Urbanization of the PRC: From Megacities to Supercities

V. V. Petushkova ()

Outlines of global transformations: politics, economics, law, 2025, vol. 17, issue 3

Abstract: In the middle of the last century, the French geopolitician Jean Gottman developed the concept of a me- galopolis (supercity) in relation to a large agglomeration of the northeastern coast of the United States. In the last decade, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has also seen the growth of large urban agglo- meration associations chengshiqun (城市 群), the article is devoted to the largest of them: Yangzi River Delta (YRD), Greater Bay Area (GBA) and JingJingJi. The essence of the Chinese agglomeration urban formations, which are considered in this study, is close to the concept of megalo- polis, however, the formation of Chinese mega-clusters with a population of 80 to 200 million or more people is taking place with the active and direct role of the state. They far exceed the boundaries of the megalopolis described by J. Gottman in terms of population size and degree of integration, thus marking a fundamentally new stage of urbanization. Since the PRC launched its reform and Open Door Policy in 1978, industrialization and urbanization have been at the forefront of China’s rapid economic development. There has been unprecedented internal migration, with more than half a billion people moving from rural to urban areas, resulting in the largest agglomerations in history. The creation of nineteen urban mega-clusters is included in the Fourteenth (2021-2025) Five-Year Development Plan of the PRC as a priority for urbanization and deve- lopment in general. The participation of the state in the historical process of the formation of supra-agglomeration associations of chengshiqun in the PRC leads to the accelerated creation of megalopolises throughout the country. This practice has no analogues in the world, and in the process of “new urbanization†the world leadership will undoubtedly belong to the PRC.

Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ccs:journl:y:2025:id:1530

DOI: 10.31249/kgt/2024.03.05

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