Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Towards a Desakota Extended Metropolis? Growth and Spatiality of New (Peri-)Urbanism in Chinese Metropolitan Regions

  • Chapter
The Horizontal Metropolis Between Urbanism and Urbanization

Abstract

Conventional wisdom normally describes urbanism as a way of life that is city-based, globally diffused from top down, and exclusively affiliated with the urbanites. This study moves beyond the conventional approach and examines widespread urbanism recently emerging in one of China’s rapidly growing peri-urban regions. Three important conditions are identified for understanding the growth and spatiality of peri-urbanism in post-Mao China, namely the state’s partial relaxation of control over population mobility, a spontaneous and bottom-up expansion of rural industry, and the intrusion of global capitalism deeply embedded in pre-existing social relations. A detailed study of the case of Dongguan in the Pearl River Delta region suggests that the growth of urbanism has not been limited to some clearly demarcated cities where the urbanites cluster to create an urban way of life distinct from the rural folks. Rather, urbanism has been able to take place in the peri-urban region because of the existence of an entrepreneurial local government, pre-existing kinship ties and personal connections with overseas investors, collectively owned land with lower cost and less regulation, and a favourable location that gains easy access to capital, technology, and market information from major metropolitan centres nearby. Despite the overwhelming influence of global capitalism, the growth and spatiality of peri-urbanism has been hybrid, path-dependent and locally constitutive, blending elements from the past with the present and the local with the global. Urbanism has recently been made an integral part of the local strategy of place-promotion in order to lure and spatially fix mobile capital.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 229.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 299.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 299.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    For a discussion of the ideological position toward urban commerce under Mao, see Dorothy Solinger (1985, p. 195).

  2. 2.

    The term “sanlai yibu”, literally “three supplies and one compensation”, refers to a flexible contractual arrangement made between Hong Kong investors and their Dongguan partners, under which the Hong Kong investor supply raw materials, equipment, and models for what is to be manufactured while the Dongguan partner provide labor, land, and other logistics necessary for manufacturing. At the end of the year, the Hong Kong investor will pay a processing fee to the Dongguan partner as a compensation to all the costs involved in the manufacturing process. See Lin (1997, p. 173).

  3. 3.

    For detailed discussions of the social influence of Hong Kong on Dongguan, see Vogel (1989), and Lin (1997).

  4. 4.

    Based on: Guangdong Provincial Government, 2001, Tabulation of the area of land use in Guangdong Province by cities in the year 2000; Guangzhou, Guangdong: Internal digital database

