Urban Renewal In China: The Long Road From Top-Down to Bottom-Up

Abstract: China’s cities are currently facing immense challenges due to the vast rural-urban migration that has been triggered by the country’s market-transition. The country’s rapid, top-down implemented, urban (re)developments have answered the call to a certain extent. However, the startling pace and scale of the projects has caused concerns internationally about the sustainability of its urban planning and governance. International scholars of urban planning are demanding a shift towards increased public participation in the Chinese planning processes. At the same time, western ideas of good governance are being promoted in the country by international development organizations and academics. Through an extensive literature review, this thesis tries to understand the historical and contemporary relevance of public participation and ”good” (urban) governance in Asia’s Rising Giant. It then tries to identify possible problems that the western promoters of these concepts could run into in the country. In order for the thesis to ”touch ground”, the urban renewal practice of two Chinese cities is put under closer analysis. The study concludes that the country is standing at a point in time where it has become accustomed to a long standing form of top-down governance and planning that is quite opposite to what the dominant western discourses are promoting. Various cultural and historical factors may have a negative impact on attempts of power decentralization. The two case studies of also indicate a range of potential obstacles that promoters of participatory planning might face in the country.