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Summary Of Rapid Urbanization In China

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Real Estate Literature Assignment 1A
Summary article “Rapid urbanization in China: A real challenge to soil protection and food security” (Chen, 2007)
Abstract:
By researching the last two decades of accelerated economic growth and urbanization boom in China, the author points out that accelerated urban development has led to a decrease in the quality of the soil and also the shortage of agricultural land. China is now faced with one of its greatest challenges: sustaining the economic growth and urban development while finding ways to protect the bio environment and assuring enough agricultural land in order to feed its people.
The analysis is based on official statistics obtained from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and data derived from …show more content…

(Nations, 2004) This is mainly due to the restricting policies concerning migration toward cities before the economic reform. After that stage, statistics from the Ministry of Construction of China show an increase in the urbanization level from 17.9 percent in 1978 to 40.5 percent in 2003, a growth rate twice as big as the world average. Furthermore, China’s urbanization level is projected to range between 48% and 50% by 2020 and the proportion or urban population is expected to exceed 60 percent by …show more content…

In order to be able to feed its population, the country will need to have a minimum cultivated land are of 107 million ha.
Acknowledging the great challenge, the government stopped land reclamation in its vast west and reconverted 7.86 million ha of cultivated lead to ecological purposes. Even so, China had still an annual loss of grain production of around 6.5 million tons.
In order to get better results, the Chinese government urged the introduction of stricter regulation which, in effect, closed 4735 development zones covering a total planned area of 2.4 million ha. Since then, approval of any proposal for development zones has been suspended.
In present, China is still working hard in order to find efficient methods for land management, and sustainable development has become one of the country’s main concern.

References
Chen, J. (2007). Rapid urbanization in Chna: a real challenge to soil protection and food security. Nanjing: Institute of Soil Science.
Lin, G., & Ho, S. (2003). China 's land resources and land-use change: insights from the 1996 land survey. Land use policy, 87-107.
Nations, U. (2004). World Urbanization Prospects. New York: Department of Economic and Social

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