The new land development process and urban development in Chinese cities

The land development process has a profound influence on the urban development of a city. To understand urban development in Chinese cities, we need to understand the land development process. The land development process in China has experienced three stages of development - project-specific development, comprehensive development, and development under the system of paid transfer of land use rights. The recent introduction of the paid transfer of Land use rights which is similar to land leasing has created a dual market in China. The new land development process has significant impacts on Chinese cities as well as urban planning in China. This paper examines the different stages of the land development process and the associated complicated and often confusing dynamics of the four major types of land transaction. A black land market is emerging because of the difference in the de jure and de facto ownership of administratively allocated land which can be obtained from the municipal government at a low price but leased to other users at a high market price. The new land development process is rapidly restructuring the land uses and creating urban sprawls and new social areas in Chinese cities. it is also a challenge to the urban planning system which is weak on development control because of central planning in the past.