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UCI delegation participated in first annual NCF summit in Paris 25/05/2012 The Chinese delegation takes a group photo with Lady Barbara, Judge, Chairman of the UK Pension Protection Fund. The first annual New Cities Foundation (NCF) Summit was held in Paris on May 14-16. The summit brought together more than 500 urban policy makers and thought leaders to a three-day conference on global urbanization, with China as one of the core focuses. The mayor of Paris delivered a welcome speech. Other speakers including Gregor Robertson, Mayor of Vancouver; Ron Huldai, Mayor of Tel Aviv; Khalifa Sall, Mayor of Dakar; Greg Clark, UK Minister of State for Decentralisation and Cities; as well as the CEOs of General Motors, Ericsson, Cisco, and Suez gas. The Urban China Initiative (UCI), a partner of the NCF, assisted in organizing the summit by inviting and organizing 16 government delegates, enterprise leaders, and academics from China, as well as designing the plenary session "A Closer Look at Urban China: Towards the Urban Billion." Chinese delegates shared their insights as speakers at plenary and breakout sessions, including: "Securing Investments for the Urban Century: How do we Pay for the Urban Boom," which featured Li Dongming, General Manager of the Urban Fund at China Development Bank Capital, as a speaker. "Hard and Software City," which featured Jonathan Woetzel, Co-Chair of the Urban China Initiative, Senior Director at McKinsey & Co., as a speaker. "A Closer Look at Urban China: Towards the Urban Billion," which featured five speakers from the UCI delegation, including Yuan Yue, CEO and Chairman of Horizon Research Consultancy Group; James Lee, AIA LEED-AP, President of iContinuum Group; Jonathan Woetzel; Xiao Jincheng, Deputy Director of the Land Economy and Regional Research Bureau at the National Development and Reform Commission; and Xie Chengxiang, Deputy Mayor of Huangshi in Hubei Province. "Modern Urban

DOI : http://dx.doi.org.gate3.inist.fr/10.1016/j.foar.2012.02.013 [ScienceDirect, via Biblio-SHS] Auteur : GU Chaolin, WU Liya, Ian Cook Paru dans : Frontiers of Architectural Research, Volume 1, Issue 2, June 2012, Pages 101-149 Abstract This paper is a comprehensive study on the progress in research on Chinese urbanization. On the basis of the concept and connotation of Chinese urbanization defined by Chinese scholars, the paper systematically collects the research results on the issues concerning urbanization in China from the different approaches of demography, geography, city planning, economics and history, reviewing the process of research on Chinese urbanization made both domestically and internationally. In this paper, the domestic studies fall into five periods as follows: the initial period of research on urbanization in China (1978-1983); the period with both domestically constructed and borrowed theories on urbanization (1984-1988); the period of research on leading urbanization factors and localization (1989-1997); the period with the research greatly promoted by the government (1998-2004); and the period featuring flourishing studies on the science of urbanization in China (2005 till today). In contrast, the overseas research on Chinese urbanization can be divided into three periods: the period studying the history of urbanization in China (before the 1970s); the systematic research on Chinese urbanization (1970-1999); and the comprehensive research on Chinese urbanization (2000 till today). The paper focuses on the key results of research on Chinese urbanization, including nine issues as follows: the guidelines and road for urban development in China, the features of Chinese urbanization, the mechanism driving the growth of Chinese urbanization, the process of Chinese urbanization, the spatial patterns of Chinese urbanization, the urbanization in rural areas in China, the comparison of urbanization in China and other co

