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The Concrete Dragon: China's Urban Revolution and What it Means for the World
China is the most rapidly urbanizing nation in the world, with an urban population that may well reach one billion within a generation. Over the past 25 years, surging economic growth has propelled a construction boom unlike anything the world has ever seen, radically transforming both city and countryside in its wake. The speed and scale of China's urban revolution challenges nearly all our expectations about architecture, urbanism and city planning. China's ambition to be a major player on the global stage is written on the skylines of every major city. This is a nation on the rise, and it is building for the record books.
China is now home to some of the world's tallest skyscrapers and biggest shopping malls; the longest bridges and largest airport; the most expansive theme parks and gated communities and even the world's largest skateboard park. And by 2020 China's national network of expressways will exceed in length even the American interstate highway system. China's construction industry, employing a workforce equal to the population of California, has been erecting billions of square feet of housing and office space every year. But such extensive development has also meant demolition on a scale unprecedented in the peacetime history of the world. Nearly all of Beijing's centuries-old cityscape has been bulldozed in recent years, and redevelopment in Shanghai has displaced more families than 30 years of urban renewal in the United States. China's cities are also rapidly sprawling across the landscape, churning precious farmland into a landscape of superblock housing estates and single-family subdivisions laced with highways and big-box malls. In a mere generation, China's cities have undergone a metamorphosis that took 150 years to complete in the United States.
The Concrete China's Urban Revolution and What it Means for the World sheds light on this extraordinary chapter in world urban history. The book surveys the driving forces behind the great Chinese building boom, traces the historical precedents and global flows of ideas and information that are fusing to create a bold new Chinese cityscape, and considers the social and environmental impacts of China's urban future. The Concrete Dragon provides a critical overview of contemporary Chinese urbanization in light of both China's past as well as earlier episodes of rapid urban development elsewhere in the world--especially that of the United States, a nation that itself once set global records for the speed and scale of its urban ambitions.
China is now home to some of the world's tallest skyscrapers and biggest shopping malls; the longest bridges and largest airport; the most expansive theme parks and gated communities and even the world's largest skateboard park. And by 2020 China's national network of expressways will exceed in length even the American interstate highway system. China's construction industry, employing a workforce equal to the population of California, has been erecting billions of square feet of housing and office space every year. But such extensive development has also meant demolition on a scale unprecedented in the peacetime history of the world. Nearly all of Beijing's centuries-old cityscape has been bulldozed in recent years, and redevelopment in Shanghai has displaced more families than 30 years of urban renewal in the United States. China's cities are also rapidly sprawling across the landscape, churning precious farmland into a landscape of superblock housing estates and single-family subdivisions laced with highways and big-box malls. In a mere generation, China's cities have undergone a metamorphosis that took 150 years to complete in the United States.
The Concrete China's Urban Revolution and What it Means for the World sheds light on this extraordinary chapter in world urban history. The book surveys the driving forces behind the great Chinese building boom, traces the historical precedents and global flows of ideas and information that are fusing to create a bold new Chinese cityscape, and considers the social and environmental impacts of China's urban future. The Concrete Dragon provides a critical overview of contemporary Chinese urbanization in light of both China's past as well as earlier episodes of rapid urban development elsewhere in the world--especially that of the United States, a nation that itself once set global records for the speed and scale of its urban ambitions.
348 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 31, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
March 16, 2024
Perhaps now a little dated - published just before the massive wave of investment in high-speed rail, the BRI and other post-crash ambitious and more statist initiatives, which means this depicts a distinctly 'American' car-and-consumption 21st century China - but this is still very sharp on Chinese urbanisation, critical, sophisticated and not alarmist. Let down a little by its use of an extremely conventional take on post-war urban renewal as a comparator.
November 12, 2013
I was hoping for a sustained overview of the cultural and economic history of China over the past few decades, and this book fulfilled my expectations brilliantly. My ignorance about current Chinese society is fairly complete, so the illumination provided by this book was most appreciated. The author, a architectural history professor, discusses how the economic developments in post-Communist China have physically changed the urban landscape and the lives of the citizens of this amazing nation. The massive human scale of the changes occurring (and soon to occur) is as frightening as it isexciting. China is a enormous, clumsy giant stumbling to its feet and we'd be wise to watch where they are going.
