Unprecedented urbanization will take place in China over the next one or two decades, driven by the nation’s ambitious socio-economic development objectives set forth at the Sixteenth Communist Party Congress in 2003.
The plan calls for China to quadruple its total GDP and reach 55 percent of urbanization by 2020.
If these objectives are achieved, enormous social changes including massive migration from rural areas to cities will be inevitable.
Chinese officials and scholars alike will be challenged to provide the assistance needed to cope with both expected and unexpected issues and problems.
Among the questions they will be forced to confront:
What are urbanization strategies and instruments that promote urban growth in ways that are economically sound, environmentally desirable, politically feasible, and socially desired?
Where and at what pace should urbanization occur? This leads to a debate over which cities (large vs. small) should be urbanized the fastest.
What are the political or administrative barriers for population movement that must be addressed in order to achieve economic growth?
How can the nation best provide housing and other public amenities such as schools for the new urban immigrants?
How can urbanization be controlled and managed so that it appropriately matches industrialization? This is a key to assuring sustainable urban development.
How should economic development policies be designed to align with the trend toward urbanization? This is a key linkage currently missing in the planning practice in China.
