YIN Guanwen, LIU Yungang. Administrative Urbanization and City-making in Post-reform China:A Case Study of Ordos City, Inner Mongolia[J]. Chinese Geographical Science, 2017, 27(6): 891-903. doi: 10.1007/s11769-017-0919-1
Citation: YIN Guanwen, LIU Yungang. Administrative Urbanization and City-making in Post-reform China:A Case Study of Ordos City, Inner Mongolia[J]. Chinese Geographical Science, 2017, 27(6): 891-903. doi: 10.1007/s11769-017-0919-1

Administrative Urbanization and City-making in Post-reform China:A Case Study of Ordos City, Inner Mongolia

doi: 10.1007/s11769-017-0919-1
Funds:  Under the auspices of National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 41571130, 41271165, 41701177), Scientific Research Foundation for the Returned Overseas Chinese Scholars, State Education Ministry (No.[2015]1098), The Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, Collaborative Innovation Center for Geopolitical setting of Southwest China and Borderland Development (YNNU)
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  • Corresponding author: LIU Yungang.E-mail:liuyung@mail.sysu.edu.cn
  • Received Date: 2017-02-20
  • Rev Recd Date: 2017-06-09
  • Publish Date: 2017-12-27
  • In post-reform China, local governments, instead of the central state, have become major promoters of urbanization. Differing from the existing literature based on Western theories, this article argues that a localized perspective, ‘administrative urbanization’, can provide a contextual explanation for the mechanism of urbanization in the reform era. The case study of Ordos indicates that new town construction, especially in the inland area, has become the main strategy for investment attraction and economic development. The local government has played a dominant role in this construction through a series of administrative measures, including avoidance of central state regulations, land leasing, high standard infrastructure construction, relocation policies and industrial attraction. This article also explores the issue of unsustainability in the new town, and identifies that underdeveloped industrialization, slow population agglomeration and real estate bubbles are primary threats to the sustainability of administrative urbanization.
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Administrative Urbanization and City-making in Post-reform China:A Case Study of Ordos City, Inner Mongolia

doi: 10.1007/s11769-017-0919-1
Funds:  Under the auspices of National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 41571130, 41271165, 41701177), Scientific Research Foundation for the Returned Overseas Chinese Scholars, State Education Ministry (No.[2015]1098), The Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, Collaborative Innovation Center for Geopolitical setting of Southwest China and Borderland Development (YNNU)
    Corresponding author: LIU Yungang.E-mail:liuyung@mail.sysu.edu.cn

Abstract: In post-reform China, local governments, instead of the central state, have become major promoters of urbanization. Differing from the existing literature based on Western theories, this article argues that a localized perspective, ‘administrative urbanization’, can provide a contextual explanation for the mechanism of urbanization in the reform era. The case study of Ordos indicates that new town construction, especially in the inland area, has become the main strategy for investment attraction and economic development. The local government has played a dominant role in this construction through a series of administrative measures, including avoidance of central state regulations, land leasing, high standard infrastructure construction, relocation policies and industrial attraction. This article also explores the issue of unsustainability in the new town, and identifies that underdeveloped industrialization, slow population agglomeration and real estate bubbles are primary threats to the sustainability of administrative urbanization.

YIN Guanwen, LIU Yungang. Administrative Urbanization and City-making in Post-reform China:A Case Study of Ordos City, Inner Mongolia[J]. Chinese Geographical Science, 2017, 27(6): 891-903. doi: 10.1007/s11769-017-0919-1
Citation: YIN Guanwen, LIU Yungang. Administrative Urbanization and City-making in Post-reform China:A Case Study of Ordos City, Inner Mongolia[J]. Chinese Geographical Science, 2017, 27(6): 891-903. doi: 10.1007/s11769-017-0919-1
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