Cooling down: the excessive growth of urban agglomerations in China
Urban Science Forum held at Shanghai Jiaotong University on April 20th to 21st
Shanghai Jiaotong University hosted the Urban Science Forum in urban studies on April 20th to 21st.
On April 20th to 21st, Shanghai Jiaotong University hosted the Urban Science Forum. Experts and scholars in urban studies from China attended to discuss urbanization and urban agglomeration and the future of the discipline. Overall, attendees agreed on the general principle that “urban agglomeration is not simply a category (that a city arrives) at when it’s expansion has reached certain index targets—placing undue emphasis on particular quantifiable aspects of urbanization is neither a reasonable, nor scientifically accurate representation of the actual state of affairs”.
From the sprawling high-rises and densely populated districts surrounding Tokyo to the rapidly expanding boundaries of Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh and the 9th largest contiguous urban area behind Beijing, urban agglomeration has become a universal feature of global urban development, regardless of a city’s location or GDP. In China alone, currently recognized or forming urban agglomerations number between 15-23.
With regard to urban agglomeration as a characteristic of globalization, Liu Shilin, chief expert of the Institute of Urban Science at Shanghai Jiaotong University, stressed the importance of having a comprehensive understanding of the different components of urbanization and how they relate to each other. This is an issue that we need to discuss deeply, both from a conceptual standpoint and in terms of the actual process, she iterated.
Liu sees two problems faced by urban agglomerations in China: firstly, China’s large urban areas lag behind world standards in the development of urban hierarchy(cities are equipped to provide services to a given population threshold) and occupational structure, coordination and integration with their surrounding regions, and the overall urban environment and the effective soft-power or distinct cultural force each city is able to channel as an individual cultural entity; secondly, there is a huge imbalance between the level of development of urban agglomerations in Central and Western China and in Eastern China, apparent in the general developing environment, the resources at the disposal of these areas, and the overall conditions in which inhabitants of these urban centers live.
Cities’ development is tied closely to their politics, economy, society, culture and ecology. In China, academics and researchers have diagnosed the current state of urban agglomeration as being “sub-healthy”, a condition defined by excessive expansion, inefficient use of available land, industries and sectors developing and functioning in isolation from each other, an overall decrease in residents’ quality of life and environmental deterioration.
According to Lin Jiabin, a researcher of Research Department of Social Development at Development Research Center of the State Council, the ongoing reform of a number of key government systems could prove instrumental in reversing the unhealthy trends in China’s urban expansion. In particular, he cited reform of the performance evaluation system, the financial and taxation system, land system, planning management system being particularly promising.
Xu Fei, vice president of Shanghai Jiaotong University and director of editorial board of Urban Agglomeration Blue Book, introduced that Urbanization in China is full of contradictions and obstacles, said Xu Fei, vice president of Shanghai Jiaotong University and director of editorial board of Urban Agglomeration Blue Book. In Xu’s view, the primary task is to perfect the process of implementing top-down policy design and coordinating the development of different areas. He explained that steps like these have been delayed because of the sheer geographic size and strict administrative structure of China’s largest cities. Urban agglomeration plans (including plans to recognize urban agglomerations as independent economic zones) are stuck in conceptual stages and that cities generally lack detailed, systemic planning strategies, he elaborated.
At the conference, Professor Yan Mingwei from Shanghai Normal University was one of a handful of other attendees who referenced classical literary and poetic depictions of a city. Yan introduced the following poem, written by Tang Yin in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644):“For decades/Dance and harvest wild joys/I feel flowers growing around us/Soundly sleep with/The moon.” Tang Yin’s lines reflect the sentiment of his contemporaries from Suzhou, scholars who in spite of living in a worldly and materialistic urban environment were able to rise above tactile pursuits and live in elegance and refinement. The lives and life styles of ordinary people and the burgeoning of a commercial economy were not forces that eroded the cultural spirit of the Ming Dynasty, Yan expressed. On the contrary, he explained they brought about the prosperity of literature and the flourishing of art and contributed to the overall elegance of urban resident’s lifestyles. He concluded that this historical and cultural legacy reminds us that we cannot help but ask what sort of culture we should choose as we urbanize today.
“The goal of modern urban culture is not to construct a perfect Utopia, but to build up an eco-civilized city,”said Gao Xiaokang, a professor at Nanjing University. China’s aspiration of building an “ecological civilization” involves a type of conceptual integration and enmeshment—we are promoting a program whereby the growth of material wealth is slackened so as to make room for, and transform the former type of growth, into a more comprehensive development, Gao explained. Elaborating on the web of aspects he sees as being intertwined in “ecological civilization”, he added that this comprehensive development would bring together the physical and mental, personal and social, human and natural, and present and historical. For Gao, what could be called a “post-urban” period should be precipitated by the transition of the urban agglomeration into an eco-civilized city. Successfully undergoing this transition will be a huge factor in the further development of China’s economy and society, he concluded.
As the focal point of both key state strategy and a recurrent topic of concern among all walks of life in Chinese society, urbanization has fueled a growing number of academic discussions and given rise to a few different theories. Regarding the present task for academics, the experts and scholars attending the forum agreed that academia should focus on articulating a base value system to influence and guide urbanization, and popularizing a formal, standardized version of urban studies, both at the disciplinary level across Chinese universities, and at the practical level as an actionable body of knowledge. Attendees affirmed that formulating a theoretical system for urban studies—one which proposes solutions for creating a favorable social environment and atmosphere for China's urbanization—is increasingly urgent.
The Chinese version appeared in Chinese Social Sciences Today, No. 443, Apr. 24, 2013
Translated by Zhang Mengying