Comparison of Collective-Led and State-Led Land Development in China from the Perspective of Institutional Arrangements: The Case of Guangzhou

Jinkun Yang,Zhouqian He,Haitao Ma

doi:10.3390/land11020226

Abstract

The existing literature explains well how dual urbanization promotes land development and spatial expansion in China, but few studies have examined the emergence of state-led and village-led land development by measuring the urban expansion ratio from the perspective of institutional arrangements. To fill this gap, this study examines the spatial pattern and evolution of urban expansion and then explains the institutional dynamics in evolving different spatial forms of land development in Guangzhou. Among the findings of our research, two important points merit special attention. First, this study examines the emergence of collective-led and state-led development in Chinese cities from the perspective of institutions with the support of empirical evidence from Guangzhou. Herein, urban expansion intensity (UEI) was used to improve urban expansion as an evaluation index of urbanization speed. Second, the present study developed a theoretical framework based on land property rights from an institutional perspective to explain the two forms of land development in the dynamic urbanization process. From a broader theoretical perspective, diverse spatial forms of land development in Chinese cities contribute to the understanding of urban land expansion based on an institutional approach. The policy implication of this study is that the speed of urban expansion will gradually slow with the advancement of new urbanization, and growth in collective land in the urban area will gradually decrease. Land redevelopment policies and regulations should be taken into account for collective land in urban areas, which is necessary for sustainable urban development in China.

Highlights

Since the adoption of its reform and opening-up policy, China has experienced rapid urbanization, which has long attracted considerable attention from scholars and policy makers [1,2,3]
In China, rapid urbanization and the conversion of land from agricultural to urban use is based on two types of land ownership, namely (i) urban land owned by the state and (ii) collective land owned by village collectives [6]
The policy implication of this study is that the speed of urban expansion will slow in the future with the advancement of new urbanization and emphasis on ecological protection policies

Summary

Introduction

Since the adoption of its reform and opening-up policy, China has experienced rapid urbanization, which has long attracted considerable attention from scholars and policy makers [1,2,3]. The existing literature explains well how dual urbanization promotes land development and spatial expansion in China, but few studies have examined the emergence of state-led and villageled land development by measuring the urban expansion ratio from the institutional arrangement perspective. As a mega-city in China’s developed Pearl River Delta, Guangzhou has experienced rapid urbanization driven by both local government and villager collectives, and so can be used to compare the changes in state and collective land transformation in the past four decades. The goal is to examine the emergence of these two types of development in Chinese cities from the perspective of institutions in China, supported by empirical evidence from Guangzhou.

Institutional Perspective on Land Development in Chinese Urbanization

Diverse Spatial Forms of Urban Development in Guangzhou

Findings

Discussion and Conclusions