DOI : http://dx.doi.org.gate3.inist.fr/10.1016/j.cities.2011.08.003 [ScienceDirect, via Biblio-SHS] Auteur : Yungang Liu, Guanwen Yin, Laurence J.C. Ma Paru dans : Cities, Volume 29, Issue 2, April 2012, Pages 107-117 Abstract China's rapid growth over the last three decades has attracted much academic attention. In the post-reform era, economic growth has been paralleled by rapid urbanization. China's urbanization experience has been shaped heavily by the state through national urban policies as well as through local administrative means. Much has been written about large Chinese cities in the more developed coastal regions, such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, but little is known about the process of city-making in medium-sized and small Chinese cities, especially those in the less developed central and western regions of the country. This paper sheds light on the processes of urban transformation in Hebi, a medium-sized inland city in Henan Province, emphasizing the critical role that the local state has played in city-making, the mechanisms and processes of change, and the resultant impacts on the city. As a mining city, Hebi has been threatened by depleting natural resources. To invigorate the city, a new city center has been built to attract new enterprises. Through intensive interviews and fieldwork conducted in 2007 and 2008, we examine what the city government of Hebi has done to turn the newly constructed urban space into a new administrative and economic center of the city. With the establishment of new enterprises, the local economy has been diversified, although coal continues to be a major component of Hebi's economy. The role of the local state in the production and development of the new urban space is direct and forceful. As local state policies on urban development have been implemented by strong administrative means, we conceptualize the contemporary Chinese model of urbanization as "administrative urbanization".

Abstract We performed a bibliometric analysis of published urbanization research from 1991 to 2009, based on SCI and SSCI database. Our analysis reveals scientific outputs, subject categories and major journals, international collaboration and geographic distribution, and temporal trends in keywords usage in urbanization studies and discusses the relationships between urbanization papers and urbanization rate and offer a substitute demonstration of research advancements, which may be considered as a potential guide for future research. The growth of article outputs has exploded since 1991, along with an increasing collaboration index, references and citations. Environmental sciences, ecology, environmental studies, geography and urban studies were most frequently used subject categories and Landscape and Urban Planning was the most productive journal in urbanization studies. The United States was the largest contributor in global urbanization research, as the USA produced the most independent and collaborative papers. The geographic distribution of urbanization articles overlapped quite well with regions with high economic growth in North America, Europe, and Pacific-Asia. A keywords analysis found the USA and China were "hotspots", confirmed land-use's significant position and revealed keen interest in ecological and environmental issues in urbanization studies. In general, urbanization research was strongly correlated with the urbanization rate although there were different patterns and underlying processes across different countries. This is the first study to quantify global research trends in urbanization. Our study reveals patterns in scientific outputs and academic collaborations and serves as an alternative way of revealing global research trends in urbanization.

[Sur ScienceDirect via Biblio-SHS] Auteurs : Yan Songa, Yves Zenou Publié dans : Regional Science and Urban Economics, Volume 42, Issue 3, May 2012, Pages 495-505 Abstract The presence of urban villages is a unique product of China's urbanization. In this article, we explore the effects of urban villages on the formal housing market. For this purpose, we develop a hedonic housing price model to investigate whether the proximity to urban villages affects the selling price of urban housing units. Controlling for the structure and other characteristics of urban housing units, we find that housing prices are lower the closer the buildings are from urban villages. We then carry out a survey of households living nearby and explore how they are affected by urban villages. The results indicate that there are both positive and negative effects associated with these villages. Highlights ► In this article, we explore the effects of urban villages on the formal housing market in China. ► Propose a theoretical urban model of urban villages. ► We test the model and find that housing prices are lower the closer the buildings are from urban villages. ► Households declare that they are both positive and negative effects associated with these villages.

