Abstract
Over the last three decades, China has experienced accelerated urbanization with expanding urban built-up area, soaring urban housing prices, and many other phenomena, which raises grave concerns about the possible existence of urbanization bubbles. After defining the judgment of land urbanization bubble and its four states named bubble-free, controllable bubble, potential bubble, and uncontrollable bubble, this chapter reflects the matching of urbanization demand and supply through the four-quadrant axis and completes the empirical analysis of China’s urbanization bubble in terms of land between 2006 and 2016. The results indicate: (1) before 2008, the population and urban built-up area expansions are generally at a low level. After that, a large number of cities have a large-scale population expansion and urban built-up expansion; (2) land urbanization bubbles occur in more cities after 2008; (3) cities with uncontrolled bubbles are all non-first-tier cities, while cities without land urbanization bubbles are different.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Barton, H. (2000). Sustainable communities: The potential for eco-neighbourhoods. Abingdon: Earthscan.
BBC News. (2012). http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19049254
Berke, P. R., & Conroy, M. M. (2000). Are we planning for sustainable development? An evaluation of 30 comprehensive plans. Journal of the American Planning Association, 66(1), 21–33.
Caprotti, F. (2014a). Critical research on eco-cities? A walk through the Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City, China. Cities, 36, 10–17.
Caprotti, F. (2014b). Eco-urbanism and the eco-city, or, denying the right to the city? Antipode, 46(5), 1285–1303.
Caragliu, A., Del Bo, C., & Nijkamp, P. (2011). Smart cities in Europe. Journal of Urban Technology, 18(2), 65–82.
Castro, C. J. (2004). Sustainable development: Mainstream and critical perspectives. Organization & Environment, 17(2), 195–225.
Chen, F., & Zhu, D. (2009). Theory of research on low-carbon city and Shanghai empirical analysis [J]. Urban Studies, 10, 14.
Cohen, B. (2006). Urbanization in developing countries: Current trends, future projections, and key challenges for sustainability. Technology in Society, 28(1), 63–80.
Cole, T. (2012). Open city: A novel. New York: Random House.
De Jong, M., Joss, S., Schraven, D., Zhan, C., & Weijnen, M. (2015). Sustainable–smart–resilient–low carbon–eco–knowledge cities; making sense of a multitude of concepts promoting sustainable urbanization. Journal of Cleaner Production, 109, 25–38.
Friedmann, J. (2006). Four theses in the study of China’s urbanization. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 30(2), 440–451.
Gossop, C. (2011). Low carbon cities: An introduction to the special issue. Cities, 6(28), 495–497.
Harvey, D. (1978). The urban process under capitalism: A framework for analysis. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 2(1–4), 101–131.
Harvey, D. (1982). The limits to capital. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
Harvey, D. (2000). Spaces of hope. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Harvey, D. (2003). The right to the city. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 27(4), 939–941.
Harvey, D. (2005). A brief history of neoliberalism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Harvey, D. (2008). David Harvey: The right to the city. New Left Review, 53, 23–40.
Harvey, D. (2009). Is this really the end of neoliberalism? Counter Punch, 13. https://www.counterpunch.org/2009/03/13/is-this-really-the-end-of-neoliberalism/
Harvey, T. (2006). Sacred spaces, common places: The cemetery in the contemporary American city. Geographical Review, 96(2), 295–312.
Hsing, Y. T. (2010). The great urban transformation: Politics of land and property in China. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Hung, H. F. (2008). Rise of China and the global overaccumulation crisis. Review of International Political Economy, 15(2), 149–179.
Joss, S. (2011). Eco-cities: The mainstreaming of urban sustainability–key characteristics and driving factors. International Journal of Sustainable Development and Planning, 6(3), 268–285.
Joss, S., Cowley, R., & Tomozeiu, D. (2013). Towards the ‘ubiquitous eco-city’: An analysis of the internationalisation of eco-city policy and practice. Urban Research & Practice, 6(1), 54–74.
Liu, Z. L., Dai, Y. X., Dong, C. G., & Qi, Y. (2009). Low-carbon city: Concepts, international practice and implications for China. Urban Studies, 16(6), 1–7.
Liu, H., Zhou, G., Wennersten, R., & Frostell, B. (2014). Analysis of sustainable urban development approaches in China. Habitat International, 41, 24–32.
Martinez-Fernandez, C., Audirac, I., Fol, S., & Cunningham-Sabot, E. (2012). Shrinking cities: Urban challenges of globalization. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 36(2), 213–225.
Mol, A. P. (2003). Globalization and environmental reform: The ecological modernization of the global economy. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Ni, P., & Jie, Z. Q. (2014). Urban competitiveness and innovation. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing.
Pow, C. P., & Neo, H. (2013). Seeing red over green: Contesting urban sustainabilities in China. Urban Studies, 50(11), 2256–2274.
Qin, S. (2016). http://finance.sina.com.cn/zl/china/2016-03-07/zl-ifxqaffy3682965.shtml
Rapoport, E. (2014). Utopian visions and real estate dreams: The eco-city past, present and future. Geography Compass, 8(2), 137–149.
Ren, Y., Xiong, C., & Yuan, Y. (2012). House price bubbles in China. China Economic Review, 23(4), 786–800.
Rotmans, J., van Asselt, M., Anastasi, C., et al. (2000). Visions for a sustainable Europe. Futures, 32(9–10), 809–831.
Roy, M. (2009). Planning for sustainable urbanisation in fast growing cities: Mitigation and adaptation issues addressed in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Habitat International, 33(3), 276–286.
Sassen, S. (2001). The global city: New York, London, Tokyo. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Shepard, W. (2015). Ghost cities of China. Limited: Zed Books.
Shi, H., & Huang, S. (2014). How much infrastructure is too much? A new approach and evidence from China. World Development, 56, 272–286.
Smith, N. (2002). New globalism, new urbanism: Gentrification as global urban strategy. Antipode, 34(3), 434–457.
Tsui, K. Y. (2011). China’s infrastructure investment boom and local debt crisis. Eurasian Geography and Economics, 52(5), 686–711.
Wilkins, K., & Zurawski, A. (2014). Infrastructure investment in China. RBA Bulletin, 30(2), 27–36.
Wilkinson, T. O. (1965). The Urbanization of Japanese Labor, 1868–1955. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press.
Wu, F. (2015). Planning for growth: Urban and regional planning in China. New York: Routledge.
Yigitcanlar, T., O’Connor, K., & Westerman, C. (2008). The making of knowledge cities: Melbourne’s knowledge-based urban development experience. Cities, 25(2), 63–72.
Yu, H. (2014). China’s “Ghost Cities”. East Asian Policy, 6(02), 33–43.
Zhou, J., Zhang, X., & Shen, L. (2015). Urbanization bubble: Four quadrants measurement model. Cities, 46, 8–15.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Zhang, X. (2020). Unveil Urbanization ‘Bubbles’ in China: Sustainable Urbanization in Theory and Policy. In: Huang, Y. (eds) Chinese Cities in the 21st Century. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-34780-2_13
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-34780-2_13
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-34779-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-34780-2
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)