China's informal urbanisation: conceptualisation, dimensions and implications

Abstract

This article deals with the meaning and dimensions of informal urbanisation in post-socialist China, which has been undertaking reforms to its centrally planned economy while continuing the Lewis dual-economy transition since the late 1970s. It first combines the literature on economic transition of the urban labour market with Chinese experience of systemic transformation to contribute to a conceptual understanding of informal urbanisation. It demonstrates that it is both the legacy and new configurations of the Chinese reformed socialist system that have created the ‘exclusive’ and therefore informal feature of urbanisation under the economic and systemic transitions. On that basis, the article explores the extent of China's informal urbanisation, which is decomposed into demographic, employment and habitat dimensions. This shows that informality represents a constituent part of urbanisation in China. By systematically exploring the special features of China's informal urbanisation, the article also contributes to the growing body of research that emphasises the Chinese urbanisation as a unique process in studying space-economy.