State-Sponsored and Spontaneous Urbanization in the Pearl River Delta of South China, 1980-1998

Abstract

State-sponsored urbanization prevailed in the prereform China. A new track of spontaneous urbanization has emerged since 1978. However, state-sponsored urbanization has continued to be an important process of urbanization in the reform period. The Chinese pattern of urbanization since 1978 is distinguished by dual-track urbanization. This paper uses the dualtrack urbanization approach to examine the urbanization process in Pearl River Delta in the reform period. Whether urbanization takes place in main cities or low-order settlements has been a lasting theme of the urbanization inquiry. This issue is assessed by an analysis of the relative concentration and deconcentration of urban population among four groups of settlements: the primate city, cities with special economic zones, prefecture-level cities and county-level cities/counties. Contrary to previous research, it is found that both state-sponsored and spontaneous urbanization are driving a dispersed pattern of urbanization in the region.

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