Urban China in transformation: Hybrid economy, juxtaposed space, and new testing ground for geographical enquiries

Abstract

History has brought us into a significant moment when the majority of the human kind has taken up residence in urban settlements. The focus of global urbanization has shifted to the developing world and the center of manufacturing is no longer confined to the Global North. This paper provides a periodical assessment of the current status of China's urban transformation in the global context of a shifting emphasis of industrialization and urbanization. China's phenomenal urban transformation deserves a special attention not only because of its unparalleled scale and speed but also because of its distinct trajectory of growth that does not conform to normal theoretical expectations. The results of assessment revealed an urban economy with remarkable hybridity, a society that is increasingly stratified, polarized, and segregated, and a juxtaposed urban space undergoing restless and pervasive transformation. A decentering world should entail a decentering knowledge production. A critical reflection upon the Chinese patterns and processes of urban transformation has identified 4 main issues with great potentials for innovative knowledge production, namely: 1) privatization and economic development; 2) state, society, and space; 3) urbanization of capital, labor, and land; and 4) the environment and Chinese political ecology. The paper closes with the remark that a rapidly transforming urban China has presented itself as a fertile and resourceful testing ground for critical and innovative geographic enquiries. © 2011 Science Press, Northeast Institute of Geography and Agricultural Ecology, CAS and Springer Berlin Heidelberg.