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Urban China
Report

Urban China

Toward Efficient, Inclusive, and Sustainable Urbanization

The World Bank Group
World Bank, 2014
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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Comprehensive
  • Innovative
  • Background

Recommendation

This comprehensive review from the World Bank and the Development Research Center of the State Council, the People’s Republic of China, provides important insights into China’s policies and challenges as it continues its urban transition. China is evolving from a rural, export-driven economy to a more urbanized and service-oriented environment. Despite this transformation, outdated, uncoordinated and ineffective laws still govern the nation. The new urban landscape requires that the central government increases its regional coordination to allow localities more independence. getAbstract recommends this incisive report to executives doing business with China, city planners and anyone interested in urban development in a vast, roiling laboratory.

Summary

A New Reality

Since the mid-1980s, 260 million migrants have moved from China’s rural areas to its cities. This massive relocation has reduced hardships and brought strong economic growth. While China has avoided some urban ills, such as widespread poverty, high unemployment and shoddy living conditions, urbanization has generated suburban sprawl, wasteful real estate deals, a growing gap between city and rural incomes, pressure on city services and environmental degradation.

China needs to better allocate land, capital and labor to ensure that large cities grow efficiently and that secondary cities and rural areas receive their fair share. Government should support – not control – this transition based on evolving demand and market-based trends. Assigning decision making to local governments has fueled China’s success in encouraging businesses to experiment, boosting local initiatives and measuring local growth against national development goals. National and local leaders must more efficiently utilize resources, many of which will go to the service sector, which will supplant industrial production as the country’s main source of growth.

From Inefficiency ...

About the Author

The World Bank and the Development Research Center of the State Council, People’s Republic of China, issued this report.

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