Shanghai Micro-Polarities

The book examines the spatial relationship between dynamics of polarization embedded in urban transformations in Chinäs urban regions. Scholarship in urban studies have focused on urbanization as a prime agent of economic growth, emphasizing metropolitan areas as catalysts for regional development. In this view the process of urbanization facilitates the transition of rural areas into conurbations of urban sub-urban units scattered in a predominantly rural landscape¿. This urban-centered approach, which focuses on the separation between rural and urban contexts, suggests that the urbanization process would lead to urban sprawl and ongoing encroachment of the countryside. The consequence is spatial fragmentation, which will in turn leads to imbalance of the ecosystem, thereby raising further concerns for ecological sustainability of Chinese mega urban regions.