Spatial Urbanization Development in Guangzhou - Case Study Example

Spatial Urbanization Development in Guangzhou By + Spatial Urbanization Development in Guangzhou Introduction Guangzhou is a major urban area in China. It is the capital of the Chinese province of Guangdong (GZ, n.d., n.p.). The capital has a population exceeding six million people and covers more than 7,434 square kilometers (Chang, 2013, 23). The region of the Guangzhou municipality has an administrative boundary that consists of four cities at the county level, namely Chonghua, Panyu, Huadu and Zengcheng (China.org, 2014, n.p.). The administrative boundary also covers the city area of Guangzhou (UN, n.d., n.p). The Guangzhou city area covers eight districts: Dongshan, Liwan, Baiyun, Fangchun, Huanfpu, Tianhe, Haizhu and Yuexiu. The city area makes up approximately 1,434 square kilometers. This size accounts for about 19.4 percent of Guangzhou municipal region (Chaolin, Liya & Cook, 2012, 12). The Guangzhou area has a superior location in the Chinese southeastern coast. This makes Guangzhou distinct from all other places in the country, since Guangzhou has proven its ability to be a pioneer in the exploitation of new opportunities that arise from the era of reforms (Arkaraprasertkul, 2007, 59). Guangzhou is one of the fastest growing urban areas in China (UN, n.d., n.p). This paper discusses the factors that promote spatial urbanization development in Guangzhou, explaining how different factors contribute to the city’s urbanization and how the municipal authorities sustain these factors as they seek to ensure Guangzhou continues to be one of the fastest developing urban areas in China and globally (Betchart, 2005, 76). The factors that contribute to Guangzhou’s spatial urbanization development are as discussed below. Devolution of Power In China, the central government realized the importance of devolving power to the grassroots. By devolving power to the municipalities, the central government ensured the municipal authorities could provide the basic amenities available in the urban areas to the rural areas (Shin, 2014, 3). The devolution of power and funds to other areas other than the larger cities such as Shanghai contributed to better service provision. With better service provision in smaller towns, more people are attracted to settle (Altrock, 2014, 34). Guangzhou is the capital of a province located in the southwestern coast of China (UN, n.d., n.p). The location of Guangzhou gives it immense potential for growth (Ye, 2012, 2). With devolution of power, the municipality leadership has a considerable amount of money to establish development projects. Some of the development projects established by the municipality leaders address functions such as security and provision of basic amenities such as building of schools, distribution of water and establishment of hospital to provide health care (Fang, 2009, 53). Devolution of power reduces the time taken to make decisions on development matters. In Guangzhou, for instance, the party secretary works with the mayor in setting up a committee tasked with planning and making decisions (Wu & Webster, 2010, 77). The time taken to set up this committee is relatively short when compared to the time it would take for a representative of the central government to convey the needs of the province and lobby for funds for development and special projects (Arkaraprasertkul, 2007, 88). This would have the effect of delaying the rate at which urbanization would occur in Guangzhou (Nas, 2005, 115). The committee, financed by both the Chinese central government and taxes collected by the province, also coordinates consultative leadership activities, therefore engaging the public on development projects (UOC, n.d., n.p.). This contributes to rapid growth because the needs of the people can convey their needs and the Guangzhou leadership can address them on a real time basis, implementing them on time (Shin, 2014, 7). Aside from that, devolution of power has played a major role in urbanization in the sense that there is better representation of the Guangzhou people (China.org, 2014, n.p.). The region has taken advantage of better representation to create bodies, commissions and special task forces that the provincial and local governments have used to increase the rate of urbanization (Henderson, 2009, 39). Examples of such establishments are such as the Pearl River Delta Planning Office and the development and reform Program that serves the Guangzhou area (Ye, 2012, 6). These establishments have adequate budgetary allocation to fund their activities. Some of these activities include the distribution of funds meant for specific projects and assigning tasks to different individuals and departments in Guangzhou. This has increased the rate with which Guangzhou becomes urbanized (Chang, 2013, 34). The Chinese central government previously undertook these and other similar functions, therefore slowing down the rate of development and, subsequently, urbanization in Guangzhou (Nas, 2005, 116). In 2010, Guangzhou hosted the Asian Games. By hosting these games, the leadership of Guangzhou indicated their most preferred style of politics: scalar politics. All efforts and processes put in place sought to ensure the restructuring of Guangzhou, consolidating its position of the main city in the southern parts of China (Song & Liu, 2014, 11). The government of Guangzhou managed to negotiate with the central government to build facilities for the games. Guangzhou managed to record considerable expansion of its geopolitics (China.org, 2014, n.p.). One of the results of hosting the games was that Guangzhou addressed the urgent need of enhanced accumulation and production capacities, therefore being able to accommodate more people (Henderson, 2009, 43). Further, Guangzhou gained recognition for the facilities it had created, since they are world class (Shin, 2014, 12). The net effect of such investment in infrastructure is that Guangzhou unlocked the potential it had in the development of real estate. In both the short run and in the end, such ventures increased the rate at which urbanization was happening in Guangzhou (Su & Fath, 2012, 59). Urban Planning Guangzhou has many plans that guide its action. It is imperative to note that there are more than 15 five-years plans developed for Guangzhou to use