ABSTRACT
To achieve the current extraordinary pace of its urban development, China has one standard urban planning formula, which is very efficient in creating well-engineered expanses of urban space at low cost and high profit to the state but fails to provide a fertile foundation for social, economic and environmental sustainability. The default planning formula has large-scale, highly segregated land-use zones connected by sparse road grids. Housing zones are the bulk of China’s new urbanity, characterized by arrays of residential enclaves, each occupying an entire super-size city block surrounded by large city streets lined with fences.
