My Take | How China made it rich by urbanising
- The country’s urbanisation is part of an overall historical progress and betterment of the world population and is not so different from that of the West
The rise of China is inextricably linked to its urbanisation. The Kearney 2020 Global Cities Index and a recent analysis of it by ChinaPower, a research project under the Washington-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies, show how much progress China has made in recent years. But if globalisation and urbanisation have created a virtuous cycle of human development and betterment for the Chinese, decoupling between China and the United States, perhaps even the West, may reverse the country’s hard-won gains, in terms of economic production, capital movement and investment, and human resources.
Urbanisation: the present
In the Kearney index, 18 Chinese cities rank among the top 125 global cities, compared to 14 in the United States, seven in India, six in Brazil and four in Germany.
But while China has the most global cities, they average a much lower competitive score (82 out of 125) – as measured by business activities, human capital, information exchange, cultural experience, and political engagement – than the US (31) and Germany (33). They rank ahead of India (91) and Brazil (98).
The trend for China, though, has been upwards in the past six years. In 2015, the average ranking of a Chinese global city was 93. The US, India and Brazil all show a decline in ranking during the same period.
Unlike China, India has seen fewer new global cities emerge. There has also been a downward trajectory in their rankings from 2015 to 2020. New Delhi, which moved up slightly from 57 in 2015 to 56 in 2020, is the only exception.