Hello, welcome to visit Shanghai Forum
In order to break through thebottleneck of urbanization, we should consider to slow down the pace of development,putting more emphasis on development of “quality，” instead of merely focusing ondevelopment of “quantity。”
Reporter: Dai Li
Reporter: In February, 2007, Mayor Han Zheng proposedthat we solve such key issues as how Shanghai assimilates itself to the wholecountry, serves the whole country, and construct “four centers,” etc. during anew round of development. Then, how is Shanghai doing in solving such problemsafter five years’ development?
Chen Xiangming: As far as I am concerned, it isunrealistic to completely achieve “four centers” at one time. For example, asto the financial center and shipping transportation center, I think thatShanghai enjoys large advantages in developing shipping, yet there are manysystemic problems to becoming a financial center, such as whether banking canbe really open, whether the currency is able to flow freely. Therefore, thereare many restraints which make it harder to Shanghai to become a financialcenter at once, and thus it is easier for Shanghai to become a shipping center ratherthan a financial center.
Reporter: In post-Expo time, Shanghai faces restraintsin lands, resources, etc., which form bottleneck for Shanghai’s urbanization.Do you have any suggestions for Shanghai in breaking through such bottleneck inorder to achieve further development?
Chen Xiangming: In order to break through the bottleneck of urbanization,we should consider slowing the pace of development while putting more emphasison development of “quality,” instead of merely focusing on development of“quantity.” I think that after Shanghai reaches some stage in innovativedevelopment, high-tech research and development, etc., it is qualified todevelop characteristic projects which not necessarily need many human resourcesor lands, thus getting rid of the restraint of land resources. We need to finda new point of growth and seek for new way of development and new angle, forinstance, though the population density in Shanghai increases a lot, it at thesame time brings many opportunities, as well as new opinions and ideas due tothe intense inter-personal communication.
Reporter: What is the goal of Shanghai’s urbanizationtransition? And what is the standard to judge whether the transition issuccessful or not?
Chen Xiangming: The goal of Shanghai urbanizationtransition can be decided by the government, but I think that such so-calledtransition will eventually meet restraints, because a city is a system composedof many sub-systems, which means that human beings cannot completely controlthe inner relationship between those sub-systems. Therefore, a city is not aperson, but composed of many molecules, many tiny as well as diversifiedgroups, which means that the speed and direction of a city’s transition are tosome extent influenced by inner regularity of development of a city. Of course,designing the objectives for any large city’s transformation needs a push from thegovernment. In China’s urban development, government plays the most importantrole in city transition, but such role gradually suffers restraints orweakening, the function of market for instance, and at the same time, somenon-governmental forces are also developing. Such factors will influence the transition,but how large the influence can be depends on the coordination betweenthem.
Reporter: Would you please give us your thoughts ofwhat Shanghai will be in the future ten years?
Chen Xiangming:Such a question involving prediction is the hardest one to answer, because thingschange fast. On the whole, I think that the pace of urban development will graduallyslow down, which is good for every aspect of a city in that the urbandevelopment will enter a new and more stable stage. I think that China’s citiesrelatively lag in the promotion of software (“soft goods”), i.e. happinessindex, environment, and the pressures of urban living, while the speed of economicdevelopment and hardware (infrastructure) construction is very fast. In fact,cities are built for people, meaning that we should endeavor to make citiescomfortable to live in so that people love them. However, if people feel moreand more tired, face fiercer and fiercer competition, and suffer ever morepressure from working in a city – which affects their health as well – how cansuch city be called an attractive one? Therefore, we need to slow down the paceof development so that the problems as a result of rapid development can besolved gradually.
Introduction ofChen Xiangming
Chair Profesor ofFudan University School of Social Science and Public Policy, Dean of City andGlobal Research Center in Connecticut Trinity College, the United States, ChairProfessor of Paul E. Reather Sociology and International Relationship Researchin Connecticut Trinity College, the United States
