Heritage-led Urban Regeneration in China presents the detailed history of three well-known streets in China; the Southern Song Imperial Street at Hangzhou, the residential Pingjiang Street at Suzhou, and the commercial Tunxi Old Street at Huangshan.

"The book examines institutional innovation of urban regeneration in Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Shanghai, three Chinese cities that have experienced sweeping changes in recent years, providing an ideal guide to the process of development and practices of urban regeneration in China. As a starting point, the book revisits relevant theoretical developments and the institutional experiences of urban regeneration in some Asian pioneer cities and regions, such as Hong Kong, Taipei, Tokyo and Singapore. Moving on to the Chinese mainland cities themselves, the core comparative study investigates the institutional systems, key policies, planning formulations and implementation paths in the urban regeneration process of the three cities. The author then reveals gains and losses in each city's institutional construction and reformation, as well as the underlying reasons for these. Drawing on these case studies and comparisons, the book puts forward some generic rules on the institutional innovation of urban regeneration, offering a valuable reference for other cities and regions. The book will appeal to scholars interested in urban regeneration and renewal, as well as urban planners, architects, policymakers, and urban development administrators"--

The book examines institutional innovation in urban regeneration in Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Shanghai, three Chinese cities that have experienced sweeping changes in recent years, providing an ideal guide to the development of urban regeneration practices in China. As a starting point, the book revisits relevant theoretical developments and the institutional experiences of urban regeneration in some Asian pioneer cities and regions, such as Hong Kong, Taipei, Tokyo, and Singapore. Moving on to the Chinese mainland cities themselves, the core comparative study investigates the institutional systems, key policies, planning formulations, and implementation paths in the urban regeneration process of the three cities. Gains and losses that have resulted from each city's institutional construction and reformation are discussed, as well as the underlying reasons for these. Drawing on these case studies and comparisons, the book puts forward some generic rules for urban regeneration institutional innovation, offering a valuable frame of reference for other cities and regions. The book will appeal to scholars interested in urban regeneration and renewal, as well as urban planners, architects, policymakers, and urban development administrators.

This book examines urban development and its role in planning in China and other Asian cities. Starting with a substantial narrative on the history, development philosophy, and urban form of ancient Asian cities, it then identifies the characteristics of urban society and different phases of development history. It then discusses urbanization patterns in China with a focus on spatial layout of the city clusters in the Yangtze River Delta since the 20th Century. Lastly, it explores institutional design and the legal system of urban planning in China and other Asian cities. As a textbook for the “Model Course in English” for international students listed by the Ministry of Education in China, it helps international researchers and students to understand urban development and planning in Asian cities.

Wow! What a tour de force! This timely, masterly work does everything, from broad empirical comparison to theory, quantitative correlation to case studies of neighborhoods and quotations from individual life histories. Its findings from 25 neighborhoods in six cities demonstrate convincingly that urban destitution is not homogeneous, is concentrated in and generated by location, and has patterned institutional roots that produced varying processes of pauperization. This superb book must put to rest once and for all references to Chinese poverty as a matter of just the rural areas and their residents. Dorothy J. Solinger, University of California, Irvine, US Market reform has brought new forms of poverty to urban China, even while the standard of living of most urban residents has greatly improved. This research uses interviews with people in six cities to document their situation and to show how poverty is rooted in the failure of support systems in their neighborhoods and communities. It offers a stark evaluation of a system of inequalities that is only beginning to be addressed by state policy. John R. Logan, Brown University, US Urban poverty is an emerging problem. This book explores the household and neighbourhood factors that lead to both the generation and continuance of urban poverty in China. It is argued that the urban Chinese are not a homogenous social group, but combine laid-off workers and rural migrants, resulting in stark contrasts between migrant and workers neighbourhoods and villages. The expert authors examine the new urban poor in China and the dynamics of their poor neighbourhoods, highlighting both household experience and neighbourhood changes affecting the urban poor. Urban Poverty in China is based upon a comprehensive household survey in six Chinese cities and provides insights into microscopic and neighbourhood-level poverty dynamics. The comprehensive study explores the spatial implications such as concentration of poverty as well as the differentiation within poor neighbourhoods. This informative book tells an insightful story about evolving urban poverty in Chinese cities that will be invaluable to researchers and postgraduate students within urban studies, geography, social policy and development studies as well as Chinese and Asian studies. It will also prove to be an invaluable read for researchers in urban and social development and international development agencies.

Urban planning, regeneration and design is an essentially cultural practice with the outcomes often depending upon an understanding of and engagement with the past. As cities in China strive to be competitive and attractive on the world stage, their decaying historical urban fabrics are being transformed into vibrant places through historical-cultural led urban regeneration, however, the impact of their rapid development has escaped serious scrutiny. Heritage-led Urban Regeneration in China presents the detailed evolution of three well-known historic streets in China: the Southern Song Imperial Street in Hangzhou; the residential Pingjiang Street in Suzhou; and the commercial Tunxi Old Street in Huangshan. From their original formation to their more recent regeneration, this book offers a critical evaluation of historical-cultural led urban regeneration projects in China and provides theoretical guidelines for contemporary practice in relation to its tangible and intangible urban heritage. Using interdisciplinary research in architecture, urban design, history and cultural studies, Jing Xie and Tim Heath provide a detailed analysis of the conservation and regeneration efforts of China as an emerging and pivotal world power. An invaluable resource for urban designers, urban planners and architects interested in and working in China, Heritage-led Urban Regeneration in China helps its readers to engage with the essential and invisible factors that produce these revitalised places while forming a critical view towards these projects.