International Comparative Analysis of Poverty in Asia: Urbanization, Migration and Social Policy Symposium held at Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu, China, November 1-4, 2012 Southwest Jiaotong University (SWJTU) and the Institute for Poverty Alleviation and International Development (IPAID) are jointly organizing a symposium in October 2012 on the effects of urbanization and poverty alleviation in Asia. The main purpose is to address the widening income gap between rural and urban areas in Asia in the past thirty years. Development scholars, researchers, and practitioners are invited to submit high-quality papers with a focus on the symposium theme of urbanization and migration in Asia and its affect on poverty in both rural and urban areas. The symposium aims to create a dialogue among scholars of Asian development studies to address effective urban and rural poverty reduction strategies. The symposium will focus on the following set of issues which include (but are not limited to): Rural development and urbanization in Asia International standards of poverty alleviation Access to land and land right education (rights, inequity, and poverty) Labor mobility and poverty Gender based income inequality Social policy to tackle poverty and inequality Housing, transportation and infrastructure development National policies and measures for the eradication of poverty The symposium will conclude with an excursion to disaster areas in Chengdu affected by the 2008 earthquake which killed an estimated 69,000 people. SWJTU has taken a lead in the recovery efforts and research cooperation in the field of poverty alleviation in Western China's less developed areas. Selected papers from the symposium will be published in a special edited volume of the Journal of Poverty Alleviation and International Development (JPAID) in 2013. Submission Deadlines Submission of a 500 word abstract is due by September 15, 2012. If accepted, SWJTU will communicate with you in

The 2011 Urban Sustainability Index is one of the inaugural studies of the Urban China Initiative (UCI), a think-tank founded in 2010 by Columbia University, McKinsey & Company, and Tsinghua University. UCI was created to help solve some of China's most difficult urbanization challenges. In particular, UCI aspires to three goals: ** Solutions: Provide the best and most innovative solutions to urban development issues in China. ** Talent: Convene China's leading domestic and international urban thinkers and professionals, and serve as a magnet for the best global thinkers. ** Dialogue: Host China's leading national, provincial, and local dialogues on urban issues. With these complementary goals, UCI aims not only to play a role in advancing the academic discussion of China's rapid urbanization, but also to provide insights and tools that may be directly useful to national and local policy makers, who will have a profound impact on the nature of China's urban development. The 2011 Urban Sustainability Index builds on the work published in 2010, The Urban Sustainability Index: A New Tool for Measuring China's Cities, and is designed to be the first of yearly updates to the Index and analyses.1

Authors(s): Adriana Akers, Anthony Gao, Xiujun Li, and Molly Lindsay et al. (China Urban Initiative) 2011 Urban Sustainability Index April 1, 2012 The 2011 Urban Sustainability updates data from the inaugural report and further develops insights into the relative sustainability of China's rapidly growing cities while highlighting case studies of successful policies and outcomes. Analysis revealed a positive correlation between a city's income level and its sustainability scores, indicating that in some cases China's continued economic development may have a positive impact on sustainable urbanization.

Thématiques n° 2, 3 [ScienceDirect, via Biblio-SHS] Auteur : Ye Hua, Dennis Wei Paru dans : Habitat International, Volume 36, Issue 3, July 2012, Pages 396-405 This research examines government policies and urban transformation in China through a study of Hangzhou City, which is undergoing dramatic growth and restructuring. As the southern center of the Yangtze River Delta, an emerging global city region of China, Hangzhou has been restlessly searching for strategies to promote economic growth and survive the competition with Shanghai. This paper analyzes Hangzhou's development strategies, including globalization, tourism, industrial development, and urban development, in the context of shifting macro conditions and local responses. We hold that urban policies in China are situated in the broad economic restructuring and the gradual, experiential national reform and are therefore transitional. The paper suggests that China's urban policies are state institution-directed, growth-oriented, and land-based, imposing unprecedented challenges to sustainability and livability. Land development and spatial restructuring are central to urban policies in China. Last, while Hangzhou's development strategies and policies to some extent reflect policy convergence across cities in China, local/spatial contexts, including local settings, territorial rescaling and land conditions, are underlying the functioning of development/entrepreneurial states. Highlights ► This paper analyzes government policies and urban transformation in Hangzhou city. ► Urban policies in China are transitional. ► China's urban policies are state institutions-directed and growth-oriented.

