I. URBAN DEVELOPMENT AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS
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E. Suburbanization in Shanghai
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Suburbanization means the urbanization of suburbs that appeared in the middle of this century when urban development in developed countries required a higher quality and citizens could commute with convenience of transportation from the central city proper, where land prices were high, transportation was crowded and pollution was severe, to suburbs where the environment was open and beautiful. The suburbs gradually took the place of the central city proper as the area of the fastest growing population and economic activities, thus urban development arrived at a new stage - suburbanization. USA, Britain and Japan have succeeded in reaching this stage in the 1940s,1960s and 1970s respectively.-
From 1949 to the beginning of the 1980s Shanghai had experienced intense urbanization; while in the later 1980s its quick economic development, especially the emergence of township enterprises and suburban development, had a far-reaching impact on its urbanizing process. The growth of town enterprises resulted mainly from the dispersion of production elements from the industries in the central city, which accelerated the urbanizing process and flourished the economy. For it not only intensified the economic functions of the suburbs of which industry formed the main body, but also increased the non-agricultural labor force. The GNP in the suburbs of Shanghai was 8.4 billion yuan in 1985 and 20.086 billion yuan in 1991, registering an increase of 15.6 per cent per year, and the reinforcement of economic strength in the suburbs of Shanghai and the improvement of urban infrastructure greatly accelerated its suburban urbanization.
The development and opening of Pudong ushered in the multi-cored, sub-grouping and open layout and model which had such effects on the suburbanization process as; (a) Many modern towns at various sizes and administrative levels have been formed; (b) Besides assimilating many domestic and foreign investments, Pudong admitted the settlement of the industries and tertiaries from the central city and accelerated the suburbanization of economic activities; (c) The high-standard modern infrastructures in Pudong provided a sound living environment and attracted lots of people in the central city to dwell there, thus accelerating the suburbanization of the population in Shanghai.
The transportation network has been centre of urban infrastructure construction in recent years. Viaducts and ring roads were built on a large scale and the main roads that connect the central city with suburbs and the outer hinterland were especially striking. The Songxin, Hujia, Huning and Huhang highways and batches of high grade suburban roads stretch out from the city centre and they not only shorten the distances between the city and surrounding countryside and promote suburbanization, but also diffuse city functions to the suburbs and make those areas bordering them the vanguard area of suburbanization.
The economic functions and population of Shanghai have systematically been dispersed to its suburbs, especially the immediate suburbs which have become the fastest growing and the most active urban economic areas, and Shanghai entered a new era of suburbanization in the 1980's.
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