From New Town to 'Ghost Town': Lessons from the Cases in Yangtze River Delta

Abstract

As the claim of many ‘ghost towns’ emerged in China since 2000s, it has aroused increasing social-economic concerns as well as governmental policy responses to ‘destock’ and refrain from the development of new towns and new districts at local level. This dissertation contains an exploratory study that aims to clarify the concept of ghost town by making typological generalization from historical cases. It then specifies the scope of China’s emerging ‘ghost towns’ as those originated from unsuccessful new town development projects featured by highly vacant properties. With a focus on cities in Yangtze River Delta region, it examines the general context of YRD in terms of population growth, urban and economic development. Illustrated by the empirical analysis of two representative cases of Wujin District in Changzhou and Tianducheng in Hangzhou, it argues that inappropriate development strategies as well as underlying institutional arrangement towards neoliberal capitalism fosters such ‘ghost town’ phenomenon. While the situation can possibly be rectified, lessons and implications are twofold: under decentralization, new town development strategy should be differentiated based on city positioning; and under privatization, mega city development is not going to work successfully by solely relying on the private sector.

Revealing the Current Situation and Strategies of Marine Ranching Development in China Based on Knowledge Graphs

“…At present, there are few studies related to the combination of marine ranching and recreational fishery in China, and relevant laws and regulations still need to be improved. At this critical moment of transformation, it is necessary to learn more from the advanced experience of many countries and to enhance the management model according to local conditions [62,90].…”

“…The marine environment is closely related to the growth and reproduction of fish [62]. Currently, the focus is on the development of global industry and the discharge of wastewater polluting the marine ecosystem.…”