[ScienceDirect, via Biblio-SHS] Auteur : Xi-Zhang Shan, School of Geographical Sciences, South China Normal University, No. 55 Zhongshan Avenue West, Tianhe District, Guangzhou 510631, PR China Paru dans : Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, Volume 11, Issue 2, 2012, Pages 211-217 Abstract Urban green spaces serve a variety of residents with various perceptions, preferences and demands. Their effective governance and precision provision increasingly require public input. Due to the unique political regime, public decision-making in China has long been controlled by governments with the public neglected. With increasing civic consciousness in recent years in urban China, this research investigated attitudes and willingness toward participation in planning, management and design of urban green spaces in Guangzhou. Face-to-face questionnaire surveys were conducted at the 24 green sites across the city with 595 respondents successfully interviewed. The results demonstrated the positive attitudes and strong willingness toward participation despite socioeconomic variations, fitting into a global trend of increasing civic consciousness and strengthening the theoretical base of public participation. Practically, the positive findings lay a sound social foundation for the participatory decision-making in urban China, and help to drive local governments more open and inclusive and develop effective governance strategies and mechanisms to promote public participation in decision-making of urban green spaces.

Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Suzhou, Jiangsu, China 18th to 19th October 2012 The conference will comprise the academic strand - as part of the international 'Masterplanning The Future' conference. About the Academic Conference Strand: One hundred years have passed since Le Corbusier's Voyage to the Orient. Although he didn't venture into the Far East, his influence - and that of Modernism - is recognizable across the world. This conference will explore Modernism's significance in architecture and urbanism from Europe to India and the Far East. It will explore its lasting, or its fading, influences on China; and China's influence on it. But is also looks at Modernism from the Americas to Africa to Asia; we want to get as many stories of the changing face - and the new face - of "the modern" as possible. Architecture, and indeed the world, has changed massively over the last century, so this conference will explore what contemporary ideas can be drawn from different historical periods and different social circumstances. With the rapidly urbanizing conditions of India and China, what can Modernism tell us about the global urban condition? Indeed, is there such a thing? How has Modernism fared? How are architectural ideas portrayed today and what are the connections with the past? This conference is an international forum within China, bringing together researchers and experts from across the world. In this way, the exchange of ideas and experiences will stimulate a better understanding of modern and vernacular architecture, contemporary and traditional urbanism; and regionalist and universalist design ideals. Themes: Papers are welcomed to address a range of topics, which include (but are not exclusive to) the following: Modernism from the West to the East and across the world.; Modernism and the role of manifestos; Chandigarh: then and now; Metabolism; Asian development; Em

[ScienceDirect, via Biblio-SHS] Auteurs : Ying Xu, Bo-sin Tang, Edwin H.W. Chan Paru dans : Habitat International, Volume 35, Issue 1, January 2011, Pages 57-65 Abstract Since the implementation of economic reforms in 1978, Chinese cities have undergone unprecedented urban expansion. The suburban landscape of these cities has changed dramatically - from traditionally agricultural to rapidly urbanizing. This paper sheds light on the urbanization process that rural villages have undergone through state-led land requisition. It identifies two physical manifestations of the Chinese countryside during the urbanization process: semi-urbanized villages and urban resettlement housing districts. Based on a case study of the suburban districts of Shanghai, it argues that these two emerging forms of suburban landscape differ not only in terms of their physical form and land-use structure, but also in many of the social, economic, cultural and organizational characteristics of these ex-rural communities. Through analysis of public data and observation from personal interview, the study concludes that state-led land requisition has been a dominant force in expediting the urbanization of the suburban areas of Chinese cities and that the complex interplay between state and market impetuses has led to the multi-faceted transformation of rural communities and to a complicated countryside profile.

