A night view of Shenzhen, Guangdong Province in south China, on September 16, 2020 (XINHUA)  

“China’s decades-long process of urbanization is now shifting its focus from infrastructure to personal well-being, in other words, from the urbanization of places to the urbanization of people,” said Lu Xiaobei, Deputy Director of the China Academy of Urban Planning and Design, in an online panel discussion during this year’s Oxford China Forum.  

Founded in 2013, Oxford China Forum is Oxford University’s primary forum for China-related discussion. The annual conference is run by students and brings together experts in diverse fields related to modern China and its development. Under the theme, “World in Flux,” this year’s forum featured both online discussions running from February 25 to 26, and a series of offline panels, which were held at the Oxford University on March 5.   

A major issue discussed at the panel on urbanization in China was the continuous integration of migrants from rural areas into China’s urban spaces. Data recently published by the National Bureau of Statistics show, as of 2022, China had some 296 million migrant workers from rural areas, which accounted for about 21 percent of the total population and about 32 percent of the urban population.  

According to Ren Yuan, a professor at the School of Social Development and Public Policy at Fudan University and Deputy Director of the university’s the Institute of Population Research, the COVID-19 pandemic has both exposed the vulnerability of migrant workers, who were often the first to experience the economic shock of the pandemic, and called attention to their indispensable role in powering key sectors that are crucial to the functioning of everyday life.  

Fortunately, changes have already been quietly afoot in some of the country’s megacities, including Shenzhen and Shanghai, which have in recent years adopted a series of strategies to become more migrant-friendly.   

Once a small fishing town and now a global tech hub, Shenzhen has received a huge influx of migrants from around the country since China’s reform and opening up began in the 1980s. The city’s population grew from nearly 300,000 in 1982 to over 17 million in 2020, which led to the formation of several urban villages surrounded by modern cityscapes, a uniquely Chinese phenomenon.   

“These enclaves were once considered to be a breeding ground for social ills, and a soaring canker to be slated. After a careful survey into the villagers’ daily life, we have substituted complete removals of these areas with micro-upgrades and renewals,” said Lu. “A once floating population is now settling down and regarding this city as their true home.”  

Community gardens in Shanghai are another example of urban upgrading. “There are many wasted ‘idle spaces’ in the city, and community gardens provide a powerful tool for rediscovery and reactivation,” said Liu Yuelai, an assistant professor at the College of Architecture and Urban Planning at Tongji University and co-founder of the Clover Nature School, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting public participation in urban construction.   

In 2016, working with local residents, Liu and his colleagues at the Clover Nature School built Knowledge and Innovation, the first community garden in Shanghai. According to Liu, many participants are seniors who have left their rural hometowns to take care of their grandchildren at the request of their busy offspring, and community gardens furnish them with both a sense of accomplishment and a way to stay connected to nature. The centerpiece of the garden—several blue shipping containers that were turned into a community space—became a temporary shelter for busy couriers during the COVID-19 pandemic, as delivery services became a vital lifeline that kept the city supplied.  

By forging new bonds between individuals and new connections between humans and nature, everyone can participate in the creation of a more welcoming and sustainable urban space, Liu said.  

At the end of the panel discussion, Ren concluded by saying broader consultation is vital for the building of better cities. “The next step is to create a system that integrates not just pieces of advice from developers and specialists, but also public opinion gathered through these micro-renewal projects, into the process of urban planning,” he said.  

Ren Yuan (second left), a professor at the School of Social Development and Public Policy at Fudan University, and other participants of the 2023 China Oxford Forum. The forum is Oxford University’s primary forum for China-related discussion (COURTESY PHOTO)  

Copyedited by G.P. Wilson 

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