Slums amidst Ghost Cities: Incentive and Information Problems in China’s Urbanization

Abstract

ABSTRACT Contrasting elements of China's “urban sickness” are empty new apartment complexes abutting dilapidated but overcrowded structures. While scholarship has explored these issues separately, we show their common presence even in the least likely of cities. Why are ghost cities and slums simultaneously on the rise in China? Analysis of eight of China's “ghostliest” cities and in-depth case studies demonstrate how the pursuit of quantified targets generates these particular urban distortions. We argue that their joint rise exposes weaknesses of the regime's heretofore successful political economy model, which we summarize as the center's intentionally “limited vision” into local governance.