Mega Urban Projects in China

This book is the first systematic account of mega urban projects in China, covering their construction, operation and planning. It is a detailed examination of the planning and construction of Hongqiao and its impact on local residents. In short, the aim of this book is to examine the process of planning and development of the Hongqiao transportation and commercial zone, to explore its relationship to urban development and spatial restructuring in Shanghai, and in doing so to comment on and critique the nature of urban change in contemporary China, which is characterized as property- and infrastructure-driven. Mega urban projects are arguably the quintessential symbol of entrepreneurial urbanism, and it is no coincidence that they have become a familiar part of the urban scene throughout the world, not least in East Asia. They can be seen as both a consequence of, and a response to, the deindustrialization of leading cities, first in North America and Europe and then in East Asia, as economies transitioned to globalized neoliberalism. This book provides a comprehensive overview of the main features of the land-based urban growth coalition formed in Hongqiao by introducing the detailed picture of the Hongqiao project, and it outlines the recent example of the competitive rush to urban projects in China's largest cities that has led to the proliferation of new financial districts in Beijing and Guangzhou.

Yanpeng Jiang is currently based at East China Normal University as a research professor. He received his Ph.D. in Geography from the University of Leeds. Before joining the Department of Geography at the University of Hong Kong as a research fellow, he worked as a fellow in the College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University. His main research interests are urbanization, land, and social change and governance in contemporary China as well as comparative urban studies, development of global cities and inter-city competition, regional industrial transformation, and upgrading in the Asia-Pacific region. He published a series of papers in top journals of International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Environment Planning A, Environment Planning C, Urban Studies, Journal of Peasant Studies, etc.