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Urbanism in Chinese Local Development: An Institutional Approach

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Chinese Cities in the 21st Century

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Abstract

China’s new development wave since the mid-1990s is distinguishable by its strong urbanism. Urban governments, particularly at municipal and county levels, rushed to build industrial parks. The urban landscape was also fundamentally transformed by their massive investments in infrastructure—both residential and commercial properties. How to explain local governments’ continuing drive for development? Why has this particular policy combination gained traction among local officials? We approach these questions by making a simple assumption about local governments as revenue maximizers. Their desire for more revenues is constrained by two institutional changes. Vertically, the central government recentralized the fiscal system, leaving local governments in fiscal shortages. Liberalization and regional competition in the late 1990s further exacerbated their revenue imperative. The land regime provided the final institutional link that enabled local officials to leverage urban infrastructure and real estate for industrial expansion. This study can shed some light on the ongoing debate about China’s development model in the urban literature.

Acknowledgment: This chapter was originally published in Urban Studies. Some materials, such as figures, are eliminated due to space limits.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY, USA

    Fubing Su

  2. Renmin University of China, Beijing, China

    Ran Tao

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  1. Fubing Su
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  2. Ran Tao
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Correspondence to Fubing Su .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany, NY, USA

    Youqin Huang

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Su, F., Tao, R. (2020). Urbanism in Chinese Local Development: An Institutional Approach. In: Huang, Y. (eds) Chinese Cities in the 21st Century. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-34780-2_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-34780-2_5

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-34779-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-34780-2

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