical understanding of the determinants of urban form, this study attempted to examine the spatial heterogeneity in the determinants of urban form for 289 Chinese prefecture-level cities using a geographically weighted regression (GWR) method. The results revealed the spatially varying relationship between urban form and its underlying factors. Population growth was found to promote urban expansion in most Chinese cities, and decrease urban compactness in part of the Chinese cities. Cities with larger administrative areas were more likely to have dispersed urban form. Industrialization was demonstrated to have no impact on urban expansion in cities located in the eastern coastal region of China, which constitutes the country’s most developed regions. Local financial revenue was found to accelerate urban expansion and increase urban shape irregularity in many Chines cities. It was found that fixed investment exerted a bidirectional impact on urban expansion. In addition, urban road networks and public transit were also identified as the determinants of urban form for some cities, which supported the complex urban systems (CUS) theory. The policy implications emerging from this study lies in shaping sustainable urban form for China’s decision makers and urban planners.

scholarly journals Growing up, growing out: comparing spatial patterns of urban populations in Canada

GEOMATICA ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 73 (2) ◽  
pp. 45-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiaao Guo ◽  
Victoria Fast
Keyword(s):  
Service Delivery ◽  
Urban Form ◽  
Hot Spot ◽  
Low Density ◽  
Growth Strategies ◽  
Transit Oriented Development ◽  
High Tendency ◽  
Population Distributions ◽  
Local Municipalities ◽  
Low Efficiency

The spatial distribution of population and related density characteristics has a significant impact on urban form; a low-density urban form is typically associated with low efficiency of service delivery, poor connectivity between communities, and a high tendency of urban sprawl, whereas higher density urban form is associated with transit-oriented development, efficient service delivery, and lower overall infrastructure costs. However, an urban area is never a homogenous environment. Depending on the general community designs, natural barriers, and massive functional infrastructures (airports, large parks), the urban population be may spread out evenly or condensed into some disjointed, isolated clusters. Given the context that Canadian cities have typically low population densities, their population distributions are subject to high spatial variabilities. We use geographic information system (GIS) techniques and geostatistical approaches (Getis–Ord [Formula: see text] hot spot analysis and HDBSCAN) to visualize and compare sub-municipal level population density of the 10 most populous census subdivisions (CSDs) in Canada. Results reveal both low-density forms and density segmentations in most municipalities, especially those without a natural or political border to constrain growth. Population segmentation is sometimes unsolvable due to natural landscapes or massive infrastructures initially planned by local municipalities; however, segmentations may be mitigated if future growth strategies maximize existing population clusters.

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