Sound planning can ensure China's growing mega cities remain liveable
Winston Mok says government offices should be relocated as part of development of satellite towns
The greatest movement of people on earth is an annual ritual for China around the Lunar New Year. For the many "left behind" children under the care of grandparents, this may be the only chance in the year to see their parents who work in faraway cities.
Such a movement demonstrates the limited freedom involved in being able to migrate to work but not to settle. And, although the government has announced a gradual relaxation of restrictions to its system, the first to integrate new migrants will be small cities and towns. Becoming a permanent resident in a mega city remains as tough as ever.
The planned relocation of wholesale markets from Beijing, displacing migrant workers in the process, epitomises the government's continued attempts to control the scale of its mega cities.
South Korea tried that half a century ago. As early as 1964, the cabinet of president Park Chung-hee resolved to control the population growth of the nation's large cities - much smaller than those in China today. In Seoul's first Basic Urban Plan, in 1966, its population was expected to grow from three to five million by 1985. But it hit that target in 1970.
Thereafter, despite repeated attempts at population control in the ensuing decades, greater Seoul has remained the focus of Korea's urban growth. In 1960, about a fifth of Korea's population lived in greater Seoul. Now, after an almost fivefold increase, it is home to nearly half the country's population. Despite its best efforts, the government could not fight the unstoppable force of urban concentration.
In much the same way, China's urbanisation will continue to unfold in the major centres where the jobs are. Today, only about 15 per cent of China's population lives in its top three urban regions: the Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta and greater Beijing.
