Development Zones, Foreign Investment, and Global City Formation in Shanghai*

Abstract

The rapid economic ascent of China and the increasing integration of the world economy in the past two decades have made metropolises in China such as Shanghai and Beijing emerging global cities. Foreign investment is a central force underlying the emergence and transformation of the Chinese metropolises into global cities. This is especially true in Shanghai, which has experienced massive infusion of foreign investment. Varied forms of foreign investment or development zones have been created to promote foreign investment inflows, yet remain under-studied. This paper analyzes structure, performance, and underlying factors of development zones in Shanghai, and discusses the implications for global city-formation; it unfolds the variations among development zones, and illustrates the significant role of the state and local conditions. As the literature on global cities dwells primarily on the experiences of advanced economies, this paper further contributes to a better understanding of the dynamics of emerging global cities in the developing world. Copyright 2005 Blackwell Publishing Ltd..

Urban Land Expansion and Structural Change in the Yangtze River Delta, China

“…All these forces, thus, result in changes in the demand structures of land. Second, the drive for development zones (DZ) is also an important factor in urban growth in China [55,56]. In the process of attracting both foreign and domestic investment, urban governments tend to establish more and more DZs in the outskirts, which often lead to the agglomerated development of industrial land [57].…”

Urban Land Expansion and Spatial Dynamics in Globalizing Shanghai

“…Because DZs are established to attract foreign investment, foreign investment in its turn has become one of the most significant indicators influencing the spatial and structural transformation of urban China [4,5,11]. Some scholars have examined the relationship between land administration systems and the development of DZs [10], and others have focused on urban land use change inside DZs [12].…”

“…The institutional perspective has argued that urban growth in Chinese cities is shaped by the state and the market [2,9]. The scholars, from this perspective, have investigated the internal land use change of development zones (DZs) [10][11][12]. Other scholars from the neoclassical perspective have demonstrated that urban growth in China is influenced by accessibility and neighboring land use types [6,13,14].…”

Assessing the Driving Forces Influencing World City Formation in Shanghai Based upon PLS-SEM Approach

“…This construct is divided into four items. Wei and Leung (2005) proposed the notion of foreign direct investment is the major underlying forces for the emergence of global city, this pattern of global inflows contribute to the spatial and economic restructuring of urban economy. On the other hand, world city is perceived as the control city of global capital derived from international division of labour (Cohen, 1981;Friedmann, 1986).…”