ABSTRACT

This chapter explores the sustainability of entrepreneurial urban growth in China. The ubiquitous manipulation of urban land use by Chinese local states to boost urban physical and economic growth is an outcome of local reactions to the shift of fiscal and land use institutions. Despite tangible achievements it generates, the rapid urban physical and economic growth in China driven by land development can hardly be sustained in the long run. The heavy dependence of municipal revenue on real estate development and the increasing amount of speculative capital in housing production and consumption exposed rapid urban growth in China to risks associated with domestic policy shift and international economic fluctuations. The municipal objectivity to attract inward manufacturing investments especially foreign direct investment (FDI) is usually achieved at the expense of Chinese domestic industrial development. The entry of "hot money" in the appearance of FDI is just one illustration of the effects caused by local state entrepreneurialism across Chinese cities.