Abstract

This book emphasizes the centrality of cities in China's ongoing transformation. Based on fieldwork in twenty-four Chinese cities between 1996 and 2007, the author forwards an analysis of the relations between the city, the state, and society through two novel concepts: urbanization of the local state and civic territoriality. Urbanization of the local state is a process of state power restructuring entailing an accumulation regime based on the commodification of state-owned land, the consolidation of territorial authority through construction projects, and a policy discourse dominated by noti ... China,                                                                  land and property rights,                                                                  territory,                                                                  local state,                                                                  urbanization,                                                                  metropolitan development,                                                                  urban politics,                                                                  post-socialist transformation,                                                                  urban social movement,                                                                  deterritorialization