Abstract
This chapter begins with a brief summary of recent debate in the ‘nature of cities’ and then reflects on the major urban theories in the West and their similar representations such as the emergence of new towns and gated communities in China. In addition to seeing the effect of agglomeration, the specific context of development in China is discussed, which plays a critical role in shaping the spatial patterns of urbanisation. We argue that we need to pay attention to the urbanisation processes in order to develop a more nuanced understanding of the outcome of urbanisation in China. China is specific in terms of its political economic setting-ups. But we should not simply attribute its urbanisation to ‘state-led’ or ‘policy-driven’ forces. In this regard, China is not unique, which can broaden our perspectives of seeing urban changes.
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Acknowledgements
I would like to acknowledge the funding support from UK Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) (ES/P003435/1). I also thank Denise Pumain, Natacha Aveline, Clémentine Cottineau, and Elfie Swerts for their constructive comments on an earlier version of this chapter.
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Wu, F. (2020). Emerging Cities and Urban Theories: A Chinese Perspective. In: Pumain, D. (eds) Theories and Models of Urbanization. Lecture Notes in Morphogenesis. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-36656-8_10
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