From cities to super mega city regions in China in a new wave of urbanisation and economic transition Issues and challenges

• Published in: Urban studies (Edinburgh, Scotland) Vol. 57; no. 3; pp. 636 - 654
• Main Authors: Yeh, Anthony Gar-On, Chen, Zifeng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London, England Sage Publications, Ltd 01.02.2020; SAGE Publications; Sage Publications Ltd
• Subjects: 21st century; Challenges; Cities; Economic development; Economic restructuring; Economics; Externality; Governance; Industrialization; Inequality; Jurisdiction; Land development; Megacities; Planning; Policies; Political systems; Rural areas; Rural communities; Rural development; Segmentation; Social inequality; Special issue article: New directions of urban studies in China; Steering; Urban areas; Urban development; Urbanization; China; agglomeration/urbanisation; development; 建筑环境; built environment; economic processes; mega city region; economic transition; 集聚/城市化; 发展; 经济转型; 特大城市区域; planning; 经济过程; 规划
• ISSN: 0042-0980; 1360-063X
• DOI: 10.1177/0042098019879566

A mega city region comprises a cluster of highly networked urban settlements anchored by one or more large cities. Substantial studies have been conducted in the 21st century to theorise the development of mega city regions from two perspectives: one focuses on the rationale/challenges of planning and governance while the other focuses on the economic forces that generate the mega city regions. In China, the outstanding position of mega city regions in China’s economic development has been accentuated in both academic research and recent policies. Recent studies have unpacked the political dynamics of mega city regions in China and identified challenges for planning and governance. The present study approaches this issue through another theoretical lens and deciphers the economic process underneath the recent upsurge of Chinese mega city regions. By unfolding the economic transition since the late 1970s to trace the footprints of mega city region development, the paper contributes a discourse of how different waves of economic transition – that is, rural industrialisation, land-centred development and urban tertiarisation – have been steering individual cities towards super mega city regions. The paper also identifies the distinctive challenges confronting the future development of China’s mega city regions, including jurisdictional fragmentation, socio-spatial inequality and environmental externalities, which were created because of the strong bottom-up initiatives in land development during rural industrialisation. New policies and planning are required in response to these challenges as well as to the emerging new industries in the new wave of economic transition (i.e. from labour-intensive industries to the development of high-tech industries). 特大城市区域由一个或多个大城市锚定的高度网络化的城市住区群组成。21世纪的学者们进行了大量研究，从两个角度对特大城市区域的发展进行理论化：一个侧重于规划和治理的理论基础/挑战，另一个侧重于产生特大城市区域的经济力量。在中国，特大城市地区在中国经济发展中的突出地位在学术研究和近期政策中都得到了强调。最近的研究揭示了中国特大城市地区的政策动态，并确定了规划和治理面临的挑战。本研究从另一个理论视角探讨这一问题，解读中国特大城市区域最近的崛起的经济过程。本文呈现了自20世纪70年代末以来的经济转型，从而追踪了特大城市区域发展的足迹。在此基础上，本文探讨了不同的经济转型浪潮—即农村工业化、以土地为中心的开发和城市的第三产业化—如何引导单个城市走向特大城市区域。本文还确定了中国特大城市地区未来发展面临的独特挑战，包括管辖权分散、社会空间不平等和环境外部性，这些挑战是由农村工业化期间强有力的自下而上的土地开发举措造成的。需要新的政策和规划来应对这些挑战以及新一轮经济转型中出现的新产业（即从劳动密集型产业到高技术产业的发展）。