Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

acceptedVersion

Publication Date

12-2024

Abstract

This research bridges two influential strands of literature on urban China—state entrepreneurialism and homo urbanicus (城市人). By revisiting how China’s post-reform urban transformation has unfolded and connecting it to current development strategies, this research provides a fresh perspective on the country’s urbanization processes and their implications for future governance. The analysis proposes an alternative periodization of three phases: anti-migration urbanism, anti-settlement urbanism, and anti-civitas urbanism. Beyond understanding urbanization as a crisis-driven, state-rescaling phenomenon pivoting around the blending of state and market forces, this research repositions the concept of homo urbanicus, or the urban citizen, as central to understanding the urban question in China’s governance strategies. The study urges scholars to reconsider urbanization not only as a structural transformation but as a transformative redefinition of citizenship critical to understanding China’s ongoing drive to “people-centered urbanzation”.

Keywords

State entrepreneurialism, homo urbanicus, state rescaling, citizen, citizenship, people-centered urbanization

Discipline

Asian Studies | Industrial Organization | Urban Studies and Planning

Research Areas

Integrative Research Areas

Publication

Transactions in Planning and Urban Research

Volume

41

Issue

1

First Page

82

Last Page

100

ISSN

2754-1223

Identifier

10.1177/27541223241301989

Publisher

SAGE Publications

Copyright Owner and License

Authors

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1177/27541223241301989

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