George C.S. Lin (Department of Geography; The University of Hong Kong)

This research investigates the diverse trajectories of urban redevelopment in five leading Chinese cities, namely Beijing, Wuhan, Guangzhou, Shanghai and Shenzhen. The remaking of China’s urban landscapes is found to be shaped not simply by forces of agglomeration economies or bid-rent dynamism but more by the contestation and negotiation between a fragmented authoritarian state and an increasingly sophisticated, albeit effectively manipulated, society. Contrary to normal expectation, urban redevelopment is found to be more prominent in the land supply of the cities in the less developed interior than others located in the demographically dense and economically advanced coastal regions. Administratively, urban redevelopment tends to prevail in those modes of land disposition that are either monopolized by the state or subject to close-door negotiation.