Lack of coordination affects urbanization

Problems such as lack of coordination and the low-level of development in some areas are affecting China's urbanization process, says an article in China Business News. Excerpts:

China's urbanization rate is at about 36 percent, Yang Weimin, a senior officer from the Central Financial Work Leading Group, said recently. Meanwhile, an academic report last year claimed that the figure exceeded 51.27 percent.

The statistical gap involves two aspects: the urbanization of towns and mid-sized cities, and the urban planning and development of metropolises.

On the one hand, even though a large number of rural workers have moved and settled down in cities, few of them have been granted equal access to urban public services like medical care and education. The household registration system must be reformed and should no longer serve as a criteria for the qualification of urban residents for public services. Urbanization cannot be pushed forward with only the urban population growth.

On the other hand, the mindset and efforts to plan and develop metropolises should tilt to ecological principles, rather than industrialization. Only this way, can cities' structures be optimized.

To cite Joseph Stiglitz, China's urbanization will influence the course of human history this century.