Urban Planning in China (中国) or The People's Republic of China (中华人民共和国) is currently characterized by a top down approach, high density urban development and extensive urbanization. China's urban planning philosophies and practices have undergone multiple transitions due to governance and economic structure changes throughout the nation's extensive history.The founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949 marks the beginning of three recent historical stages of urban planning philosophies and practice that represent a divergence from traditional Chinese urban planning morphologies are broadly categorized as socialist, hybrid and global cities.
- Traditional City - walled cities, for example, Xi'an and Beijing's Forbidden City. Traditional cities, were planned in a manner similar to that of present day, was they were also directly affected by the philosophies, governance and economies of their time. Traditional cities are often planned in accordance with archaic concepts of geomancy, Feng-shui, I-Ching. The Rites of Zhou dating to approximately (1100–256 BC) serve to emphasize the importance of such philosophies, the cardinal directions and harmony between the human and natural realms. China's history is rich with examples of early planning philosophies and practices evidenced by traditional cities such as, but not limited to Chang'an (Xi'an) (西安), Beijing (北京), Nanjing (南京) and Luoyang (洛阳).
- Socialist City - (1950–1980) Planning efforts focused to increase the percentage of blue-collar workers, create affordable housing, urban communes, work unit (danwei 单位), discrete enclosures, broad, central avenues and large squares and Soviet style exhibition halls. Examples include: Harbin (哈尔滨) or Харби́н (Kharbin) and Beijing (北京).
- Hybrid City - (1860–Present) Planning that incorporating western planning and design principles meshed with traditional Chinese street grids and architectural principles. These were often the first cities to develop modern infrastructures networks and include cities such as Shanghai (上海) and Tianjin (天津).
- Global City - (1990–Present) Planning aimed to encourage strategic economic development of a region for the purposes of global economic participation as a key node in the globalized market; coined and conceptualized by Saskia Sassen. Global cities are characterized by international familiarity, participation in international events and global affairs, densely populated metropolitan areas, Central Business Districts (CBD) housing key financial, corporate headquarters and national services, extensive public transportation systems, internationally networked airports, large-scale commercial and industrial zones and multiple urban cores. Examples include Beijing (北京), Shanghai (上海), Hong Kong (香港), Guangzhou (Simplified Chinese 广州 Traditional Chinese 廣州) and more recently Shenzhen (深圳市).
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