Abstract
In recent years, the construction of small towns in China has faced many challenges, hindering the sustainable development of small towns. This paper proposes that the traditional development model of small towns no longer meets the current demands, and it urgently needs updating. In the past two years, there has been an increase in the construction of characteristic small towns in China. This is a good beginning for the transformation development of small towns and would bring new opportunities. However, some problems have developed. One example is the emergence of the “blind town”, which means the governors cultivate a featured town blindly without objectively considering the reality of that area. These decisions have a negative impact on the future sustainable development of small towns. Therefore, the governors need to consider the basic conditions of the area, perform a scientific assessment, and present a clear cultivation strategy. This paper presents a preliminary scientific method for the characteristic development mode of small towns with “explore characteristic–evaluate characteristic–nurture characteristic” as the main line, which would be conducive to the characteristic transformation for the steady and sustainable development of small towns in China.
Highlights
As the world continues to urbanize, sustainable development, which may be seen as a successful attempt to reconcile the two seemingly contrasting paradigms of lasting economic growth and an efficient protection of environment and natural resources [1], depends increasingly on the successful management of urban growth [2]
Three questions are still unclear: (i) What is the specific connotation of a characteristic small town? (ii) What are typical irrational phenomena during the construction of a characteristic small town? (iii) How do governors scientifically achieve a characteristic development model for advancing sustainable development of small towns? This paper aims to answer these questions
On-site research, and some case studies, this paper summarizes the challenges regarding the development of characteristic small towns and proposes some rational thinking for the characteristic development models
Summary
As the world continues to urbanize, sustainable development, which may be seen as a successful attempt to reconcile the two seemingly contrasting paradigms of lasting economic growth and an efficient protection of environment and natural resources [1], depends increasingly on the successful management of urban growth [2]. China’s traditional economic pattern is resource- and labor-oriented [24], ignoring the improvement of infrastructure and protection of the ecological environment, which is incompatible with the rising trend for sustainable growth, while featured development models are different from traditional development types in that they pay more attention to the development quality, including industries, service functions, environment, culture, and other aspects, rather than the scale. They identify and explore local characteristics, whose advantages are given full play and cultivated into leading industries. Description: CNKI is the short form of China National Knowledge Infrastructure, which is currently the world’s largest dynamically updated journal full-text database in China
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