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ABSTRACT
Towards the end of the twentieth century, polycentricity was introduced into China as a planning concept. Subsequently a number of super/mega city regions began to adopt polycentric development spatial planning strategies, which are designed to facilitate more sustainable and balanced development. This paper seeks to identify the main differences in application of polycentricity between China and the West, and explore the major emerging thematic strands of polycentric development practice, as illustrated through an evaluation of master planning in eight super/mega city regions across China. In particular, the paper highlights the divergent interpretations of polycentricity in master plan-making practice and shows how plans have been adjusted to help deliver the idea of polycentric development. Although the concept of polycentricity is relatively new in China, it has already become a normative approach used to determine future spatial structures. While there is an absence of an articulated rationality to ‘decide’ whether this is (or should be) an ‘ideal’ model, already it has gone beyond Western approaches of initially using polycentricity as an interpretative tool to describe urban realities.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1. Multi-centres include the core area of Zhongguan Village High-tech Park, Olympic central area, the Central Business District (CBD), Technology Innovation Centre behind Haidian Mountains, Shunyi modern manufacturing base, Tongzhou comprehensive service centre, Yizhuang high-tech industries development centre, Shijingshan comprehensive service centre, etc.