China’s National Urban Agenda : Transition and Reframing Cities

Chinese cities have been transforming at a stunning speed and pace over the last forty years, as a result of the transition from a centrally planned (1949–1978) to a market economy launched by Deng Xiaoping’s economic reforms in the late Seventies (the so-called open door policy). Given China’s highly centralized political system, a national urban agenda—embodied in specific Five-Year Socio-Economic Development Plans—has been officially set up by the Communist Party of China since 1953. Yet, following the economic transition, a number of significant changes have progressively affected such agenda. These changes—we argue—have greatly modified the role and function of cities in Chinese politics, society, culture and economy, reframing the meanings and the values attributed to urban areas. The chapter discusses the strategies that the Chinese government has pursued in its national urban agenda since 1949, recalling the most important documents, plans, policies and programmes launched at the central level. It firstly explores the policy changes that occurred during the transition from the Maoist to the post-reform period; then, it presents and discusses the new urban agenda and model of urbanization introduced in 2014 to achieve sustainable development for the whole Country.