30 Years of Urban Change in China’s 10 Core Cities

Title: 30 Years of Urban Change in China’s 10 Core Cities
Editors: Professor Ali Cheshmehzangi and Tian Tang
Publisher: Springer (2024)

Professor Ali Cheshmehzangi and independent researcher Tian Tang have co-authored a new book that investigates the major urban changes in China over the past 30 years and their impact on the country’s sustainable development agenda.

A follow-on from their award-winning 2022 book titled China’s City Cluster Development in the Race to Carbon Neutrality, which highlighted regional development issues, this 2024 volume explicitly explores China’s ten core cities, presenting a mapping study of their changes over three decades of rapid urbanisation. 

30 Years of Urban Change in China’s 10 Core Cities highlights each city’s development trends, sustainable development plans, and major strategies, and summarises lessons learnt from case study examples with the intention of guiding other developing and rapidly urbanising nations. 

Research for the book found that while China’s rapid urbanisation has seen cities with cutting-edge infrastructure and thriving economies, it has not come without challenges. The state of the environment has deteriorated significantly, the capacity for efficient planning has been frequently outpaced by the quick speed of development, and socioeconomic gaps have grown wider, making social cohesion and equity pressing concerns.  

Looking ahead, creating resilient, inclusive and dynamic urban environments will require a strong focus on sustainability, smart technologies, human-centric development and heritage preservation. The book aims to provide a greater understanding of the micro-history of China’s recent development, particularly aligned with sustainable development plans of its major regions, core cities and urban hubs. 

Read more about 30 Years of Urban Change in China's 10 Core Cities here.