Jieming Zhu

A Transitional Institution for the Emerging Land Market in Urban China

Chinese economic reforms since 1978 have been a continuous process of fundamental institutional change. The new institution of ambiguous property rights over state-owned urban land evolves from the socialist peoples landownership. This institutional change is driven by the changing economic system and by two new organisations-the local developmental state and danwei-enterprises. The new institution facilitates the formation of an emerging land market. This land market, structured by ambiguous property rights, has accounted for the dynamic urban physical growth in many of Chinas coastal cities in the 1980s and 1990s. Nevertheless, massive rent dissipation induced by the new institution does not provide market certainty, nor does it offer incentives for optimal development. The cost incurred by the institution is gradually overtaking its benefit. The ambiguous property rights are deemed to be a transitional institution during the development of land markets in urban China.

Disordered Land-Rent Competition in China's Periurbanization: Case Study of Beiqijia Township, Beijing

Land development for nonagricultural uses in Chinas periurban areas has been driven by the rapid urbanization which has made the areas an intense mixture of urban and rural activities. The taking of land-rent differentials derived from land-use change is also a strong driving force for land conversion. In addition to formal land developments, informal and quasi-formal land developments have been induced by the institution of incomplete and ambiguously delineated collective land rights which facilitate disordered land-rent competition. Urban land uses permeate extensively into the agricultural territory of villages. Spatially uncoordinated land conversion and disorganized physical development result in substandard, inferior, and deteriorating habitations. Land utilization becomes suboptimal, and land values depreciate in a worsening environment. Land rents dissipate as a result. This mode of periurbanization is deemed unsustainable for a low-income developing country with high population density and scarce land resources.

The Formation of a Market-Oriented Local Property Development Industry in Transitional China: A Shenzhen Case Study

The fast-paced and large-scale Chinese urban development since 1980 is unprecedented in Chinas urban history. Much of the credit has to be attributed to a nascent local property industry which itself is the product of the economic reforms. Two factors—building commodification and marketization, and state-owned-enterprise (SOE) reforms—have germinated a local property industry, with the facilitation of inward foreign capital, in the context of transition from a static and rigid planning system to a dynamic market-oriented economy. Nevertheless, the gradualist economic reforms and piecemeal SOE transformation, which are intended to transform the Chinese urban economy by increment and experimentation, complicate the evolution of the property industry, which has developed unique characteristics in the transitional time between plan and market. The presence of inequality in the market and absence of measures for hardening soft budget constraints have moulded a market in the making. Market efficiency is compromised and a dual plan—market system puts the competitiveness of the growing property industry in jeopardy.

Industrial globalisation and its impact on Singapore's industrial landscape

Abstract Globalisation has been changing the world to a significant extent. Having been the recipients of foreign direct investment, Asian NIEs have acted as exporters of capital to other Asian emerging economies since the 1980s. A new form of international division of labour affects both recipient and investor cities. Industrial change and restructuring have cast a profound impact on Singapores economy as well as its industrial built form, in the context of land scarcity and relative high density. While new generations of industrial estates are replacing the old ones, and restructuring of industrial space use may be caused by industrial change, cost of industrial space and thus demand–supply equilibriums in the industrial property market are also responsible for the industrial restructuring. The option of industrial space as investment is obtaining its popularity over the notion of industrial space used mainly for its utility. Therefore, the formulation of new industrial landscape in Singapore is the result of interactions between the industrial property market and the industrial restructuring.

Rural development led by autonomous village land cooperatives: Its impact on sustainable China’s urbanisation in high-density regions

As a main rural initiative, village land shareholding cooperatives spearhead non-agricultural development in the interest of rural communities, and thus participate in urbanisation. Nanhai, Guangdong, is a case in illustration. The institution of land shareholding cooperatives gives rise to unique compartmentalised industrialisation and fragmented urbanisation in the context of high population density and small-area autonomous villages. Village cooperatives are mutated from economic corporations to welfare organisations, prompted by the collapse of village enterprises. Being averse to investment for long-term productivity, village cooperatives indulge in extracting short-term land rents solely. Extracting land economic rents created by urbanisation, village cooperatives generate environmental and social equality problems. High-density low-income countries, especially in Asia, are facing a great challenge as fierce competition for limited urban land resources without effective governance often results in an unfavourable form of urbanisation. Sustainable compact urbanisation needs to strike a balance between local autonomy and urban integrity.

Disordered Land Rent Competition in China's Peri-Urbanization

Land development for non-agricultural uses in Chinas peri-urban areas has been driven by the rapid urbanization which makes the areas an intense mixture of both urban and rural activities. Taking of land rent differentials derived from land use change also makes up a strong driving force for land conversion. Besides formal land developments, informal and quasi-formal land developments are induced by the institution of incomplete and ambiguously delineated collective land rights which facilitate disordered land rent competition. Urban land uses permeate extensively into the agricultural territory of villages. Spatially uncoordinated land conversion and disorganized physical development result in substandard, inferior and deteriorating habitations. Land utilization becomes suboptimal, and land values are depreciating in a worsening environment. Land rents dissipate as a result. This mode of peri-urbanization is deemed unsustainable for the low-income developing country with high population density and scarce land resources.