Chinese urbanization from the perspective of a "New Projectment Economy"

State, planning, and development

Abstract

This article presents a discussion on the process of urbanization in China, grounded in the articulation among the state, market, and society within the framework of a “New Projectment Economy”. The main objective is to understand the state mechanisms that guide urban expansion and the mitigation of sectoral crises, highlighting the state’s role as a guiding agent of economic development and as a catalyst for the socialization of investments rather than privatizing logics. Methodologically, the article adopts a mixed quantitative‑qualitative approach, based on bibliographic, documentary, and statistical research. Both national and international academic databases (Scielo, CAPES Journals, Scopus, ScienceDirect, SpringerLink) were consulted, along with planning documents (relating, especially, to the Five-Year Plans), journalistic reports, and three main data sources (National Data/NBSC, DataBank/World Bank, and Our World in Data). The findings indicate that Chinese urbanization can be interpreted in historical phases associated with the transition from an agrarian country to a predominantly urban society, combining institutional reforms, technological innovation, and infrastructural improvement, with the state playing a decisive role in coordinating public finance, state‑owned enterprises, and the private sector. The study reveals significant social gains, such as increased life expectancy, the eradication of extreme poverty, and improvements in urban conditions, as well as specific regulatory mechanisms in the real estate market that distinguish “consumption” from “investment” in housing. It concludes that the Chinese experience represents an alternative to market‑driven and market‑oriented planning, opening a research agenda on the sociospatial implications of this particular way of planning cities.