From Three-Old Reconstruction to Expansion and Promotion: The Strategic Transformation of County-Level Cities in a Rapid Urbanization Area – A Case Study of Guangdong Province in Mainland China

Abstract

It is becoming more and more important to improve the efficiency of urban development land use during new-type urbanization, particularly in Guangdong province – a typical rapid urbanization area in mainland China. Under the dual challenges, including the external transfer of industries and labor force from Pearl River Delta and the internal urbanization of rural migrant workers, county-level cities in east, west and north of Guangdong are facing the developmental transformation. However, “three-old reconstruction” (san jiu gai zao) which is limited space, complex benefits and long duration, struggles to meet the developmental demand of county-level city opportunely and effectively. Thus, this paper systematically summarizes the basic characteristics and the main challenges of urban development land use, and explicitly points out the necessity and inevitability of moving from “three-old reconstruction” to “expansion and promotion” (kuo rong ti zhi) to improve the efficiency of urban development land use. Furthermore, this paper suggests analyzing the interacting and restricting relationships of “expansion and promotion” from the perspectives of priority, subjectivity and hierarchy in strategic implementation, in order to better balance the development of incremental land (zeng liang tu di) and the redevelopment of stock land (cun liang tu di) in county-level city in rapid urbanization area. Current study and practice, as it stands, are lacking in critical discussions about internal relations of “expansion and promotion”.