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Informality and the Development and Demolition of Urban Villages in the Chinese Peri-urban Area

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  • Fulong Wu
  • Fangzhu Zhang
  • Chris Webster

Abstract

The fate of Chinese urban villages ( chengzhongcun ) has recently attracted both research and policy attention. Two important unaddressed questions are: what are the sources of informality in otherwise orderly Chinese cities; and, will village redevelopment policy eliminate informality in the Chinese city? Reflecting on the long-established study of informal settlements and recent research on informality, it is argued that the informality in China has been created by the dual urban–rural land market and land management system and by an underprovision of migrant housing. The redevelopment of chengzhongcun is an attempt to eliminate this informality and to create more governable spaces through formal land development; but since it fails to tackle the root demand for unregulated living and working space, village redevelopment only leads to the replication of informality in more remote rural villages, in other urban neighbourhoods and, to some extent, in the redeveloped neighbourhoods.

Suggested Citation

  • Fulong Wu & Fangzhu Zhang & Chris Webster, 2013. "Informality and the Development and Demolition of Urban Villages in the Chinese Peri-urban Area," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 50(10), pages 1919-1934, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:50:y:2013:i:10:p:1919-1934
    DOI: 10.1177/0042098012466600
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    5. Pengjun Zhao & Mengzhu Zhang, 2016. "The Role of Villages and Townships in Informal Land Development in China: An Investigation on the City Fringe of Beijing," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(3), pages 1-21, March.
    6. Li Huang & Shougeng Hu & Shixiang Li & Zhenqi Fu, 2019. "Nonmarketization Bargaining and Actual Compensation Level for Land Requisition: A Qualitative Comparative Analysis of China’s Land Requisition Conflict Events," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(21), pages 1-24, November.
    7. Dinghuan Yuan & Yung Yau & Haijun Bao & Yongshen Liu & Ting Liu, 2019. "Anatomizing the Institutional Arrangements of Urban Village Redevelopment: Case Studies in Guangzhou, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-16, June.
    8. Kexi Xu & Geoffrey Qiping Shen & Guiwen Liu & Igor Martek, 2019. "Demolition of Existing Buildings in Urban Renewal Projects: A Decision Support System in the China Context," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-22, January.

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