Mapping China: Urbanisation - 2 Regional Cities and City-Regions: Yangtze River Delta

Functioning as the central point of the Yangtze River Delta, Shanghai has developed into one of the world’s most important metropolitans. With technical support from Tongji University, the country’s number-one educational institution in urban planning and architecture, Shanghai enjoys a well-functioning planning system. Decentralisation in the governing system has given local authorities the flexibility to address their own challenges, while the coordination mechanism, which takes the form of a common institution with coordinated planning, financing and operations, is a key factor in enhancing the competitiveness of the whole region in the discourse on global development.

Despite its world-leading public transportation system, Shanghai is still facing the pressure of inner-city development. In the beginning of 2001 a policy named One City and Nine Towns was established by the Shanghai planning authority. Ten places were designated as sub-centres surrounding Shanghai City, as a way of releasing the density pressure of the inner city. The plan was ambitious and its implementation was amazingly effective. Within a decade, the designated construction projects that were supposed to accommodate one million residents were almost completed. But this decade also saw increasing criticism of the plan itself. The plan had focused very much on the spatial layout of the new towns but almost no consideration had been given to public services and social-economic reorganisation. Thousands of newly built apartments and villas were still empty, years after completion.

Nevertheless, the infrastructure engendered by the One City and Nine Towns Plan and its successors contributed enormously to the integration of the Yangtze River Delta city-region. The national government laid out a strategic plan for the Yangtze River Delta Port System in 2010, paving the way for a joint venture between Shanghai Port and Ningbo Port, which used to be in fierce competition with each other. The establishment of the Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone in 2013 further encouraged the development of a leading international port city-region. A booming development in the Yangtze River Delta is again to be seen.