China’s Urbanization Process and Outlook

Wei Houkai

Institute for Urban and Environmental Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing, China

Abstract:  Starting from a low level, China’s rapid urbanization has taken on a large scale over the past three decades. The urbanization of urban clusters has become a key driver of China’s economic development. However, China’s urbanization has been confronted with many issues, such as high resource and environmental costs, low level of citizenship for migrant workers, strong economic polarization and excessive dependence on land encroachment. In the near future, China’s urbanization will enter a period of strategic transitioning, and the enhancement of the quality of urbanization will become a strategic priority. China’s urbanization rate is projected to reach 60% by 2020 and 68% by 2030, eventually exceeding 80% by 2050. China’s future urbanization must proceed from local realities, promote the balanced development of small, medium-sized and large cities and towns, optimize the spatial layout of urbanization, and follow a sensible pattern.

Keywords: urbanization, citizenship of migrant workers, structure of cities and towns, multi-center networked development

¥0.01加入购物车