China pushes city living

China is developing more green spaces in its cities

By Duncan Hewitt in Shanghai

China has given new details of its plans for large-scale urbanisation of its population.

Urban residents will make up 40% of the population by 2010, up from just over 30% today, according to the State Development Planning Commission.

State media quoted experts as saying the figure could reach 60% in 20 years.

The latest plans show that China's rapid transition from a largely agricultural society to an increasingly urbanised one is if anything getting faster.

The country currently has 660 cities and more than 20,000 towns - up three times and nine times respectively in the past two decades.

There are 456 million people living in urban areas, compared to just 170 million in 1978.

And the commission predicts that at least 10 million people will continue to leave the land each year.

Wealth gap

The government sees urbanisation as a way of tackling poverty and reducing the gap between the wealthier east of the country and its backward western regions.

In an attempt to stem the flow of migrant workers from the countryside to the bigger cities, it has already announced plans to construct 10,000 new towns, many in rural areas which are currently major sources of migration.

This will create millions of new jobs but it is also causing major environmental worries. The commission says it is addressing these, stressing that green areas must cover at least 35% of all cities within the next four years.

It has also pledged to cut the use of coal in urban homes to less than 10% and to process 45% of urban sewage.

But the plan will require a major restructuring of China's household registration system. This classifies people as either urban or rural residents and a government researcher quoted in the China Daily described the task as an arduous one.