Every title of AD brings with it new discoveries and

revelations. However, never has a single issue shifted my

worldview and perceptions so much. China’s geography

and demographics alone require a different mindset.

China may have a slightly smaller landmass than the US

(3.7 million to its 3.8 million square miles), but the US’s

population is diminutive when compared to that of China:

China has over a third more people. For those of us who

have lived most of our lives on an overcrowded northern

European island, the scale of China is difficult to grasp.

It is, however, the rate and intensity of urban change in

China over the last three decades that make it truly

unprecedented. At a time when a 15-hectare (38-acre)

site, like that at Battersea Power Station, has proved a

stumbling block for developers in London, 95 per cent of

Beijing’s buildings have been razed and replaced.1 Speed

and size of construction alone are awe-inspiring, bringing

with them unique opportunities to build. These are not

just the much-publicised flagship icons by foreign

architects such as Herzog & de Meuron’s ‘Bird’s Nest’

Olympic Stadium and Rem Koolhaas’ CCTV Tower in

Beijing, or the great swathes of standardised mega-city housing blocks

that are being constructed across the country; there is a new talented

generation of indigenous architects emerging who, having been

educated at top institutions overseas, are now determined to build

innovatively at home (see pp 82–93). Such unprecedented urban

expansion inevitably guzzles resources and it is this that makes

extensive construction a global concern, with China buying up natural

minerals, building materials and fuels around the world. It also

presents a challenge to the international status quo, and anticipates a

future with China having a far greater influence on the world politically

and economically, whether it is the mode in which cities and buildings

are produced or the source of their investment.

The velocity of change in China is such that, as this issue closes, it is

very apparent that recent events could well shift the pattern and

momentum of urban development. Construction has been matched by

devastation: the May 2008 earthquake in Sichuan Province left

thousands dead and homeless and has required the government to

focus on the building of new infrastructure and housing in affected

areas. More than anything, though, the continuing rate of urbanisation

in China rests on a burgeoning economy. With the onset of the credit

crunch in the US, and widespread talk of recession in the West, is

China’s exponential growth sustainable? Is it not conceivable that the

factory of the world will be affected by the economic downturn

elsewhere? I put this question to Joe Studwell, author and ex-Editor of

China Economic Quarterly. His belief is that to some extent China will

be supported by its extensive internal market: ‘China’s net exports can

fall quite a lot without a major impact on overall growth,’ but that

demographics and labour supply will be key to longer-term growth.2 Li

Helen Castle

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Jin and Shan Li, writing in The Wall Street Journal Asia, have

also emphasised that ‘China's core competence lies not in its

technological or managerial superiority, but rather in its

abundant and cheap labor’, the threat to its competitive

advantage lying ostensibly in a ‘rapid appreciation of the

yuan’ combined ‘with a weak U.S. economy’. Increases in

pay could lead to the failure of labour-intensive businesses,

significantly disrupting ‘the ongoing process of urbanization

and industrialization of the Chinese economy’.3 At present,

economic forecasts for China issued by the likes of the

Economist Intelligence Unit remain broadly positive: ‘Real

GDP growth is forecast to slow but will remain impressive,

easing from 11.9% in 2007 to 8.6% in 2012.’4 There is no

doubt forthcoming vicissitudes in the economic climate

could have a significant impact on the speed and rate of

construction. However, what this title – so effectively guest-

edited by Laurence Liauw – allows you to do is to realise the

full magnitude of urban change in the last three decades,

and its transformative effects on both China and the rest of

the world. 4

Notes1. Isabel Hilton, ‘First City of the Future’, Observer (Review Beijing SpecialIssue), 6 July 2008, p 5.2. Joe Studwell, email to Helen Castle 17 June 2008.3. Li Jin and Shan Li, The Wall Street Journal Asia, 3 July 2008.http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121503329669924121.html?mod=googlenews_wsj.4. Country Data, from the Economist Intelligence Unit, 3 July 2008: www.economist.com/countries/China/profile.cfm?folder=Profile%2DEconomic%20Data.

Text © 2008 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Images: opposite © Steve Gorton; top © REUTERS/Nicky Loh; bottom © REUTERS/Claro Cortes IV

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China simultaneously grapples with the enormity of destructionand construction. Here (top image) survivors of the earthquake thathit Qingchuan county in Sichuan Province in May 2008 search fortheir belongings in the debris of their collapsed homes. A Chinesemigrant worker (bottom image) walks past Skidmore, Owings &Merrill’s China World Trade Center Tower 3 under construction,just before the start of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

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