Land and housing policy in Chinese urban development, 1976–86

Abstract

A brief consideration of how urban land and housing policy has been affected by shifts in Chinese development strategy since 1949 forms a useful backdrop against which to view current policies and practice. A programme of co‐ordinated land and housing development in the cities was often relegated during the 1950s and 1960s by priorities in production. The body of the paper outlines the administrative arrangements for co‐ordinating land and housing development at the level of the urban municipality. Then the approach during the last decade is examined, followed by the changes introduced with readjustment in the spheres of housing supply, tenure and allocation. In a concluding note mention is made of pending reforms to the urban land and housing systems that were under active consideration at the time of writing.