Chinese Urbanization Enters a New Phase
a New Phase
SINCE adopting its reform and opening- up policy in the late 1970s, China has witnessed rap id economic development, as well as large- scale urban construction. Over the last decade in particular, the country has undergone one of the largest- scale and swiftest urbanization processes in the world, with average annual growth exceeding 1.3 percent. The urbanization rate has kept escalating, from less than 20 percent before reform and opening-up, to 52.6 percent in 2012, and further to 56.1 percent in 2015. Rapid urbanization has changed the face of this traditionally agricultural country.
However, the “rash advance” of urbanization has wrought such side effects as poor urban planning, with the effacement of local features and lagging public services. Over the last several years, the Chinese government has raised awareness of such problems, and proposed a new policy package on urban construction. The new plan puts people first, and aims to better protect the environment and develop a sustainable economy, which is of vital importance to the country’s economic restructuring.
Teething Problems
Looking back on Europe’s urbanization in its early stages, yearly growth rates remained merely 0.16 to 0.24 percent on average. The time span before the urbanization rate increased from 20 to 40 percent ranged from decades to 100 years, and it took further decades for the rate to rise from 40 to 80 percent. As a developing country, China made a late start in modernization and also lacked urbanization experience. Its relatively