Abstract
The adverse effects of rapid urbanization are of global concern. Careful planning for and accommodation of accelerating urbanization and citizenization (i.e., migrants gaining official urban residency) may be the best approach to limit some of the worst impacts. However, we find that another trajectory may be possible: one linked to the rural development plan adopted in the latest Chinese national development strategy. This plan aims to build rural areas as attractive areas for settlement by 2050 rather than to further urbanize with more people in cities. We assess the political motivations and challenges behind this choice to develop rural areas based on a literature review and empirical case analysis. After assessing the rural and urban policy subsystem, we find five socio-political drivers behind China’s rural development strategy, namely ensuring food security, promoting culture and heritage, addressing overcapacity, emphasizing environmental protection and eradicating poverty. To develop rural areas, China needs to effectively resolve three dilemmas: (1) implementing decentralized policies under central supervision; (2) deploying limited resources efficiently to achieve targets; and (3) addressing competing narratives in current policies. Involving more rural community voices, adopting multiple forms of local governance, and identifying and mitigating negative project impacts can be the starting points to manage these dilemmas.
Highlights
Today, more than half the world’s population lives in urban areas, a proportion that is expected to increase to 66% by 2050, and the number of cities in developing countries will have tripled by 2030 [1,2]
[30,49,56,57,58], but critical analysis on why it and determinants of success for policy implementation effectiveness outlined by Knill happened limited.4)we address possible motivations behind this choice by addressing the following three questions: Evidence used to support the above analysis is based on an extensive literature review What are the possible strategies to revive and develop rural of high-quality publications in English and Chinese and our communities field research sustainain rural China bly? (Q1)
Based on our literature review and field work in rural China from 2016 to 2020, we find three main dilemmas in putting the plan into practice based on examining China’s rural development experiences according to determinants of success for policy implementation effectiveness outlined by Knill and Tosun [65] (Q3)
Summary
More than half the world’s population lives in urban areas, a proportion that is expected to increase to 66% by 2050, and the number of cities in developing countries will have tripled by 2030 [1,2]. Under political pressure to satisfy urban residents—who often form large and economically powerful blocks—central governments have favoured urban areas and urban populations at the expense of rural populations. This is evident in suppressing prices of agricultural products, investing in urban industries and providing more generous and higher quality public services like transportation, health and education in cities [11,13]. Attracted by the higher income and greater opportunities that cities provide, and pushed by the growth of industrialized agriculture, many poor rural people migrate to urban areas temporarily or permanently as laborers [4,13,14].
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