and develop urbanization (UOC, n.d., n.p.). One of the major plans put in place by the Guangzhou committee of the Guangzhou community is the Program of development and reform of the PRD region, which provides a roadmap for the development of social and economic structures within the region between the years 2008 and 2020 (UOC, n.d., n.p.). This plan highlights the need to develop Guangzhou into a cultural city that attracts tourists from all over the world, aside from establishing the status of Guangzhou as a business center that competes with the best cities in the world (Yu & Ng, 2007, 96). The CPC committee seeks to build on the success recorded through hosting the Asian games of 2010 to plan for bigger and similarly significant events in the future (GZ, n.d., n.p.). This will involve the improvement of the general plan of Guangzhou as a city (Su & Fath, 2012, 89). Among the plans in place that would increase the rate of urbanization in Guangzhou, include the establishment of a better drainage system (Arkaraprasertkul, 2007, 109). The number of Guangzhou residents overwhelms the current drainage system, leading to inefficiency of the system and regular damages (Logan, 2008, 6). The current Guangzhou transport system also needs redesigning (Dunnett & Hitchmough, 2014, 104). Considerable development is, however, visible from the creation and expansion of existing facilities such as the Guangzhou airport, subways and better made roads (Henderson, 2009, 47). Aside from that, Guangzhou has an opportunity to exploit its capability to innovate better urban systems that improves housing and provision of social and basic amenities to accommodate the increased number of new residents and tourists visiting Guangzhou (Altrock, 2014, 60). Spatial Development The Chinese government has in recent history embarked on a process of formulating and implementing policies regarding the urban spatial order based on the philosophy of ‘joining the west’ (Betchart, 2005, 76). In coordination with the Guangzhou municipal authorities, the central government of China has recorded considerable success in formulating plans, mostly five-year schemes, which is instrumental in planning for spatial urbanization across city borders (Song & Liu, 2014, 18). The urban space in China consists of two spatial scales. One spatial scale is on the city’s internal space. This is the metropolitan area, and it involves spatial restructuring, spatial transformation, spatial inequality and the new space (Chaolin, Liya & Cook, 2012, 43). The main concept in the metropolitan space is the centralization-decentralization relations and the land power. You-Tien Hsing came up with a proposal of a new order of territories, which sought to make land power the main concept, over centralization-decentralization relations (Yu & Ng, 2007, 105). This proposal made a clear explanation concerning the spatial orders and power relations in China (Gong, Liu & Xia, 2009, 222). The second spatial scale is work done on the urban system in the region (Dunnett & Hitchmough, 2014, 106). Guangzhou has spatial relations with other urban areas as well (Logan, 2008, 11). A good example is the spatial relations between Guangzhou and Foshan (Daniere & Douglass, 2009, 118). Both Foshan and Guangzhou have immense potential for growth and expansion. One of the projects that propelled growth in the two cities was the expressway connecting Foshan and Guangzhou (Wu & Webster, 2010, 95). In addition to that, the completion of infrastructure supporting regional transportation and development of real estate have played a major role in developing urbanization in both Guangzhou and Foshan (Chang, 2013, 57). Such spatial relations have helped in the development of Guangzhou as an urban area (Ye, 2012, 35). The spatial relations contributed to the development of urbanization in the sense that the two governments- the government of Guangzhou and the government of Foshan- have jointly decided to spur investments in important sectors of the economy (Daniere & Douglass, 2009, 118). Some of the investments coordinated by the two governments include investments in land use, construction, public services, infrastructure and landscape (Song & Liu, 2014, 37). Investments in these areas have increased growth in urbanization, since more people are attracted to urban areas with such developments (Altrock, 2014, 62). Further, such projects attract unemployed labor, as recorded during the creation of the transport network between Foshan and Guangzhou (Fang, 2009, 87). Infrastructural developments in Guangzhou accredited to urbanization include the Guangzhou airport, the rail transit, high-speed railway subways, higher density roads and the inter-city expressway (Chaolin, Liya & Cook, 2012, 66). Conclusion The Guangzhou area is a model of an urban area away from the capital that has, and still is, in the process of recording rapid growth and urbanization resulting from exploiting the drivers of urbanization. With more people migrating to the city, the management continues to put in measures to ensure that the residents get access to basic amenities and live comfortably (Gong, Liu & Xia, 2009, 224). The city has adopted the latest technology and trends in construction and maintenance, helping the city get closer to achieving the target it wants: to become one of the biggest cities globally, especially when it comes to business (Logan, 2008, 21). The attractive architecture and improved facilities also attract tourists and investors into the Guangzhou, increasing its rate of urbanization, which currently stands at more than 88% (China.org, 2014, n.p.). Bibliography Altrock, U. (2014). Maturing megacities the Pearl River Delta in progressive transformation. Dordrecht: Springer. Arkaraprasertkul, N. (2007). Socio-Spatial Conflicts over Urban Space inContemporary Shanghai. Urbanization and Housing, 73(27), 59-109. Shin, H. B. (2014). Urban spatial restructuring, event-led development and scalar politics. Urban Development, 3(2), 2-17. Betchart, W. B. (2008). Delta infrastructure drivers of change, strategies, and policy options. Cupertino, CA: Will B. Betchart. Bracken, G. (2012). 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Spatial and temporal dynamics of urban sprawl along two urban–rural transects: A case study of Guangzhou, China. Landscape and Urban Planning, 79(1), 96-109. Read More