References

  • Andrusz, G., Harloe, M., & Szelenyi, I. (Eds.). (1996). Cities after socialism: Urban and regional change and conflict in post-socialist societies. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brenner, N., & Theodore, N. (Eds.). (2002). Spaces of neoliberalism: Urban restructuring in North America and Western Europe. Malden, MA: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chan, K. W. (1992). Economic growth strategy and urbanization policies in China, 1949–1982. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 16(2), 275–306.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chan, K. W., & Zhang, L. (1999). The hukou system and rural-urban migration in China: Processes and changes. The China Quarterly, 160, 818–855.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cheng, T., & Selden, M. (1994). The origins and social consequences of China’s Hukou system. The China Quarterly, 139, 644–668.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dear, M., & Flusty, S. (1998). Postmodern urbanism. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 88(1), 50–72.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dicken, P. (2003). Global shift: Shaping the global economic map in the 21st century. New York: Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dongguan Yearbook Editorial Committee. (2001). Dongguan Yearbook 1997–2001. Beijing: China Book Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dongguan Statistical Bureau. (1998). Dongguan Ershi Nian (Dongguan’s twenty years 1978–1998). Dongguan: Internal Publication.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dongguan Statistical Bureau. (1998–2014). Dongguan statistical yearbook. Beijing: China State Statistical Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fan, C. C. (2002). The elite, the natives, and the outsiders: Migration and labor market segmentation in urban China. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 92(1), 103–124.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fan, C. C. (2003). Rural-urban migration and gender division of labor in transitional China. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 27(1), 24–47.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fisher, J. C. (1962). Planning the city of socialist man. Journal of the American Institute of Planners, 28, 251–265.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • French, R. A., & Hamilton, F. E. I. (Eds.). (1979). The socialist city: Spatial structure and urban policy. New York: John Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ginsburg, N. (1990). The urban transition: Reflections on the American and Asian experiences. Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hsing, Y. T. (1998). Making capitalism in China: The Taiwanese connection. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jessop, B. (2000). The crisis of the national spatio-temporal fix and the tendential ecological dominance of globalizing capitalism. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 24(2), 323–360.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Knox, P. L. (1996). Globalization and urban change. Urban Geography, 17(1), 115–117.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Knox, P. L., & Taylor, P. J. (Eds.). (1995). World cities in a world-system. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kwok, R. Y. W. (1981). Trends of urban planning and development in China. In L. J. C. Ma & E. W. Hanten (Eds.), Urban Development in Modern China (pp. 147–193). Boulder: Westview.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leung, C. K. (1993). Personal contacts, subcontracting linkages, and development in the Hong Kong-Zhujiang Delta region. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 83(2), 272–302.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liang, Z., & Ma, Z. (2004). China’s floating population: New evidence from the 2000 census. Population and Development Review, 30(3), 467–488.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lin, G. C. S. (1997). Red capitalism in South China: Growth and development of the Pearl River Delta. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lin, G. C. S. (1998). China’s industrialization with controlled urbanization: Anti-urbanism or urban-biased? Issues & Studies, 34(6), 98–116.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lin, G. C. S., & Wei, Y. H. D. (2002). China’s restless urban landscape 1: New challenges for theoretical reconstruction. Environment and Planning A., 34(9), 1535–1544.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lo, C. P. (1987). Socialist ideology and urban strategies in China. Urban Geography, 8(5), 440–458.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ma, L. J. C. (1976). Anti-urbanism in China. Proceedings of the Association of American Geographers, 8, 114–118.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ma, L. J. C. (1979). The Chinese approach to city planning: Policy, administration, and action. Asian Survey, 65(9), 838–855.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ma, L. J. C. (2002). Urban transformation in China, 1949–2000: A review and research agenda. Environment and Planning A, 33(9), 1545–1569.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ma, L. J. C., & Wu, F. (2005). Restructuring the Chinese City: Diverse processes and reconstituted spaces. In L. J. C. Ma & F. Wu (Eds.), Restructuring the Chinese City (pp. 1–20). London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • McGee, T. G. (1991). The emergence of desakota regions in Asia: Expanding a hypothesis. In N. Ginsburg, B. Koppel, & T. G. McGee (Eds.), The extended metropolis (pp. 3–25). Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Murray, P., & Szelenyi, I. (1984). The city in the transition to socialism. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 8, 90–107.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Naughton, B. (1995). Cities in the Chinese economic system: Changing roles and conditions for autonomy. In D. S. Davis, R. Kraus, B. Naughton, & E. J. Perry (Eds.), Urban Spaces in Contemporary China (pp. 61–89). Washington, D.C.: Woodrow Wilson Center Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nijman, J. (1987). The paradigmatic city. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 90(1), 135–145.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oshima, H. T. (1987). Economic growth in Monsoon Asia: A comparative survey. Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pannell, C. W. (1990a). Past and present city structure in China. Town Planning Review, 48(2), 157–172.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pannell, C. W. (1990). China’s urban geography. Progress in Human Geography, 14(2), 214–236.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pannell, (2002). China’s continuing urban transition. Environment and Planning A, 33(9), 1571–1589.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sassen, S. (1991). The global city. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smart, J., & Smart, A. (1991). Personal connections and divergent economies: A case study of Hong Kong investment in China. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 15(2), 216–233.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, N. (1996). New urban frontier: Gentrification and the revanchist city. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, N. (2002). New globalism, new urbanism: Gentrification as global urban strategy. In N. Brenner & N. Theodore (Eds.), Spaces of neoliberalism (pp. 80–103). Malden, MA: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Soja, E. (2000). Postmetropolis. Oxford: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Solinger, D. J. (1985). Marxism and the market in socialist China: The reforms of 1979–1980 in context. In V. Nee & D. Mozingo (Eds.), State and society in contemporary China (pp. 194–222). Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Szelenyi, I. (1996). Cities under socialism-and after. In G. Andrusz, M. Harloe, & I. Szelenyi (Eds.), Cities after socialism: Urban and regional change and conflict in post-socialist societies (pp. 286–317). Cambridge, MA: Blackwell.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Veeck, G., & Pannell, C. W. (1989). Rural economic restructuring and farm household income in Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 79(2), 275–292.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vogel, E. (1989). One step ahead in China: Guangdong under reform. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wheatley, P. (1971). The pivot of the four quarters: A preliminary enquiry into the origins and character of the ancient Chinese City. Chicago: Aldine.

    Google Scholar 

  • Whyte, M. K., & Parish, W. L. (1984). Urban life in contemporary China. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wirth, L. (1938). Urbanism as a way of life. American Journal of Sociology, 44, 1–24.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yeung, H. W. C. (2002). The limits to globalization theory: A geographic perspective on global economic change. Economic Geography, 78(3), 285–305.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yeung, H. W. C., & Lin, G. C. S. (2003). Theorizing economic geographies of Asia. Economic Geography, 79(2), 107–128.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhou, Y., & Ma, L. J. C. (2000). Economic restructuring and suburbanization in China. Urban Geography, 21(3), 205–236.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The work described in this chapter has been sponsored by the grants obtained from the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong SAR (CRF C7028-16G and GRF 17662116). The author wishes to thank Paola Viganò, Chiara Cavalieri, and participants of the Symposium for helpful comments.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Professor, Department of Geography, University of Hong Kong, Pok Fu Lam, Hong Kong

    George Lin

Authors
  1. George Lin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to George Lin .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. EPFL École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Paola Viganò

  2. EPFL École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Chiara Cavalieri

  3. EPFL École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Martina Barcelloni Corte

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Lin, G. (2018). Towards a Desakota Extended Metropolis? Growth and Spatiality of New (Peri-)Urbanism in Chinese Metropolitan Regions. In: Viganò, P., Cavalieri, C., Barcelloni Corte, M. (eds) The Horizontal Metropolis Between Urbanism and Urbanization. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75975-3_12

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75975-3_12

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-75974-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-75975-3

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation