Socio-economic driving factors
4.2 Socio-economic driving factors
We would like to highlight several socio-economic factors that have been extremely relevant for recent urban expansion of our selected cities: (1) economic development, especially industrialization; (2) institutional factors such as urban land market controls and national development policies; and (3) social characteristics such as history, ethnicity, and cultural factors.
First, urbanization of Asian cities has closely corresponded to their economic development, especially industrialization. The Chinese coastal cities Shanghai and Hangzhou have led urbanization over the other cities, mainly due to their existing developed urban economy and because of the further opening of their economies in the 1990s. The private sector, and especially foreign investment, has facilitated the urban transformation in Hangzhou (Liu et al, 2011). In contrast, in-land cities and major cities in dryland East Asia have facilitated their urbanization only after 2000, when their economic growth rates accelerated. Urbanization and economic development in coastal mega cities have been well-studied (Wu, 1998; Wei and Li 2002; Han et al, 2009; Luo and Wei 2009; Fan and Qi, 2010; Yue et al, 2010; Liu et al, 2011), here we focus on linking the economic development, especially industrialization with urbanization in Chongqing and other major cities in dryland East Asia.
Chongqing’s industrialization contributed to its urbanization. Chongqing, the largest city and the prefectural city in the western China, is of historical significance as a national wartime capital and was designated a traditional industrial base in the era of “third-line” defense. At that time, Chongqing was developed into one of the largest industrial bases in China through the relocation of manufacturing units from coastal areas and via newly built military enterprises. Industrialization not only boosted the urban economy, but also facilitated the increase of urban population and conversion of urban land use. Today most of military enterprises have been converted to civilian ones, such as Chang’an Automobile Group, Jialing Moto Group and Construction Engineering Group. In recent decades, Chongqing’s industrialization has been enhanced through its linkages with the global economy as large international firms, such as the Ford Motor Company, Hewlett- Packard (HP) from the United States, and Foxconn from Taiwan, which have all opened subsidiaries in Chongqing.
Similarly, economic growth, especially industrialization, is the most distinguishing factor behind the rapid urban expansion of our selected cities and is highly associated with the pollution loads of the cities. In our field visit to Urumqi, we witnessed the large-scale conversion of agricultural or grazing land to urban land along the urban fringe, mostly for industrial uses. Other cities followed the same trajectory (Liang et al, 2010; Li et al, 2008). The intensification of three major air pollutants, i.e., particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen dioxide, in our selected cities indicated the linkage between industrialization, urbanization and urban environment degradation. As the wealth of city residents increased, life style changes and social infrastructure upgrading has become another major cause of urban land conversion (to urban residential land), air pollution (due to automobile usage), and water shortages (due to increased per capita usage as well as increase of urban population).
Second, institutional factors, such as the development of urban land/property market and the national development policies, have substantially affected the urban development of our selected cities.
In the post-reform era, China set up a new type of urban land tenure system whereby the government retains the ownership of land but sells land use rights (LUR) through a market mechanism (Chan, 1999; Li et al, 2000; Liu, 1997). Nevertheless, a dual-track land use system exists in which both administrative land allocation and market LUR transfers are utilized simultaneously. Furthermore, China started to transition into a market-based urban housing system in 1993 (Chen et al, 1996; Lim and Lee, 1993; Tong and Hays, 1996). The changing land/property market became an important driver for urban sprawl in China, expanding urban boundaries at an accelerating rate. Large-scale private or quasi-private investments were particularly favored by local authorities, due to the potential revenues that such land transactions bring to local governments (Zhang and Fang, 2004). All major cities in China have experienced rapid urban expansion and the astonishing rise of real estate prices, including provincial capitals, in China’s coastal, in- land, and arid regions. For instance, the market has played an increasingly important role in shaping Hangzhou’s urban landscape, particularly by driving the relocation of state owned enterprises (SOEs), forming additional housing demand from migrants, and the involvement of foreign direct investment (Liu et al, 2011).
The national development policy in China and planning and development in Mongolia after the market reforms have had considerable impact on urban development. It is well known that Shanghai’s urban development was greatly facilitated after Shanghai Pudong Area was designated by the State Council as a Special Development Zone. For Hangzhou, administrative annexation and the set up of development zones serve as the primary forces for making more land available for urban development and forming sub- centers. Further, the rapid urban sprawl of Chongqing and major cities in China’s Northwest has to be considered in the context of China’s national development policy. The West China Development Program (WCDP) set forth by the central government in 2000 had a great influence on the development of our selected cities and their respective regions at large. One of the central goals of the WCDP was to decrease the inequality of regional development, as the first two decades of China’s economic reform mainly benefited east coast areas, and the western region fell far behind the national average in GDP per capita. Before the WCDP, from 1996 to 1999, Urumqi’s GDP per capita grew at
a slow 2.6%. However, after the WCDP, the city’s economy exploded, and its GDP per capita grew at a rate of 14.5% from 2000 to 2006, higher than the national average.
In particular, Chongqing’s urban development has benefited from many preferential policies and investments from the central government, especially after Chongqing was designated by the central government as the fourth prefectural city in China, and the only one in China’s west, in 1997. Preferential policies, such as “West Development Program” policies, and reforms for coordinated and balanced urban-rural development, have allowed Chongqing to test out new approaches of urbanization. Particularly, the Chongqing Liangjiang New Area was established with the approval of the State Council in 2010 to model the development of Shanghai Pudong New Area and Tianjin Binhai
2 New Area. Covering a total area of 1,205 km 2 and 550 km for construction, Liangjiang New Area will play an important role in industrialization and urban development in
Chongqing.
Similarly, Ulaanbaatar’s urban development and environment conditions have been significantly shaped by institutional factors, especially the market economy. The political change in 1990 promoted the market economy and completely changed the urban development process in Mongolia. While before 1990, urban development in Ulaanbaatar as well as other Mongolian cities was entirely planned, owned, and controlled by the government, after 1990, many urban developments occurred without any control and the private sector became significantly involved, leading to the increased commercialization of the city’s center and inner city region, urban expansion in formal and informal Ger areas, the formation of satellite towns around Ulaanbaatar and increasing suburbanization featuring single family houses (Amarsaikhan et al, 2011). In particular, the expansion of Ger areas, appearing after 1990, have become a major consequence of Ulaanbaatar’s urbanization, housing 58% of its urban residents and occupying 70% of the geographic area of Ulaanbaatar (Amarsaikhan et al, 2011; Amarbayasgalan, 2008). Most Ger areas are built with insufficient or without necessary infrastructure including heating, potable water, sewage, solid waste collection, and public transit. Ger areas have become a major source of urban environment pollution and the de facto slums (Herro et al, 2003; ADB, 2008; Guttikunda, 2008).
Finally, urban development of our selected cities should be examined through a social lens, because of their unique historic, ethnic, and cultural characteristics. Urumqi, Yinchuan, and Hohhot are provincial capitals of China’s ethnic autonomous region with high concentrations of ethnic minorities such as Uyghur, Huis, and Mongol. The recent tragic ethnic clash in 2009 between the Han majority and Uyghur minority attracted national and international attention. The Chinese government’s ability to effectively build harmonious ethnic relationships in Xinjiang and other regions of Northwest, either through economic development, migration strategy, policy incentives, or a combination of all three measures, will be critical to the sustainability of these cities.