What are the differences and reasons of urbanization between China and the United States?

China and Europe and America: Basic Differences in Urbanization and "Similarities in Differences" Comparing with the European and American models, the urbanization of China can first feel the obvious differences between them. The different speed of urbanization is the main reason for this difference. The urbanization in Europe has gone through about 200 years, and the urbanization in the United States is very fast, but it has lasted for more than 100 years. In the mid-20th century, the urbanization process in Europe and America was basically completed. In the 1990s, there was "reverse urbanization", and some people returned to rural areas and suburbs from cities or central cities. This is also a common means for nature to cool down and slow down urbanization. In China's reform and opening up, it can be said that "there is no fastest, only faster". The basic signs of urbanization are urban population growth and urban quantity growth. There are several data to illustrate this problem: from the perspective of urban population, it took 20 years for Britain, 0 years for the United States and 22 years for China to urbanize from 20% to 40%. Judging from the number of towns, according to the statistics of the past 100 years, the number of towns in the United States has doubled every 20 years. In China, there were 2 1 small towns in China in 1999, which increased sharply to 203 12 in 2000. Nearly 90% of small towns were built after the reform and opening up, with an average annual growth rate of more than 20%. You can also cite two cities to illustrate the difference between China and the United States. Draw for a year. Los Angeles is just "a small village full of smoke". Since 1960, Los Angeles has entered a stage of rapid development, becoming "one of the largest industrial metropolises in the world" and "surpassing new york in terms of production, employment and total industrial output value". Western scholars commented on this: "This may be unmatched by any advanced industrial country." However, if you compare it with China, you will find that this judgment is not exact. At the end of the 20th century, there was a popular saying, "See Xi 'an in 2000, Beijing in 1000, Shanghai in 100 and Shenzhen in 2000". From a small fishing village on the South China Sea coast to today's population of 9 million, it only took Shenzhen more than 20 years. This extraordinary and leap-forward urbanization makes China close to the Latin American model in many aspects, but it is obviously different from Europe and America. However, the urbanization in Europe and America represents the mainstream after all, and China is also deeply affected. The most common phenomenon is that since the reform and opening up, China has become more and more Europeanized. For example, in terms of urban strategy, Bosworth, the first urban agglomeration in human history, appeared on the northeast coast of the United States in the 1990s, marking that the United States has entered an urbanization stage centered on "international metropolis" and "world-class urban agglomeration". By the end of 2005, there were ten large urban agglomerations in the United States. Compared with traditional big cities, urban agglomerations have strong economic strength, developed production capacity, perfect service capacity and global transportation, information and economic China network. Powerful metropolises and urban agglomerations make the country strong, while weak metropolises and urban agglomerations make the country weak, which has become an important law for the survival and competition of all countries in the world today. Under the influence of European and American models, China began to enter the era of urbanization in 2000. By 2004, one or three cities in China have proposed to build an "international metropolis". By 20 10, there will be more than 20 urban agglomerations in China. Like Europe and America, China's metropolises and urban agglomerations are the core sectors of China countries' comprehensive strength and international competitiveness, with the best population, resources and capital from countries and regions. According to the statistics of maryse Boehlmann, a Dutch architectural critic, there are more than 300 works under construction by Dutch architects in China. The reason is that many managers mistakenly believe that hiring a foreign designer to build a "foreign-style" building can enhance or show the modernization level of the city. But in fact, this is not much different from a little girl chasing LV bags in terms of intelligence and aesthetics. And the Europeanization of urban lifestyle. Take the change of "sexual concept" as an example. On the eighth day of September, the American Christian Science Monitor reported that young men and women in China could finally "run across the street" aboveboard. However, wait for the conclusion. Because there are still some important experiences and facts that cannot be ignored. Take the urban strategy as an example. On September 2 1 2005, Wang Guangtao, then Minister of the Ministry of Construction, severely criticized the strategic positioning of the three cities as "modern international metropolis", and immediately saw that this "international metropolis wind" came to an abrupt end and was replaced by "livable city", "ecological city" and "cultural city". On lifestyle, a Russian expert wrote: "It is an exaggeration to say that Westernization has completely defeated the traditional lifestyle of China people". Because many phenomena are mainly young people in big cities, the older generation and residents in small towns are much less affected. All this shows that, although deeply influenced by the West, unlike Latin American countries, under the comprehensive effect of China's unique political system, state system, history and culture, China's urbanization still has some deep laws and special principles that are