and economic importance, increasingly linked by fast rail transportation and arterial
highways, to the extent that there is now the potential for a zone of IMRs stretching
from Beijing through Shanghai to Guangzhou and the Hong Kong-Shenzhen conurbation in the south. Similar to the Japanese IMR stretching from Tokyo to Osaka,
the Chinese IMRs will be the economic engines of that nation’s economic growth
over the next 30 years. Indeed, it was reported in 2000 that the four IMRs identified
by Zhou contained some 10% of China’s total population, generated 45% of the
nation’s GDP with a third of the industrial work force, were the locations for 76.6%
of the utilized FDI, and were responsible for 75% of the nation’s exports. These four
IMRs are thus the leading edge of China’s modernization and incorporation into the
global economy (McGee et al. 2007) citing research by Sit (2005).
These definitional challenges have not prevented the development of international databases charting the growth of mega-urban regions. Two efforts to construct
internationally comparative databases of these agglomerations are the United
Nations bi-yearly databases such as the 2010 World Urbanization Report. Another
international database complied by Brinkhoff (www.citypopulation.de) is also valuable. While there are some differences between these two databases, they are broadly
comparable and are based on assumptions that the ongoing expansion of urbanization into surrounding areas are creating functionally integrated mega-urban regions.
But it must be stressed that this form of mega-urban regional development is
highly dependent upon ongoing energy provision, the increasing structural change in
Asian economies toward service-dominated sectors, and the increasing integration of
national space as through the rapid growth of fast interregional transportation
systems such as high-speed railways. Equally important will be the development
of domestic consumption markets that involve increased automobile ownership
(although public transportation systems are developing rapidly), the separation of
work and home, and the ownership of a “home” that all form part of the “dream of
development” (McGee 1991; Satish and Shaw 2007; Satterthwaite 2009; Hanson
and Martin 2006; Zukin 1998).
While it is given that the understandable determination of the governments of the
developing countries to deliver modern development to their citizens, I want to argue
that this twentieth-century “form of urbanization” is no longer tenable in the face of
the global challenges listed in the introduction. In particular, I want to argue that
priority will have to be given to creating a more sustainable form of urbanization in
the face of the environmental challenges of the twenty-first century. Urban regions
throughout the world will have to become critical sites for innovation and the
development of knowledge and action to enable the transition to low-carbon
societies.
22
T. G. McGee and K. Mori
highways, to the extent that there is now the potential for a zone of IMRs stretching
from Beijing through Shanghai to Guangzhou and the Hong Kong-Shenzhen conurbation in the south. Similar to the Japanese IMR stretching from Tokyo to Osaka,
the Chinese IMRs will be the economic engines of that nation’s economic growth
over the next 30 years. Indeed, it was reported in 2000 that the four IMRs identified
by Zhou contained some 10% of China’s total population, generated 45% of the
nation’s GDP with a third of the industrial work force, were the locations for 76.6%
of the utilized FDI, and were responsible for 75% of the nation’s exports. These four
IMRs are thus the leading edge of China’s modernization and incorporation into the
global economy (McGee et al. 2007) citing research by Sit (2005).
These definitional challenges have not prevented the development of international databases charting the growth of mega-urban regions. Two efforts to construct
internationally comparative databases of these agglomerations are the United
Nations bi-yearly databases such as the 2010 World Urbanization Report. Another
international database complied by Brinkhoff (www.citypopulation.de) is also valuable. While there are some differences between these two databases, they are broadly
comparable and are based on assumptions that the ongoing expansion of urbanization into surrounding areas are creating functionally integrated mega-urban regions.
But it must be stressed that this form of mega-urban regional development is
highly dependent upon ongoing energy provision, the increasing structural change in
Asian economies toward service-dominated sectors, and the increasing integration of
national space as through the rapid growth of fast interregional transportation
systems such as high-speed railways. Equally important will be the development
of domestic consumption markets that involve increased automobile ownership
(although public transportation systems are developing rapidly), the separation of
work and home, and the ownership of a “home” that all form part of the “dream of
development” (McGee 1991; Satish and Shaw 2007; Satterthwaite 2009; Hanson
and Martin 2006; Zukin 1998).
While it is given that the understandable determination of the governments of the
developing countries to deliver modern development to their citizens, I want to argue
that this twentieth-century “form of urbanization” is no longer tenable in the face of
the global challenges listed in the introduction. In particular, I want to argue that
priority will have to be given to creating a more sustainable form of urbanization in
the face of the environmental challenges of the twenty-first century. Urban regions
throughout the world will have to become critical sites for innovation and the
development of knowledge and action to enable the transition to low-carbon
societies.
22
T. G. McGee and K. Mori