China's Cities: Divisions and Plans

Abstract

Jeremy Wallace, Associate Professor, Department of Government, Cornell University - China’s cities are home to one in ten human beings. During the past decade, nearly 200 million people in China have migrated from rural to urban areas. Eight million more—the equivalent of New York City—are expected to join them every year until 2050. Rapid urbanization has brought about improvement in living standards as well as huge social challenges. The Chinese government has managed the process of urbanization as it plays a central role in efforts to shift to a more socially equitable, economically sustainable, and environmentally sound model of development. But realizing these aims will require innovation on an absolutely unprecedented scale. Policy and governance challenges abound, in areas including pollution, transportation, housing, and education, among others. This lecture describes some of the collaborative research undertaken on these topics by Cornell’s Institute for Social Sciences China’s Cities team.