1. Chinese Urbanism in Global Context
PLAN A6526
Columbia University
Prof. Weiping Wu
Urbanization and Urban System

2. Urban growth patterns
Correlation between urbanization and economic development (not causal)
Under-urbanization (World Bank)
Over-urbanization (Chen et al)
Where is China?
Agglomeration effects
Why are big cities more efficient?
Stages of urbanization

4. Development: Indicators
Region
GNI per capita
US$
(2008)
% < US$2/day
(2005)
% urbanized
(2009) %
Living in slums
Africa
2,660 65 38 51
Asia
6,020 53 42 35
Europe
25,550 _ 71
<1
Northern America
45,890 79
South America
10,160 19 81 29

5. China’s urbanization levels

7. Stages of urbanization
Early stages of economic development – rapid growth of urban share and centralization of population in urban cores
Intermediate stage – slower urban share growth as rural population declines and spread of growth to intermediate sized cities and suburban hinterlands
Mature economic development – slower growth of urban share and even loss of urban populations from some cities and from cores
Post-industrial stages – more or less stable but high share of urban population with renewed growth in largest metropolitan cities and in selected cores but continued growth of many medium sized cities. Decline of older industrial cities and regions.

8. Growth patterns over time
* What accounts for the divergent patterns in China over time?

9. Growth patterns over space
* What accounts for the divergent patterns in China over space?

10. Cities and regions today

11. China’s urbanization at a glance
~1980
~2010
% change
Urbanization level (%)
19.4
51.0
162.9
Number of cities
193
657
240.4
Eastern region 69
344
398.6
Central region 84
218
159.5
Western region 40 95
137.5
Cities by population size
Super large (> 2 million) - 42
Extra large (1-2 million) 13 82
530.8
Large ( million) 27
110
307.4
Small & medium (< 0.5 million)
153
423
176.5
Agriculture’s share in employment (%) 64 39
-39.1
Ratio of urban-rural per capita income
2.6
3.2
23.1

12. Challenges in China’s urbanization
Inefficient capital use and local debts
Incomplete migration
Inefficient land use
Territorial expansion of cities outpaces population growth – density dropped by 25%
Land allocation biased towards industry – 25%, compared to Seoul (7%) and HK (5%)
Overly strict FAR – too low; generally less than 3, compared to Manhattan (about 6.8)

13. Urban sprawl in Shanghai

14. Summing up Never developed a single “primate” city or urban region
Urban primacy and why?
Marked regional imbalances
Why is there persistent disparity?
Suburbanization and urban sprawl
What are the driving forces of urbanization?