The Anthropomorphic City — Power and Planning

Shenzhen, China's first special economic zone (SEZ), not only heralds the essence and evolution of the PRC's earlier domestic reform and global integration, but also demonstrates how urban spaces are rapidly produced in a socialist economy undergoing market transformation. This note identifies three such spaces: an economic space of globalization; a social space of exclusion and contestation; and a political space of governance.

2019

Examining the rise of Pudong and its role in re-creating Shanghai as a global city, Global Shanghai Remade utilises this important case study to shed light on contemporary globalisation and China’s integration with the world since the late 20th century. Unpacking the rise of Pudong in the context of Deng Xiaoping’s nation-building agenda, this book explores the development of the district from its earliest planning into a global city centre through multiple perspectives. In doing so, it explores the role of key decision-makers and actors, the strategic planning process, the approaches to urban development, and some of the iconic projects that define the rise of Pudong, Shanghai, and China itself. A timely volume for the 30th anniversary of China’s strategy of ‘developing and opening Pudong,’ it combines the analyses and findings from these perspectives into a framework for a broader understanding of city-making with Chinese characteristics.

Eurasian Geography and Economics, 2004

This paper examines the role played by socioeconomic and spatial planning in the development of China's first special economic zone (SEZ), Shenzhen. More specifically, it analyzes the impacts of socioeconomic five-and ten-year plans and Master Layout Plans in Shenzhen's metamorphosis from an industry-based SEZ relying on domestic investment (early 1980s) to a modern metropolis sustained by an export-oriented economy. The authors explore the tension between local officials' aspirations to make Shenzen a 21st century "world city" and the dual obstacles of policy control by the central government and the need to harness local development within Shenzhen.

Cities, 2003

As China's first Special Economic Zone (SEZ) to spur economic growth after the near collapse of the socialist centrally-planned economy in 1980, Shenzhen has transformed the agriculture-based Bao'an County into a 21st century metropolis housing over four million people. The Shenzhen Special Economic Zone (SSEZ) was built through demolishing native villages and the territorial spaces on which it now stands have undergone incessant pressure to restructure: agricultural land was first razed to give way to an industry-led SEZ which itself has been reconfigured since the 1980s as a result of internal and external changes. The physical growth and restructuring of the city reflect the imagination and bold experimentation of the government and urban planners who had no prior experience of planning for the growth of the invisible hand in a fledgling socialist market economy. This paper argues that while socioeconomic and spatial planning have played an important and exploratory role in Shenzhen's breathtaking growth from an outward processing SEZ to an aspiring world city of the 21st century, the city needs to work harder to establish an effective development control system.

Compact Cities: Sustainable Urban Forms for Developing Countries, 2000

Introduction The visible change to many Chinese cities over the past two decades has been the ultra-rapid emergence of high-density, high-rise built forms, a phenomenon that has led to the term ‘instant’ cities. This chapter discusses the process of forming the ‘instant’ city of Pudong, a large area within Shanghai, and analyses the present environmental, economic, social and cultural impact of its phenomenal pace of development. It is argued that ‘instant’ cities in China do not reflect regionalism, but are a product of intense competition to reach world city status. This chapter suggests that while these forms of rapid development seem to be becoming a model for future development, the process of urban growth occurs with apparent disregard for sustainability. Shanghai has a favoured geographic location at the mid-point of the Asian economic corridor, which encompasses global cities such as Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Singapore (Fig. 1). It has a total land area of 6,219km2, nearly 3,250km2 are urbanised, and by 1998 it had a population of 13 million. Historically, Shanghai has been an important city to China since it was designated as a Treaty Port in the early 1840s. By 1949, Shanghai’s financial market was the third largest in the world after London and New York, surpassing Tokyo, Zurich and Hong Kong (Li, 1998). During the period 1949–1984, China’s anti-development strategy drained 87% of Shanghai’s total revenue through taxation, leaving little money to improve the city, especially its infrastructure (MacPherson, 1994). In 1984 Shanghai, together with 13 other coastal cities, was opened up to foreign investment as a result of China’s Open Door Policy (Li, 1991). Now, Shanghai is shifting from being an economic powerhouse in East Asia towards world city status. The state’s intention of turning Shanghai into a world city led the government to adopt a high-density, vertical city form, with eye-catching skyscrapers, setting a new standard for China’s overall development. A foreign-led, and high-density-driven, urban development strategy has become the acceptable norm in Shanghai. This strategy is supported by the Chinese government and private developers and will be used for the ‘national reconstruction’ for the whole of China.

Cities, 1996

Urban Geography, 2010

Shenzhen, China's first special economic zone (SEZ), not only heralds the essence and evolution of the PRC's earlier domestic reform and global integration, but also demonstrates how urban spaces are rapidly produced in a socialist economy undergoing market transformation. This note identifies three such spaces: an economic space of globalization; a social space of exclusion and contestation; and a political space of governance.

2015

S u m m a r y Since the beginning of the 20th century development of great Chinese cities has been influenced by foreign patterns. Houses of different types have been built among the traditional buildings. The areas of Shanghai “concessions” were built in a specific way. After the war Soviet influences were introduced. nowadays international corporations outdo one another in the height and originality of their skyscrapers.

Cities, 1996