China’s Urbanization: A New “Leap Forward”?

Abstract

In parallel to the reform and opening up policy launched in 1978, which led to annual economic growth close to 10 %, China’s population has become increasingly urbanized. At present, China’s GDP ranks second in the world, and per capita GNI has entered the levels of upper-middle-income countries. In 2012, 52.6 % of the population was living in urban areas, a percentage comparable to the world average. It is worth noting that although urbanization has played an important role in promoting sustained economic growth, the quality of urban development is not high (Xu 2013). There are substantial problems not only in the urbanization process itself, but also in the places where urbanization takes place and the way it is enforced and experimented, with various negative impacts on population and environment.

This chapter focuses on the development and characteristics of China’s urbanization, and the problems it has generated since the reform and opening up policy. It then explores the negative impacts of this rapid urbanization on social development in cities, and on the ecological environment.

Conclusion and Discussion

China’s population urbanization started from a very low level in the mid-twentieth century, and then developed rapidly, mainly due to internal migration. But this urbanization is not sustainable, as it remains primarily a pattern of “semi-urbanization”, with no successful social integration of migrants (Xiong 2012). Shaped by natural environmental conditions, level of economic development and other factors, the process of population urbanization is also very uneven, mostly concentrated in the eastern part of the country. Since the launching of the reforms and opening-up policy in 1978, population urbanization has made important contributions to China’s economic growth, but also has substantial negative consequences on urban and social development and on the ecological environment. This indicates that, although the promotion of population urbanization by the government (Li 2012) is an important driving force, it still has a dual effect in reshaping economic and social development.

Among the issues raised by such unsustainable urbanization is the concentration of the newly added population, i.e. often mostly internal migrants from rural areas. As shown above, when urban planning is inadequate or inappropriate, this concentration in urban centres causes, among other problems, urban traffic congestion, urban land waste, pollution, marginalization of the migrant population, etc. “Semi-urbanization”, which is an essential feature of China’s urbanization, also has social consequences in the rural migrant sending areas, where millions of children and elderly are left behind.

China’s reforms and opening-up policy have brought many problems in their wake. Some scholars argue that China’s economic development is “extensive”, as it only focuses on inputs and consumption as drivers of economic growth, but pays little attention to the quality of development (Tu 2011; Zuo 2008). Other scholars point out that China’s development focuses only on economic efficiency, blindly pursuing economic growth while ignoring social justice and equity, in particular the growing gap between urban and rural areas (Wang 2011; Zhou and Zhou 2011). China’s systemic socioeconomic problems are inevitably found also in the population urbanization process. The positive influence of urbanization on social development and its negative impact on the ecological environment are, in fact, primarily the reflection of current existing problems embedded in the entire national system.

China is a centrally-governed nation. So is population urbanization, as the government tries to retain control over the entire process and to regulate all aspects, including individual mobility, through the household registration system. But such strict control is the direct cause of problems such as “semi-urbanization”, with the social marginalization of migrant people, and the increasing number of left-behind children, women and elderly in the countryside. Also, the monopolizing of public resources by the largest cities in their quest for profit and economic growth is leading to a “New Leap Forward” characterized by extraordinary but somewhat artificial urban growth. The unbridled appropriation of arable land in favour of urban expansion and the focus on population urbanization in hopes of spurring economic growth and consumption are incompatible with sustainable development. It is therefore critical to understand the various factors and mechanisms of population urbanization to identify the institutional (or systematic) and strategic barriers to sustainable population urbanization. At the same time, government intervention should be reduced, and urban development should be more respectful of people’s well-being. Only in this way will it be possible to ensure that the development of population urbanization is healthy and sustainable, and plays a positive role in promoting economic and social development.