Categories
China Economics Trend Watching

Architecture & Urban Planning in China: Urbanization to drive growth

China’s urbanization will provide “sustainable investment” and become a key factor in bolstering the country’s growth during the coming five years […]

China’s urbanization will provide “sustainable investment” and become a key factor in bolstering the country’s growth during the coming five years, said a top policy adviser recently.

“The country’s urbanization rate is expected to increase by 1 percentage point every year for the next 20 years,” said Zheng Xinli, vice-president of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges (CCIEE).

The figure is predicted to rise from the current 47 percent to 57 percent in 2020, and to approximately 70 percent by the end of 2030, according to Zheng.

He said urbanization will be a significant contributor to the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) during the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015), and in the longer term. “By 2026, the country’s GDP is likely to exceed that of the United States and be the largest in the world,” he said.

According to research by CCIEE, GDP could reach $28.1 trillion 15 years from now, compared with a predicted $25.8 trillion for the US.

In 2010, China’s GDP accounted for 9.5 percent of the global total, overtaking Japan and becoming the second-largest global economy, according to the NBS.

“Our research suggests that one rural resident moving to an urban area will lead to investment of 100,000 yuan ($15,240) on infrastructure construction and public services,” said Zheng, also a top political adviser. He said the stimulus provided by accelerated urbanization means that economic growth is unlikely to slow.

Zheng said that by the end of 2030, China’s Yangtze River Delta is likely to outstrip the New York Metropolitan Area to become the world’s largest urban agglomeration.

“Considering that it could bring tens of millions of rural residents to the cities, and thus boost domestic consumption in real estate and a number of related industries, the urbanization process is bound to be a sustainable engine of China’s economic growth,” said Li Tie, director-general of the China Center for Urban Development at the Chinese National Development and Reform Commission.

The government may need to spend a total of 24 trillion yuan (nearly 4 trillion US dollars) on urban infrastructure by 2020 because the number of city residents will continue to increase, according to a report released by the China Development Research Foundation.

via Urbanization to drive China’s growth – China.org.cn.

By Itamar Medeiros

Originally from Brazil, Itamar Medeiros currently lives in Germany, where he works as VP of Design Strategy at SAP, where he leads the design vision for the entire Human Capital Management product line, ensuring cohesive product narratives and establishing best practices.

Working in the Information Technology industry since 1998, Itamar has helped truly global companies in multiple continents create great user experience through advocating Design and Innovation principles. Itamar has also served as a juror for prestigious design competitions and lectured on design topics at universities worldwide.

During his 7 years in China, he promoted the User Experience Design discipline as User Experience Manager at Autodesk and Local Coordinator of the Interaction Design Association (IxDA) in Shanghai.

Itamar holds a MA in Design Practice from Northumbria University (Newcastle, UK), for which he received a Distinction Award for his thesis Creating Innovative Design Software Solutions within Collaborative/Distributed Design Environments.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.