New wave urban development in Shanghai: planning and building the Hongqiao transport hub and business zone

Since launching policies of economic reform in the 1980s, China has emerged from several decades of economic and urban stagnation to become more integrated into the regional and global economy. Cities have been integral to the growth machine of economic development. China has experienced rapid development of industrialization and urbanization in the context of national institutional arrangements favouring decentralisation towards regions and cities, and reform towards a market-oriented economy. This political and economic transition has led to rapid changes in the urban landscape, including the construction of mega urban projects in peri-urban areas in the context of competitive and entrepreneurial urbanism. The main body of this thesis describes the planning and development processes of the Hongqiao project, the project’s relationship to urban development and spatial restructuring in Shanghai, as well as the nature of urban change. This thesis empirically investigates the construction of a mega urban project, its governance mechanism and its impact on relocated people and neighbouring districts. It includes an intensive case study of the Hongqiao project in Shanghai based on empirical data derived from questionnaires, interviews and secondary data. The implementation of the project has involved the participation of government at various levels, state-owned companies, estate developers, banks, relocated people, all of them involved in numerous activities of flexible competition, cooperation, and negotiation. It is argued here that a land-based urban growth coalition was formed which became the driving force behind the Hongqiao project. The thesis argues that this coalition, led by the local state, has played a crucial role in the construction of the Hongqiao project in the context of competitive urbanism. The participants have maximized their own interests, particularly entrepreneurial government, which benefits most from lucrative land revenue place-making. The thesis argues further that competitive urbanism reveals a process of accumulation by dispossession, whereby the interests and voices of relocated people were ignored by powerful participants. The livelihoods of local residents of the Hongqiao project were impacted and compensation was limited, resulting in a paradoxical state of affairs that can be summarised as, “better living condition but worse life.”