ABSTRACT
This chapter examines both the essence of community and the proliferation of different types of communities across the Greater Bay Area. It deals with the manifestations of community in the GBA by focusing on several main community models and examining their most important dynamics. Chentian village in Guangzhou is a good example of all the cross-currents. Once a simple village with over 800 years of history, it grew to accommodate 100,000 residents, but in 2018 was notified that it would have to make way for shopping malls and residential buildings. Villagers and students get along well because the students provide higher rents, are more dependable tenants and are considered more civilised. Meanwhile, the students bring about increases in house values and changes in community lifestyles because new services have developed to provide for student tastes and may even be owned and operated by students. Urbanization economic development, migration, land market reform, and infrastructure and planning—all require immediate attention.
