By Zhuo Xian, Research Team on "An Outlook of China's Economic Growth in the Next Ten Years" of DRC

Research Report No 103, 2015 (Total 4788)

Abstract:

The urbanization rate in China is still experiencing a rapid growth, but the growth rate has dropped to the lowest level in the past 19 years. The proportion of non-agricultural employment overtakes that of the urbanization rate and the employment rate in the urban areas, with the overt features of "local urbanization" (i.e. people from rural areas nearby gained urban residency). According to the rate of urbanization in this paper, the rates of local urbanization in most provinces are over 20%, except Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong and Tianjin, with the nationwide rate being up to 40.2%. Excessive rate of local urbanization would lead to a decrease in land employment efficiency. What's more, it may result in obstacles for professional division of labor and the development of producer service industry in east China. However, the internet effect of transportation infrastructure can, with the help of local urbanization, improve the service efficiency of roads in cities. In order to lead the local urbanization to develop scientifically, different modes of local urbanization should be conducted according to the features in different regions. Efforts should be made to enhance the industry basis of local urbanization, the management system of the city should be perfected and the standards to divide rural and urban areas should be adjusted. In this way, a net of rural and urban areas with professional functions and reasonable layout would be formed.