China’s Urban Century–Governance, Environment and Socio-Economic Imperatives

The characteristics of urban governance in China: Evidence from best practices in the Yangtze River Delta Region

“…China's urban century has witnessed the rise of cities in its speed, scales, and economic output of urbanization (Chatterji, 2016), which are transforming China's urban governance system. China's institutional arrangement for urban governance challenges the dichotomy between the developmental country of authoritarianism and the entrepreneurial country of neoliberalism (Wu, 2016a).…”

“…China's urban governance practices have begun to receive scholarly attention in the urban studies literature (Chatterji, 2016;Deng, 2018;Wu, 2010Wu, , 2016a. This paper reviewed the institutional arrangement of urban governance from a macroscopic perspective in the second section.…”

“…Along with the Reform and Opening-Up, market reforms formed the core of this period. The period was characterized by the rapid urbanization, development, and transformation of China's cities, which received global attention because of their speed, scale, and economic output (Chatterji, 2016). Cities and urban construction were central to economic development and marketization, but the development pattern retained the tradition of a planned economy.…”

“…China pursued economic growth through its earlier versions of urban governance. Alongside rapid economic changes and urban development in China, China has gradually attached its attention to livelihood of citizens and governable social structure (Chatterji, 2016;UNDP, 2007UNDP, , 2013Wu, 2002). However, the party-state retains the core power of authority in urban governance and the government makes major strategic decisions of cities.…”

“…Wu (2002) reveals the transition of China’s urban governance toward a more market‐oriented economy before and around 2000. However, approaches to urban governance have been changing rapidly as cities struggle to adapt to the challenges in the twenty‐first century (da Cruz et al., 2019), especially in “China’s urban century” (Chatterji, 2016). In response to Wu’s (2002) call for more microscopic studies, many scholars have carried out single case studies to analyze the characteristics of and experiences in China’s urban governance practices after 2000 (Liu et al., 2012; Wu, 2010, 2016a; Ye, 2014; Ye & Björner, 2018).…”