February 20, 2010
As a history of modern urban development in China, this is pretty good - gives the historical basis, provides a catalogue of modern projects and endeavours. Lots of good factual information and documentation, so it's a good start for people seeking an entry into this urban developments in China. Analytically, he doesn't good deep enough, is my sense, although this book - maybe for the best - is aimed at a layman's audience, rather than say intellectual architecture. As a westerner, he obviously takes the anti-Chinese government stance, which at times becomes too easy and naive.
I was told by a Chinese cultural preservationist that things in China are a lot more complicated than Campanella's work may imply. For instance, it's not necessarily just that politically, the government has a bias for modern skyscrapers and unfairly demolishes hutongs and kicks people out. This is certainly a challenge, but also is the fact that many hutongs are decrepit beyond repair, and that many residents are in fact themselves intruders on the original residents' land rights when the government forced original residents to share their homes with incoming families in order to ease the housing shortage crisis. In these cases, what is fair compensation, what is ethical development? Is it possible for cities growing fast to maintain sentimentality and historic preservation? How much would you preserve and set aside, especially in a city like Beijing where the inner city is 1 story hutongs that would usually be preserved? The book is fodder for great discussion, though the book itself doesn't really explore nuances and multiple points of view.
I was told by a Chinese cultural preservationist that things in China are a lot more complicated than Campanella's work may imply. For instance, it's not necessarily just that politically, the government has a bias for modern skyscrapers and unfairly demolishes hutongs and kicks people out. This is certainly a challenge, but also is the fact that many hutongs are decrepit beyond repair, and that many residents are in fact themselves intruders on the original residents' land rights when the government forced original residents to share their homes with incoming families in order to ease the housing shortage crisis. In these cases, what is fair compensation, what is ethical development? Is it possible for cities growing fast to maintain sentimentality and historic preservation? How much would you preserve and set aside, especially in a city like Beijing where the inner city is 1 story hutongs that would usually be preserved? The book is fodder for great discussion, though the book itself doesn't really explore nuances and multiple points of view.
October 26, 2013
The PRC building boom is the world's biggest story of the last twenty years: whether the Australian outback or West African forests, no ecosystems can withstand the Chinese resources vacuum. Campanella is an insightful Virgil for this tale of displacement and greed. Surprisingly, though, he underplays the environmental consequences of the building boom, surely the most important element of "what it means for the world," going so far in his conclusion as to succumb to the fantasy that it's "sustainable." Party hacks and pr flacks can take care of the apologist greenwashing; we don't need Western academics doing it!
July 25, 2016
Not the easiest to read, and I did want some more evidence for sections of Campanella's argument (no results for a lot of what he was talking about on Google), but it was an educational read. He's smart, he's been across the country, got some good pictures, and wrote a quality Asian urbanism read. I took notes since it was dense and confusing, but that's just me. The book opened my eyes to a swath of problems and ideas I hadn't seen before, and helped my worldbuilding a lot. Thanks, man.
October 9, 2025
A great book about the speed and ferocity at which China has developed its urban populations over the past few decades. My middle son (16yo) both felt it was well written, but a bit out of date now. A more current book, or updated edition, would have been fabulous, but this is a good start as it is what is available for us as part of his geography unit study.
January 22, 2018
Since 1989, China's economy has developed at an almost hyperbolic rate, with the figures for each year seeming to dwarf those of previous years; one way which China's post-1989 development is obvious is the construction boom that has swept across the country. In every major city from Beijing to Shenzhen, there are forests of super-tall cranes, oceans of concrete poured, and dizzying heights of skyscrapers.
Campanella explores the breakneck pace of China's urban development, contrasting it with America's post-war boom, especially with the Interstate Highway system and the redevelopment Robert Moses oversaw in the Bronx. Yet, Moses would be amazed by how much more Chinese developers and urban planners have accomplished in such a short time. Just as American planners redesigned the city and expanded the suburbs, all driven by the popularisation of motoring, Chinese planners have redesigned these designs - hyper-dense urban living but sprawling cities, linked by massive expressways and high-speed rail.