The book Towards Socially Integrative Cities deals with the transition towards urban sustainability through socially integrative cities in Europe and China. It shares the impactful original research results of an EU-funded R&I project involving eight European and six Chinese partners (TRANS-URBAN-EU-CHINA; see www.transurbaneuchina.eu). Three each of the six editors come from European and Chinese universities and research institutions. The first articles (No. 1–4) provide an overview and insights into the conceptual basis of the book. The socially integrative city is framed by discussions in academia and practice, and it is defined in a comprehensive way as an element of urban sustainability. Sustainability transitions in China are linked to international discussions and the challenges are articulated. Moreover, the discussions touch on the strengths and weaknesses related to managing urban growth and the rapid expansion of cities. Land development tools are discussed with regard to the opportunities they offer for creating socially integrative cities. A second set of articles (No. 5–9) focus on socially integrative urban regeneration of cities. After an overview of policies and strategies in Europe and China, detailed aspects are discussed, such as community building through public engagement, challenges of place-making, and the role of education and life-long learning. Finally, a manuscript on heritage preservation and its impact on social integration in urban regeneration concludes this section. A third set of articles (No. 10–13) look into issues of the transformation of cities and sustainability transitions. Transformation is understood as a complex set of interactions. The development of tools, such as community platforms for information and dialogue transfer, are discussed as an instrument to facilitate transition processes. The transformative capacity of cities in Europe and China is discussed in an article that looks into possibilities to narrow the gaps between urban planning and development. Smart and eco-cities in Europe and China are taken as an empirical base. Advanced methods, such as the Social Cost–Benefit Analysis, may support social integration. Finally, an example of how the use of multiple data sources can speed up the digital transition in cities and provide decision support for social integration is presented. The final set of articles (No. 14 and 15) deal with questions of replicability of experiences and the role of concrete urban experiments in so-called Urban Living Laboratories. Methods to explore the replication potential of urban solutions for socially integrative cities are discussed. Finally, the potential of urban living laboratories for nurturing open urban innovation in Chinese cities is scrutinized. Several examples are discussed, and conclusions regarding the enhancement of social integration in cities are drawn. The book is edited by Bernhard Müller (Technische Universität Dresden, TUD), Baojun Yang (China Academy of Urban Planning and Design, CAUPD), Liu Jian (Tsinghua University), Jianming Cai (China Academy of Sciences, CAS), Paulina Schiappacasse (TUD) and Hans-Martin Neumann (Austrian Institute of Technology, AIT).

After millions of migrants moved from China’s countryside into its sprawling cities a unique kind of ‘informal’ urban enclave was born – ‘villages in the city’. Like the shanties and favelas before them elsewhere, there has been huge pressure to redevelop these blemishes to the urban face of China’s economic vision. Unlike most developing countries, however, these are not squatter settlements but owner-occupied settlements developed semi-formally by ex-farmers turned small-developers and landlords who rent shockingly high-density rooms to rural migrants, who can outnumber their landlord villagers. A strong state, matched with well-organised landlords collectively represented through joint-stock companies, has meant that it has been relatively easy to grow the city through demolition of these soft migrant enclaves. The lives of the displaced migrants then enter a transient phase from an informal to a formal urbanity. This book looks at migrants and their enclave ‘villages in the city’ and reveals the characteristics and changes in migrants’ livelihoods and living places. Using an interdisciplinary approach, the book analyses how living in the city transforms and changes rural migrant households, and explores the social lives and micro economies of migrant neighbourhoods. It goes on to discuss changing housing and social conditions and spatial changes in the urban villages of major Chinese cities, as well as looking into transient urbanism and examining the consequences of redevelopment and upgrading of the ‘villages in the city’; in particular, the planning, regeneration, politics of development, and socio-economic implications of these immense social, economic and physical upheavals.

The danwei (workunit) has been the fundamental social and spatial unit of urban China under socialism. With particular focus on the link between spatial forms and social organization, this book traces the origins and development of this critical institution up to the present day.

Radically reoriented under market reform, Chinese cities present both the landscapes of the First and Third World, and are increasingly playing a critical role in the country’s economic development. Yet, radical marketization co-exists with the ever-presence of state control. Exploring the interaction of China’s market development, state regulation and the resulting transformation and creation of new urban spaces, this innovative, key book provides the first integrated treatment of China’s urban development in the dynamic market transition. Focusing on land and housing development, the authors, all renowned authorities in this field, show how the market has been ‘created’ under post-reform urban conditions, and examine ‘the state in action’, highlighting how changing urban governance towards local entrepreneurial state facilitates market formation. A significant, original contribution, they highlight the key actors and their institutional contexts. China has been very successful in using urban land development as an economic growth engine, and here the authors investigate complex interactions between the market and state in creating this new urbanism. Taking a unique perspective, they marshal original ideas and empirical work based on field studies and collaborative work with colleagues in China.