Urban Peripheries as Growth and Conflict Spaces: The Development of New Towns in China

Abstract

This chapter demonstrates that China’s urban peripheries are experiencing simultaneous forces of urban and rural expansion that are driving urbanization. We argue that the urban forms emerging in the peripheries are neither monolithic, nor directed into existence only from within formal policy. Rather, they are formed through multiple interrelated processes that are representative of these simultaneous forces of urbanization and encompass both formal and informal development approaches. We substantiate our arguments through the lens of two particular types of peri-urban development: (1) urban new towns developed from a “top-down,” city-centric urban expansion process; and (2) rural new towns developed from a “bottom-up,” rural-centric urbanization process. We define the term “top-town” and “bottom-up” based on China’s urban hierarchy and cultural context, wherein cities (the “top”) are often endorsed with higher values over the rural (the “bottom”) counterparts. The downward trend features the process that cities are expanding towards the urban outskirt next to which rural areas are located. The upward trend reflects the process that some rural areas located in the urban periphery are creating functional urban fabric and converging into urban lifestyles. This characterization used throughout this chapter is different from the government-led versus community-led distinction that is used elsewhere. We further pose that both forms of urbanization should be acknowledged in China’s formal planning system, rather than policy makers continuing to view the “top-down” process as the only legitimate modes for peri-urban development.