Nearly a third of Chinese cities are facing the major challenge of “miniaturization”, according to a new study published by a Chinese university.
The team from Tsinghua University, Beijing, used satellite images to track nighttime light intensity in more than 3,300 Chinese cities and towns from 2013 to 2016.
Many Chinese cities are trending “miniature”.
Of these cities and towns, 28% had a marked decrease in nighttime light. This means that China now has 938 cities and towns that are “shrinking,” according to Long Ying, an urban planning expert at Tsinghua University who led the study.
Long said this is the largest number compared to other countries in the world.
These findings suggest that population and economic activity are declining in 938 cities and towns. Meanwhile, at this point, China is facing significant economic and demographic challenges.
The cities under the greatest pressure to “minimize” are those that rely heavily on natural resources such as the coal mining town of Hegang in Heilongjiang province; cities in transition such as Yiwu in Zhejiang province.
The coal mining town of Hegang in Heilongjiang province is one of the places under the greatest pressure to shrink.
Another major problem China faces is that the urban “miniature” detected by satellites will go unnoticed by planning officials on the ground.
City planners are still drawing up plans based on the assumption that China’s urban areas will grow indefinitely, Long said.
“It’s as if you’ve been losing weight for over a decade but still come up with nutrition plans that assume you’re gaining weight,” says Long.
Most of China’s city plans don’t match today’s realities, Long said after reviewing ambitious urban development plans for more than 60 cities.
Plans often include major infrastructure projects as well as industrial and commercial developments.
Long says it will be difficult to tell Chinese urban officials about the trend.
However, the issue is real and Chinese central and local government officials need to become aware of the harsh reality as soon as possible, Long said.