The Chinese City

by Weiping Wu, Piper Gaubatz

China’s cities are home to 10 percent of the world’s population today. They display unprecedented dynamism under the country’s surging economic power. Their remarkable transformation builds on immense traditions, having lived through feudal dynasties, semicolonialism, and socialist commands. Studying them offers a lens into both the complex character of the changing city and the Chinese economy, society, and environment. This text is anchored in the spatial sciences to offer a comprehensive survey of the evolving urban landscape in China. It is divided into four parts, with 13 chapters that can be read together or as stand-alone material. Part I sets the context, describing the geographical setting, China’s historical urban system, and traditional urban forms. Part II covers the urban system since 1949, the rural–urban divide and migration, and interactions with the global economy. Part III outlines the specific sectors of urban development, including economic restructuring, social–spatial transformation, urban infrastructure, and urban land and housing. Finally, part IV showcases urbanism through the lens of the urban environment, lifestyle and social change, and urban governance. The Chinese City offers a critical understanding of China’s urbanization,exploring how the complexity of the Chinese city both conforms to and defies conventional urban theories and experience of cities elsewhere around the world. This comprehensive book contains a wealth of up-to-date statistical information, case studies, and suggested further reading to demonstrate the diversity of urban life in China.

Genres: China, Urban Studies

312 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Weiping Wu is a Professor in the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation at Columbia University. She is an internationally known urban scholar working on global urbanization with specific expertise in issues of migration, housing, infrastructure, and land finance of Chinese cities. Her most recent book is the SAGE Handbook of Contemporary China.

Reviews

[Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

With anecdotes as well as descriptions of general features of different aspects of urban China written quite succinctly, this is a book you can learn from without having to traverse pages of unnecessary verbosity. However, I also felt it lacked enough of a sense of humour or drama (in style, not content) to widely appeal to someone who just wants to read about China, apart from the occasional comical positivity, like how pleasant park music is (i.e. a din) and how the pollution situation is making great improvements (i.e. errr, not in the day to day experience if Chinese urbanites).