ABSTRACT
In terms of speed and scale of transformation, few emerging megacities can match the dynamism exhibited by the urbanization of Chongqing. In the space of two decades, this city has gone from a relatively unknown provincial city to a center for global manufacturing, a regional hub for the economy of western China, and a municipality with top-tier administrative status. The city has faced distinct challenges in reckoning with the contradictions between rural and urban development, and pioneered a number of innovative planning mechanisms which have sought to resolve and integrate the rural–urban divide. Chongqing is sometimes described as the largest city in the world, based on a population within the metropolitan region of some 33 million. In fact, this is a misleading figure which results from a misinterpretation of the administrative organization of the city.
