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| RESEARCH ON THE URBANIZATION OF PEARL RIVER DELTA (1978-2008): REVIEW AND PREVIEW |
| XU Xue-qiang, LI Xun |
| Centre for Urban and Regional Research, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China |
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Abstract This paper, first, reviews the research of urbanization in Pearl River Delta after reform and opening up.In this paper, the evolution relationship between policy and urbanization is a main clue, and the review and discussion about the research on the urbanization in Pearl River Delta follows three eras of 1980s, 1990s and 21st century.It believes that the mode of rural urbanization in Pearl River Delta has played an important role in the process of urbanization research in China.As "the first district opened to the outside world" after the implement of opening-up policy in China, Pearl River Delta is not only an epitome of reform and opening up, but also a representative of the development trend of urbanization in China.From 1978 to the late 1980s, the concept and mode of rural urbanization in Pearl River Delta had been established.The researches on rural urbanization firstly started with the research framework of "push and pull", the institutional factors were further introduced, and the characters and basic dynamism of rural urbanization in Pearl River Delta were revealed.Then, the paper argues that rural development is the foundation, the opening up is the accelerator, and the clustering of rural corporations in town as well as the development of local transportation were the essential conditions of rural urbanization in Pearl River Delta, among of which the policy is the key factor in the process of urbanization.From the late 1980s to the start of 21st century, with the rapid expansion of population and urban size, the concept of "Desakota" had been introduced and discussed widely.At the same time, the dynamism of urbanization in Pearl River Delta was the main focus, and the discussion about small towns' development, urbanization path and the urbanization agent had been explored in many fields.In 21st century, the reflection on rural urbanization has pushed the transformation of the perspective of urbanization research in Pearl River Delta to globalization and political economics, which is specifically reflected in the research on administrative zoning and rural villages.Finally, this paper previews the research trend of urbanization in Pearl River Delta in the new condition and context.
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Received: 27 October 2008
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2009, Vol. 24 
