Rethinking China's urbanization: an institutional innovation perspective

Abstract

During the past two decades, China has witnessed a rapid rate of urbanization and is faced with unique problems due to the country's natural resources, history, society, economy and culture. The role of institutions is examined as a fundamental ingredient for sustainable urbanization in a Chinese perspective. The context within which China's urbanization is proceeding is analysed and the urbanization progress is briefly reviewed. The contradictions exposed in the urbanization progress are identified and the institutional defects behind these problems are analysed: the over-reliance on gross domestic product (GDP) as an indicator, inappropriate assessment systems for local government, the urban–rural dual structure, the legal system, and building regulations. It is concluded that China's urbanization progress is too fast to be sustainable and that accomplishing sustainable urbanization in developing countries, particularly during their transformational period, cannot be best understood in terms of technical and monetary factors. Instead, the urbanization process can be formulated within a context of institutional innovation. Essential institutional innovations at both the central and local government levels are required: improving the performance appraisal system to regulate officials' behaviour; reforming the dual socio-economic system to cure ‘town–country syndrome’; strengthening the legal system to bring it more in line with the requirements of a market-oriented economy; and revising building codes and standards to implement green plans and programmes. The ‘scientific perspective of development’ proposed by China's new national leadership indicates a break from an overwhelming emphasis on GDP growth, and is expected to provide a multifaceted approach giving impetus to a more sustainable approach to urbanization.

Au cours des deux dernières décennies, la Chine a connu une urbanisation rapide; elle est aujourd'hui confrontée à des difficultés uniques qui ont pour origine les ressources naturelles du pays, l'histoire, la société, l'économie et la culture. Cet article examine le rôle des institutions en tant qu'élément fondamental d'une urbanisation durable dans une perspective chinoise. L'auteur explore le contexte dans lequel la Chine s'urbanise et analyse le processus d'urbanisation. L'auteur souligne les contradictions qui marquent le progrès de l'urbanisation et analyse les défauts institutionnels sous-jacents à ces problèmes: dépendance trop importante du produit intérieur brut (PIB) en tant qu'indicateur, systèmes d'évaluation inappropriés pour les administrations locales, double structure urbaine–rurale, système juridique et réglementations concernant les bâtiments. Il en conclut que l'urbanisation de la Chine est beaucoup trop rapide pour être durable et que l'urbanisation durable dans les pays en développement, notamment pendant leur période de transformation, ne peut être comprise en termes de facteurs techniques et monétaires. Au lieu de cela, le processus d'urbanisation peut être formulé dans un contexte d'innovation institutionnelle. Il faut innover au niveau des institutions, que ce soit au niveau central ou local: il faut améliorer le système d'évaluation des performances afin de régir le comportement des fonctionnaires; il faut réformer le double système socio-économique afin de remédier au syndrome de la ‘ville-état’; il faut renforcer le système juridique pour qu'il soit mieux aligné sur les exigences d'une économie de marché et il faut réviser les codes de la construction et les normes afin de mettre en œuvre des plans et des programmes écologiques. La ‘perspective scientifique du développement’ proposée par les nouvelles instances dirigeantes nationales chinoises fait apparaître une rupture due à une importance écrasante accordée à la croissance du PIB; cette perspective devrait aboutir à une méthode à facettes multiples qui donnerait de l' élan à une approche plus durable de l'urbanisation.

Mots clés: parc bâti, villes, gouvernance, innovation institutionnelle, planification, politique publique, développement urbain durable, urbanisation, Chine

Keywords:

• building stock
• cities
• governance
• institutional innovation
• planning
• public policy
• sustainable urban development
• urbanization
• China

Acknowledgement

The research reported was supported by the Ministry of Construction (Grant No. 03-1-38) and Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (Grant No. Y2005H03). The authors would like to thank Mr Lü Zhenhua for his constructive amendments to the first draft of this paper. The authors are grateful for the comments from anonymous referees and the Editor on a previous version of this paper. Of course, the responsibility for text is solely with the authors.

Notes

1. On 9 January 1958 the Chinese government enacted the first household registration regulation, establishing a relatively complete household registration system. This system classified Chinese citizens into rural and urban residents. Under this system urban residents enjoyed substantially different treatment from rural dwellers in many aspects, involving employment, housing, education, medical treatment, taxation and social welfare; the migration from rural to urban areas, or from small cities to big or medium-sized cities, was strictly restrained.

2. The Siheyuan (family house) is a typical form of traditional Chinese architecture, especially in the north of China. This is an enclosed courtyard with houses on four sides and inward-facing to protect occupants from the harsh winter winds and the dust storms of spring. Appropriately sized square courtyards help absorb sunshine in the wintertime. Siheyuans line the small lanes, or Hutongs, making up most of the central part of old Beijing. They still house many of the city's residents within the second ring road, which marks the boundary of old Beijing. As a result of the housing shortage, one Siheyuan now often houses several families and many courtyards have been filled with additional rooms; very few have private toilets or washrooms. There are some grand Siheyuans in Beijing that have been preserved in all their former glory. Most of them were built for nobles and high officials a century ago, and some have been turned into museums.

3. Driven by a performance-purchasing motive, many economic zones were set up without normal planning. In some localities more than 35% of fiscal revenue came from land transactions. By the end of 2002 enclosed land under the name of development zones had exceeded 30 000 km², which is the equivalent to the total area of the Chinese cities, forcing many farmers to give up farming. However, most of enclosed land remained idle because of a lack of financial capacity.