Mapping China: Urbanisation - 4 The Transforming Cities

A lot of study has been done on China’s urban transformation. The term ‘Urban Transformation’ usually refers to the national policy shift that took place around 1990-2000, when a centrally planned economy was turning into a decentralised and market-oriented economy.

At this point, more attention is being given to the changing economic and social structure of the cities per se, a decentralising process that is usually initiated by external forces, be it a national policy or a change in the economic climate, and applied through central and local planning. For example, a shortage of cheap labour in South China indicates that the urban economy will have to transition from a labour-based to a service-based model. Thus the municipal and regional planning departments would work together for a renewed master plan to formulate such changes, typically by amending land-use plans or by initiating pilot projects.