not easy to perceive and belong to itself, which is the logical premise and experience basis for China's urban development to be different from Europe and America. China and Latin America: In terms of urbanization, the same challenges and differences belong to developing countries and regions. China's urbanization has many similarities with Latin America, such as heavy agricultural burden, low degree of industrialization, backward urban infrastructure and management, large population and low quality. At the same time, it faces great challenges, that is, how to adapt to and integrate into the urbanization process sweeping the world. Different from the urbanization in Europe and the United States, where the population flow is relatively uniform and the distribution is relatively balanced, the outstanding characteristics of urbanization are two aspects: in the national and regional scope, it is the "great urbanization" of resources, population, property, social structure, cultural traditions, lifestyle and aesthetic concepts; Internationalization and transcontinentalization are "international metropolises" dominated by European and American models, which have taken away valuable talents, resources and capital from underdeveloped countries and regions. It can also be said that the urbanization in Latin America is essentially a kind of "urbanization". With the serious loss of hard-won resources, the internal differences between urban and rural areas, between cities and regions are increasingly prominent, and the road to urbanization is extremely difficult and risky. First of all, the rapid growth of urban population has exceeded the endurance limit of cities. 1950, the urbanization rate of Latin America was 4 1. Land%, 1990 soared to 5. Land%, close to the level of urbanization in Europe at that time. Although a survey by the United Nations shows that some countries are worried about this, and even introduced relevant measures, hoping to slow down the pace of urbanization, it is actually impossible. By 2000, the urban population of Argentina, Brazil, Mexico and other major Latin American countries accounted for 9.9%, 9.9% and 5.4% of their total population respectively, with Uruguay being the most prominent, reaching 93.3%, far exceeding Europe and America. Although China is not as fast as Latin America, its speed is amazing. 1949 When New China was founded, the urbanization rate was 0.6%, and the latest data of the National Bureau of Statistics was 7.3%. 1949 At the beginning of the reform and opening up, the urbanization rate was less than 1%. However, with the arrival of 2 1 century, this figure has soared from 0.09% in 2000 to 511.2% per year, with an average annual growth rate exceeding 1.5%, which is equivalent to an increase of more than 20 million urban population every year. According to a calculation by foreign scholars, the urbanization rate in China is increasing by one percentage point every year on average, which requires an increase of 300-400 million square meters of housing, 100 square kilometers of construction land and10.40 billion cubic meters of domestic water every year. The rapid increase of urban population in a short period of time far exceeds the carrying capacity of cities, which is also the direct reason why every city in China is as overcrowded, lacking in resources and services and overloaded as in Latin America. Secondly, the rapid population expansion in big cities is not conducive to the coordinated development of countries and regions. This is mainly the sequela of "urbanization". The notable feature of urbanization is the concentration of population in metropolis, which is different from the relatively natural development and evolution in Europe and America. The "urbanization" manipulated by various external forces is unpredictable and uncontrollable by Latin American countries. This is directly reflected in the high "city primacy". This concept is used in urban sociology, which originally refers to the population ratio between the largest city and the second largest city in a country or region. But in fact, because population agglomeration and resource agglomeration are inseparable, urban primacy also indirectly indicates the distribution of resources, especially high-quality resources, in a country or region. The lower the ratio, the more balanced the distribution of population and resources, which means that the urbanization of a country or region is stable and orderly, with fewer problems and sequelae. It is generally believed in academic circles that it is normal for the city's primacy to be lower than 2%. Most European and American countries are like this, namely new york, Rome and Sydney. By contrast, Santiago, the capital of Chile, ranks first, right? % of the land is 13. 1% in Lima, Peru, and 1 1.5% in Buenos Aires, Argentina, which also has a population of 3.3% in China. In China, the imbalance of urban resources is also very prominent. Taking scientific research resources as an example, Beijing, the capital, has 2% national key laboratories, 3.2% national engineering research center, 4.5% national major scientific projects, 3.0% national key disciplines, 4. 1% national basic research projects, 3.2% Balu 3 plan projects and 3.5% scientific and technological research plans. In addition, there are three academicians of the two academies, Qilu, accounting for more than half of the country. Taking regional central cities as an example, 99% of doctors, 3% of scientific and technological personnel, 5% of scientific research funds and more than 0% of patents in Anhui Province are concentrated in Hefei. At that time, when the media disclosed the following data, it used the title of "Hefei is full of vitality", but what about Anhui as a whole? Excessive concentration not only leads to great waste of population and resources, but also deprives other cities of the space and possibility of development. Third, poverty and the gap between the rich and the poor have increased, and urban social problems and crises are everywhere. On the one hand, due to the weak industrial base and lack of necessary material support, poverty in Latin America has risen instead of falling in the process of urbanization. One of the most representative indicators is the unemployment rate. Relevant statistics show that the open unemployment rate in Latin America was 0.3% in 1995 and rose to 0.0% in 2003, and the total number of unemployed people in cities and towns exceeded100000. Poverty caused by unemployment is the direct cause of various social problems and crises in Latin America. On the other hand, urbanization needs a lot of money to support urban construction and provide public services. Due to its own "hematopoietic" ability and insufficient economic development, another notable feature of urbanization in Latin America is its heavy dependence on foreign capital. The true face of western aid is western manipulation, which is often accompanied by resource plunder, political intervention and cultural aggression, which intensifies the risk and instability of urban development in Latin American countries. Statistics for many years show that the average debt service ratio of Latin American countries has exceeded 20%. Once the money cannot be borrowed or fled, there will be a "debt crisis", which will trigger a series of chain reactions such as inflation and seriously affect the urbanization process of these countries. In contrast, China also has the problem of unbalanced development between urban and rural areas and within cities. For example, the report of the Asian Development Bank "Study on the Economic Development Strategy of Hebei Province" once pointed out that "there is a large-scale poverty belt around Beijing and Tianjin", with 9 poverty-stricken villages in Sanqi, 32 poverty-stricken counties in Erqi and 26,000 poor people. But after careful analysis, we will find that there are essential differences between China and Latin America: First, different national systems lead to different urbanization paths. Although the task of reform and innovation in the construction of modern state system is arduous, compared with Latin China, which is deeply influenced by the West in terms of state and political system, there is frequent political instability and social unrest, and urbanization obviously lacks national strategic design and policy continuity. The basic strategy of reform and opening up and the socialist road are the most fundamental political and institutional guarantee for urbanization in. Because of the country's independence and stable and orderly political system, it is possible for China to launch urbanization strategies and policies at the national level, such as the development of the western region and the construction of new countryside, so as to fundamentally solve the problems of urban-rural differences and unbalanced regional development. Secondly, different economic bases lead to different abilities to cope with urban challenges. As traditional agricultural countries and regions, China and Latin America will inevitably encounter various problems and even crises in the process of rapid urbanization. Compared with the high unemployment rate in Latin America, there are about1.300 million "migrant workers" and their families in China, and their working and living conditions are still in the stage of "semi-urbanization". However, there is a fundamental difference between the two. The Latin American model, which is heavily dependent on and attached to the West, is essentially a kind of "debt urbanization" and is deeply mired in "national poverty". Due to the lack of sufficient financial and material resources, the challenge of urbanization is often overwhelming. China, which became the second largest economy in the world in the reform and opening up, has not only woven the largest social security China in the world, but also increased the income of urban and rural residents by 1.8 times in the past decade. Although the pressure of urbanization in the future is still enormous, it is generally believed that the high economic growth of China can last for more than ten years, so we can still be optimistic about the urbanization of China. Third, it is the difference of mainstream culture that leads to the different strategies and abilities to deal with western culture. People are the most important factor for the sustainable development of a city, and people's spirit and values ultimately determine the future of the city. In Latin American countries and regions, due to the destructive deconstruction and "transgenic" reconstruction of local traditional culture in the colonial era, yearning for and blindly imitating the western lifestyle has become the mainstream culture. Since the 20th century, China has been deeply influenced by European style and beautiful rain. However, under the interaction of politics and economy in China, the cultural consciousness of China's discourse and the national image of Chinese style have been fully awakened, especially the strategic goal of realizing the great rejuvenation of Chinese civilization, which has become the most important soft power guarantee for the sustainable development of China's urbanization. Transcending Europe, America and Latin America: The Responsibility and Suffering of a Premature Child In the study of ancient Greece and eastern society, Marx once put forward a famous metaphor, that Greece is a "normal child" of human beings, while China is a "precocious child". Today, this metaphor is still vivid, accurate and profound. Compared with normal children, precocious children generally suffer a lot because of the lack of necessary conditions and environment, and many dreams are suppressed or shattered. On the other hand, the painful and bumpy early experience has also given precocious children a huge wealth in life, that is, their thoughts and will have been fully exercised and honed, and they can survive and develop under any harsh conditions and environment. Compared with premature babies, they have many similarities, both physically and psychologically, with internal injuries and dull pain. However, contrary to precocious children's habitual dependence on the outside world and their inability to really grow up, it is the most prominent feature of every precocious child to rely on individual acquired efforts and struggles to make up for congenital deficiencies and defects. Not only has a fairly strong "body", but also a "soul" not to be outdone. Most precocious children have the basic quality of "being worthy of great responsibility", which is what the ancients said: "The poor son is born to be human" and "The children of poor families are the masters early" sung in "Hanging the Red Lantern". In terms of urbanization, the same is true. China's urbanization, like Latin America's, lacks many historical conditions and is often in danger of being submerged by various problems and obstacles. But the difference is that Latin American cities have gradually developed a humble and weak character in their habitual submission to the outside world. China, on the other hand, has the courage to get rid of the shackles and fetters of Europe and America. Through tenacious efforts and unremitting struggle, we have constantly overcome the weakness and fear brought by precocity, embarked on a distinctive national development path, and accumulated experience for building the connotation and image of urbanization in China. The key is whether you dare, have the will and have enough courage to get out of the shadow of Europe and America after paying high tuition fees. Today, when new urbanization has become a major national strategy, this answer is self-evident. Different from the urbanization in Europe and America, the political system and social system constitute the core mechanism to promote the urban development of China. At a time when the disadvantages of economic liberalism are increasingly prominent in the world, the urbanization process led by the government and the market obviously has the advantages of easy control and more balanced development. Compared with the Latin American model, although both of them are facing great challenges of urban transformation and urban diseases, due to the differences in political and social systems, China has initially formed a unique and effective policy and strategic system in solving the dual contradiction between urban and rural areas, the gap between the rich and the poor within cities and promoting regional coordinated development. Therefore, China's cities are not only logically different from western assumptions and reasoning, but also take a completely different road and model from Latin American countries. But precocious children also have precocious problems and weaknesses, which cannot be completely surpassed in some historical stages. Therefore, not only do we have a lot of homework to catch up on, but we will continue to face many failures and pains. On different occasions, people often ask me a question: Is there a better way and shortcut to urbanization in China? The answer I gave was only two words, and that was "bitterness". This means that everyone should be prepared to suffer hardships, even for a long time. Although China's urbanization strategy is clear and firm, due to limited resources, large population, pressing time and complicated world situation, China cannot comfortably go through this inevitable historical stage. Therefore, we should not only have sufficient ideological and material conditions to prepare, but also have preparations and plans to fight hard and pay a heavy price. On the other hand, there is no need to be pessimistic about China's urbanization. Just as all westerners who criticize China's economy have made fatal mistakes, the urbanization of the Chinese nation as a great nation and China as a great country must be bright and beautiful, and it will neither be subject to people nor succumb to the limitations of nature. Some people may ask: How long will it take? I'm not a prophet, but if I have to say it, I estimate it will take at least thirty years. Why? Because 2050 is the strategic node for China to realize modernization. It is conceivable that the population was much less at that time, which was followed by the reduction of resource pressure; The continuous development of science and technology has solved more contradictions in means of subsistence; More importantly, under the overall background of China's road and mode, economic construction, political construction, social construction and cultural construction have all reached a higher level, people's quality has been greatly improved ... and everything will be fundamentally improved. Finally, when studying the Bronze Age, Zhang Guangzhi, a famous scholar, pointed out that Chinese civilization was a continuous civilization from the beginning, which was a model representing the "majority". This is also a precocious child's "talent" and "fate". Compared with ordinary people, precocious children tend to think more, suffer more and have a more prominent sense of responsibility. Therefore, what he chose is probably the best of all roads. Not only in the past, but also today. Compared with western urbanization, China's urbanization has been carefully considered from the beginning, taking into account many levels and relationships, so the urbanization model of China constructed by our nation should be the "best one" among all possible paths of human urbanization. With such a model, we can be confident. Contrary to the pessimistic westerners who regard cities as doomed wars, the Chinese-style urbanization road and model represent the future of world cities. However, the direction of the road has just been determined and the great blueprint has just begun to be drawn. There are still many problems and contradictions that need several generations to think and explore. It's time to bow our heads. Let's work together.