From Economic Zone to Eco-city? (PDF)

Chinese megacities are among the fastest growing urban areas in the word. This is specifically true for the rapidly developing regions on China's Eastern Coast. The greater metropolitan regions surrounding Shanghai, Guangzhou and Tianjin have undergone dramatic changes. Once primarily industry based economic areas, they have today transitioned into integrated towns where, hundreds of thousands of Chinese people live. This volume offers detailed insights into urban-industrial development of the Tianjin region. The author introduces the constellations of actors framing and negotiating urban visions and playing their role in the decision-making of the planning and implementation processes. The fascinating and contradictory urbanization processes of two development areas in Tianjin's coastal region, the Tianjin Economic and Technological Development Area (TEDA), and the Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-city, are documented and analyzed using a wide range of information sources including locally published texts, planning studies and interviews. A Mandarin speaker with experience as a practicing architect in China, the author presents a unique portrait of the complex inner workings of urban governance in China. Shared reflections from concerned stakeholders and the conclusions drawn are of interest not only to architects, developers, and urban planning officials, they are accessible to anybody seeking insights into power geometries in China.