Reinventing the Chinese City

Since the late 1970s, China has undergone perhaps the most sweeping process of urbanisation ever witnessed. This is typically understood as a story of growth, encompassing rapid development and economic dynamism alongside environmental degradation and social dislocation. However, over the past decade, China's leaders have claimed that the country's urbanisation has entered a new stage that prioritises "quality." What does China's new urban vision entail, and what does the future hold in store?

Reinventing the Chinese City by Richard Hu unpacks recent trends in urban planning and development to explore the making and imagining of the contemporary Chinese city. He focuses on three key concepts—the "green revolution," "smart city movement," and "great innovation leap forward"—that have become increasingly influential. Through case studies of Beijing, Hangzhou, and Hefei, Hu analyses how attempts to achieve greater sustainability, promote data-driven governance, and foster innovation have fared on the ground. He also considers the experimental city Xiong'an in terms of China's idealised vision of the urban future and investigates how the recent experiences of Hong Kong relate to regional and national development projects.

Reinventing the Chinese City provides a careful accounting of the ideas that have dominated urban policy in China since 2010, emphasising key continuities underlying claims of novelty. Shedding light on the transformations of the Chinese city, this book offers a new perspective on the factors that will shape the trajectory of urbanisation in the coming decades.