A report, "Observation of China's urban development issues" soon to be published states that Chinese cities are developing fast and China is likely to have about 125 mega-cities by 2010. Compared with their counterparts in developed countries, Chinese cities have many problems for example, imbalanced development, which needs to be solved from the angle of national development tactics.

Assisted by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and led by China International Center for Economic and Technical Exchanges, China Academy of Urban Planning & Design carried out the project of "City Planning, Management and Development in the 21st Century". Several tens of experts who took part in the project spent five years on pilot studies into quite a few aspects of Chinese cities, such as natural resources, human habitat environment, image project, public security, social class, public finance, public policy and so on, in order to find out solutions to urban development issues

According to the report, several city agglomerations with economic connections have formed in China with the urbanization fast improving and the number of Chinese cities increasing dramatically due to the fast growing economy and society. It is estimated that there will emerge 50 mega-cities with a population of over 2 million people and a large number of metropolises that can represent China's comprehensive national strength by 2010.

Since the beginning of reform and opening-up campaign, with the comprehensive national strength continuously gaining, China has undergone a great deal of large-scale industrial construction and urban development which have made great changes to the inappropriate distribution of Chinese cities among coastal and inland areas. Some statistics show that city network is 11 times denser in China's western regions, 5 times denser in central regions and 4 times denser in eastern areas, compared with that when People's Republic of China was founded. Quantity distribution of cities has changed a lot: China's western region has a moderate increase in the number of cities; eastern regions have seen a dramatic increase in the quantity of city; and western and central regions witness a steady increase. Besides, China has seen a rising density of city network. Cities especially along the eastern coastal area in central and southern Liaoning Province are becoming increasingly denser.

The report also says Chinese city agglomerations have five problems if compared with those in the developed countries. First, they make less contribution to national treasure accumulation than those in the developed nations. Second, top cities in Chinese city agglomerations cannot make significant contribution. Third, Chinese city agglomerations still undergo extensive economic growth. Fourth, labor productivity in Chinese city agglomerations is very low. Fifth, compared with the main city agglomerations in other countries, Chinese city agglomerations have much excessively dense population which is a great challenge to urban sustainable development.

By People's Daily Online