Administratively allocated land and urban development in China : a case study of Guangzhou

Abstract

In the context of urban land reform, Administratively Allocated Land (AAL) has been transformed in order to accommodate new social-economic development in China. This study sheds light on the transformation of AAL and the institutional changes related to this process. The development of AAL at the national and local scales is shown to be related to the overall political economy. With Guangzhou as a case study, this thesis investigates land development and the spatial implications of AAL in the dualist land regime whereby AAL coexist with land market. The study explores the role of AAL in urban development on the basis of three dimensions: institutional changes related to policies and regulations, the land development process in relation to land transaction dynamics, and spatial patterns of land use. An account of the institutional background is given in order to explain the decline of AAL, such that fiscal, housing, and State-Owned Enterprise reform are all shown to be important determining factors. In order to promote the land market, AAL was restructured with the new objective of supporting public services as directed by the central government and demonstrated via a dispensable land supply method. In this study, various routes of AAL in urban development are found to be an outcome of the constantly restructuring dualist land system, which has led to new land development. An exploration of the land development process provides insights into the changes that AAL has undergone given the influence of China’s socialist economy. Local governments have reformed the AAL system in an effort to maximize their own interest. Even though AAL is principally used to fulfil the government’s need for land to support public services, the availability of AAL for non-public land use that undermines the land market is still being used although at a lesser extent than before. Given that the land development process associated with AAL is increasingly controlled by local governments, the dualist land system has many far-reaching implications for the spatial structure of urban China. It is found that existing AAL is likely to be used for urban redevelopment, whereas new AAL shows a distinctive land use structure and spatial distribution of land use that differ from those of leased land. The spatial distribution is shown to be inconsistent. AAL displays unpredictable patterns in terms of industrial land use, yet the land size of AAL is increasingly affected by the land market mechanism. We challenge the perceived notion wherein AAL is seen as constituting ineffective land tenure and as giving rise to an improper spatial pattern. Instead, we emphasize the land use component, which points to the negative effects of using AAL as industrial land. On this basis, city planning should be strengthened to control the spatial development of AAL. We argue that the AAL regime is evolving to become more constructive in urban development with an emphasis on public land use and improved land use efficiency, and we suggest that the AAL regime should be further realigned to the land market in the future.