Description

China released its first national urbanization plan in March 2014. The plan outlines a bold move to grant urban hukou (household registration) to 100 million people in the next six years. If successfully implemented, the plan will help China to achieve genuine urbanization and alleviate some major social and economic problems. The plan has also brought forth a new vision of urbanization with an emphasis on the human aspect. This presentation examines the relationship between urbanization and hukou reform, the feasibility of the plan and the problems.

Kam Wing Chan is Professor of Geography at the University of Washington. His main research focuses on China’s cities, migration, employment, and the household registration system. He is the author of Cities with Invisible Walls: Reinterpreting Urbanization in Post-1949 China, and some 60 articles and book chapters. He has served as a Consultant for the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, United Nations, and McKinsey & Co. and worked with the Chinese Government on a number of policy projects. His recent commentaries and interviews have appeared in the public media such as Wall Street Journal, New York Times, The Economist, South China Morning Post, BBC, CBC, Caixin, and China Daily. He is a graduate of the University of Hong Kong and the University of Toronto.