The Chinese are building a mega city for 130 million people

Megapolis for 130 million people will be built in China

The central part of Chongqing - the largest metropolitan area of China within the boundaries of the urban district of China is constantly setting world records for the scale of projects in progress.

Often Chinese mega-projects are called the typical "disease" of the Celestial Empire, forgetting the scale of the state. In the Great Demographic "Ocean", there are more than a hundred cities with a population over one million people. China's largest cities within the boundaries of urban districts: Chongqing, Shanghai and Beijing. Naturally, the Chinese central government is looking for the best option for the territorial organization of urbanized territories.

In world practice, the following hierarchy of city - agglomeration - megalopolis stands out. Megalopolis (ancient Greek, literally: "big, huge, great city) is formed by the confluence of several urban agglomerations. Synonymous is the term "mega-region" or "mega-city". In China, the largest megalopolises are formed in the Zhujiang River Delta (Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Macau, etc.), the Yangtze River Delta (Shanghai, Nanjing, etc.), Bohai (Beijing, Tianjin, etc.).

The "Pearl River Delta" megalopolis is formed in the delta of the Zhujiang River, which flows into the South China Sea near Guangzhou. It includes 9 cities and agglomerations with population over one million each and several dozens of other urban settlements on the area of about 7 thousand km² (for comparison: the area of Moscow is 2.5 thousand km²). The population of the megalopolis is 60 million people and exceeds the population of Argentina, Ukraine, Canada or Australia.

In April 2017, the Chinese government announced plans to build a huge city of Xuongang about 100 km south of Beijing, which will be part of the mega-region Jing Ji. The area of Xuongang will be three times the size of New York. Some universities, institutions, and many residents of the Chinese capital will move here, which is designed to reduce the burden on Beijing's infrastructure. The news provoked the "land fever": the land value in this area has jumped many times.

The incredible scale of new urban clusters in China makes us talk about a completely new form of urbanization, says Alain Berthaud, senior research fellow at Urbenization Project at New York University. Thus, Jing Jin Ji has 130 million people (the mega-region includes Beijing, Hebei and Tianjin).

Jing Jin Ji was first announced in 2014, and today it accounts for 10% of China's GDP - many factories and production centers have been transferred here. Almost $50 billion was allocated for railroads and high-speed trains alone: from the key cities of the mega-region to central Beijing can be reached in just half an hour.

In the past four decades, China's urbanization has been fuelled by strong exports and cheap labor. But now that more than half of the population lives in cities and the country's economy is based on consumption, there is no clear understanding of how to manage outdated megacities.

The process of urbanization does not happen solely at the behest of the government. On the contrary, the Chinese authorities have tried to curb it - for example, by maintaining mandatory registration at the place of residence. But urbanization is a requirement of the economy, for which people vote with their feet, moving to cities. The government has to reckon with it and pay a price for this natural process.

Now there are already 15 megacities in China (according to local concepts, these are cities with a population of more than 10 million people), several more are on the way. By 2020, the level of urbanization in China will increase by another 10%.

The plan of the Chinese government provides for the integration of small towns and villages in new urban structures - in the hope of attracting rural migrants there, rather than in overcrowded Shanghai with Beijing.

China intends to spend $36 billion on railroads that improve communication between the capital, the port city of Tianjin and neighboring Hebei Province.

The length of the tracks will be 1100 kilometers. The construction will last until 2020 and is part of a larger plan, designed until 2030.

Chinese economists are very optimistic and expect that the new metropolis will flourish. One thing is certain, all this will lead to a gold rush of real estate in these three regions. Already now real estate prices in Tianjin went up.