Campanella also examines the staggering cost such development brings: the forced relocations, the environmental damage, the loss of historically important architecture, and the social and psychological costs residences of former [i]siheyuan[/i] (四合院) face as they are moved to suburban tower blocks.
There is much to be praised in China's urban transformation but it is built on the backs of poor, rural workers, exploited and ultimately expelled from the gated communities they helped create. It is not naïve to cast light on this: Campanella ultimately remains hopeful for Chinese urbanism' future and its impact on Western urbanism, but the cost must be acknowledged.
This is a well-written and researched account of a fascinating aspect of modern China's development. Campanella writes in a readable and approachable way, his work not dry or dreary. Not only that, it also raised my own interest in urban design and planning!
Campanella explores the breakneck pace of China's urban development, contrasting it with America's post-war boom, especially with the Interstate Highway system and the redevelopment Robert Moses oversaw in the Bronx. Yet, Moses would be amazed by how much more Chinese developers and urban planners have accomplished in such a short time. Just as American planners redesigned the city and expanded the suburbs, all driven by the popularisation of motoring, Chinese planners have redesigned these designs - hyper-dense urban living but sprawling cities, linked by massive expressways and high-speed rail.
Campanella also examines the staggering cost such development brings: the forced relocations, the environmental damage, the loss of historically important architecture, and the social and psychological costs residences of former [i]siheyuan[/i] (四合院) face as they are moved to suburban tower blocks.
There is much to be praised in China's urban transformation but it is built on the backs of poor, rural workers, exploited and ultimately expelled from the gated communities they helped create. It is not naïve to cast light on this: Campanella ultimately remains hopeful for Chinese urbanism' future and its impact on Western urbanism, but the cost must be acknowledged.
This is a well-written and researched account of a fascinating aspect of modern China's development. Campanella writes in a readable and approachable way, his work not dry or dreary. Not only that, it also raised my own interest in urban design and planning!
November 2, 2009
Outstanding treatment of China's urban planning, primarily in the post Mao era. Clear, well documented by easy to read (i.e.: non-academic style). Having visited Beijing and Shanghai, I could visualize the locations and the issues with what's being destroyed in the name of progress. The author should have included many more photos and illustrations (many of the photos included were not essential to the subject, and most were pretty poor images).
Still, very well done for an admittedly limited audience.
Still, very well done for an admittedly limited audience.
January 4, 2015
A fascinating view of modern China in the post Mao Zedong era, through the lens of the development of its cities. There are some similarities between what China is currently going through and what happened in the U.S. in the 20th century with urban renewal and development of the suburbs, except in China the politics behind it and scale at which it is occurring are vastly different. This book touches on the cultural, political, and social history of China as much as it focuses on urban planning issues. Anyone interested in modern China should enjoy this book, not just planning aficionados.
August 11, 2009
Some shockingly incorrect statements, but still fascinating. One, China is obsessed with miniatures: miniature Old Beijings, miniature White Houses, miniature US capitols. They also love mimicry, like the 12 connected suburbs around Shanghai each based on a different culture, Australian suburbs, Colonial America suburbs, Scandinavian suburbs.
Definitely worthwhile. I'll probably review it in full on my blog.
December 6, 2012
It's a great book on the history of China, specifically through the "globalization" and redevelopment/gentrification of cities. Campanella does a great job of comparing and contrasting the development to that of the United States.
December 17, 2012
Great book. Tremendous insight into not just urban planning but Chinese society and why things happen the way they do. I'd strongly recommend for anyone studying there or really interested in the country.
November 3, 2013
A wonderfully accessible narrative about the development boom in China. The narrative could have used a slight bit more emphasis upon the environmental degradation this massive build has produced, though there was quite a bit of environmental damage in China before the boom.
April 25, 2016
Entertaining and well researched and written. Was illuminating to read while I was in China, but also provoked good comparisons to the US experience of urban renewal.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews