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Abstract： |
The critical challenge of China’s urbanization and modernization is in rural areas. It is obvious that there will not be real modernization in China without rural modernization. It is the argument of the author that rational and healthy development of small towns is crucial to China’s urbanization owning to nearly 500 million rural to urban migrants in the next couple of decades. It will inevitably create enormous ecological, economic and social risks if all those migrants moved into large cities or metropolises. However, the present small towns in China are confronting large amount of problems. They are unable to attract people to work and live in, thus unable to provide appropriate hub function in human settlement network. The author argues that the small towns’ main tasks in the process of urbanization are to improve development standard, to increase service capability, to enlarge service catchment areas, and to attract migrants. After analyzing the existing problems and their causes, several proposals are raised for ecological and healthy development and planning management for small towns in China. |
