Scaling-up Strategy as an Appropriate Approach for Sustainable New Town Development? Lessons from Wujin, Changzhou, China

Hao Chen, Qiyan Wu, Jianquan Cheng, Zhifei Ma and Weixuan Song
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Hao Chen: School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China
Qiyan Wu: School of Geographical Sciences, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing 210023, China
Jianquan Cheng: School of Geographical Sciences, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing 210023, China
Zhifei Ma: Department of Geography, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing 210023, China
Weixuan Song: Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China

Sustainability, 2015, vol. 7, issue 5, 1-23

Abstract: China has achieved rapid urbanization and unprecedented economic booming over the past three decades. Numerous cities and towns dreamed of cloning the miracles of Shenzhen and Pudong, Shanghai, in terms of their international development. However, inappropriate development strategies have meant that the majority of fast expanding urban suburbs or newly developed towns suffer a high ratio of vacant dwellings in real estate markets and a massive loss of farmland. The frequent exposure of these empty cities to mass media or the public has urged urban governments to impose fiscal austerity. These unexpected and negative consequences of urban development have explicit conflicts with sustainability. This paper aims to provide a political economy view of these unsustainable outcomes of new development. To achieve this, the processes and agendas of new city or town planning in Wujin District, Changzhou City, are analyzed and evaluated from the perspective of scale theory. Extensive interviews conducted with local politicians at different levels, planners, real estate agents and local residents facilitate the interpretation of these processes and agendas. It is argued that the legends of Shenzhen and Pudong, Shanghai originate from a modified neoliberal capitalism intervention at the right time and place, with which other peer cities are not comparable. It is concluded that the scaling-up strategy is not appropriate for the local new town development of Wujin, which has led to unsustainable outcomes—empty cities and towns—and created important lessons for the sustainable development of Chinese cities.

Keywords: scaling-up strategy; sustainable development; local new town; neoliberal capitalism; Wujin; China (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

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