[ScienceDirect, via Biblio-SHS] Auteur : Nesru H. Koroso, Paul van der Molen, Arbind. M. Tuladhar, Jaap A. Zevenbergen Paru dans : Land Use Policy, Volume 30, Issue 1, January 2013, Pages 417-426 Abstract This research investigates whether the process of transfers of urban land use rights in China, particularly where the state plays a major role in the transfer of urban land, complies with basic principles of good governance. In order to assess market, an assessment framework is developed. A critical analysis of secondary data from official and non-official sources is done. Major changes since late 1980s in the institutional environment and subsequent results have been assessed. The findings reveal that the transfer of urban land use rights in China is gradually responding to an improved governance system. Institutional reforms have led to a steady improvement in indicators such as transparency, efficiency, and access to information. Nonetheless, the market has significant weaknesses in addressing equity issues, engaging stakeholders, tackling corruption and dealing with expropriations. In general, the paper finds that the efficiency and effectiveness of the urban land market largely depends not on the type of tenure regime per sé, but rather on the system of governance in place. Highlights ► Based on existing data sources, this paper analyses the performance of the market for urban land use rights in China. ► The assessment framework is based on governance principles like equity, participation, access to information, efficiency, and transparency. ► The result is that the market needs improvements regarding governance principles. ► However, a positive impact of the efforts of the government to improve can be observed.

[ScienceDirect, via Biblio-SHS] Auteur : Wang Jinghui (China Academy of Urban Planning and Design, 5 Chegongzhuang Road, Beijing 100044, China) Paru dans : Frontiers of Architectural Research, Volume 1, Issue 1, March 2012, Pages 40-43 Abstract Historical urban areas are the memory of a city, and the overall landscape they constitute displays the typical scene of a city in a certain historical period. Thus, they are of value for protection. The current study gives an overview on the origin and protection of historical urban areas in the world. Moreover, the study also focuses on the principles, methods, and current problems in the protection of historical urban areas under the guidance of related laws and regulations in China. Finally, some effective measures to protect historical urban areas are suggested.

The Urban China Initiative aims to be the source of the best and most innovative solutions to urban development issues in China. To achieve this goal, UCI conducts a grant program to support research concerning China's urban development and sustainability. UCI accepts research applications on an annual basis for grants up to RMB 100,000. It also provides assistance and guidance during the research process and facilitates the publication of working papers and implementation through city pilots (Click here for more supports UCI GRANTS provide). The Initiative supports research on the effectiveness of programs and technologies related to urban development; emerging domestic and global best practices in project design, development, and execution; and paths to successful structural adjustment in China's cities. Grant-supported research focuses on sustainable urbanization (Click here for detailed requirements). Candidates are required to submit an application package which includes a detailed research proposal and CV (download application form and proposal template) to grant@urbanchinainitiative.org. The deadline for the upcoming round of funding is December 20, 2012. Research for the grants is expected to be completed within a year. For inquiry, please contact us via contact@urbanchinainitiative.org or +86(10)-8525-5245.

China's sustained economic growth since 1978 has stimulated heated debates not only about its rise to great power status but also the sustainability of the Chinese 'model' of development and its social, economic and environmental implications at home and abroad (see e.g. Pei, 2006; Peerenboom, 2007; Bergsten et al., 2008; Zhao, 2010). One of the most important aspects of China's economic development is the accompanying rapid urbanisation. The McKinsey Global Institute (2011: 15) characterised China's urbanisation a 'massive transformation'. Although China's 12th Five-Year Plan (FYP) only sets the gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate at 7% (as compared with a planned 7.5% and the actual 11.2% growth in the previous 11th FYP), the planned growth in urban population will increase by 4% per annum from 2010 to 2015, hence raising the urbanisation rate from 47.5% to 51.5% (The State Council, 2011: 10). China's growth has, however, been marked by unbalanced regional development in the past three decades as most of the coastal cities and regions are spearheading rapid growth while inland and rural areas are lagging behind. Part of this is the clear outcome of deliberate national policies in the 1980s as the coastal regions should supposedly have been championing growth for the entire country (see e.g. Yang, 1997; Lin, 1999). However, by the 1990s, there were clear concerns that such a pattern was neither sustainable nor desirable. The changing role of the Chinese state in urban and regional development is the key theme underlying this special issue. The papers assembled here address different aspects of this multifaceted process that is still unfolding. Since the launching of the reform and open door policy in 1978, China has embarked upon the transition from a planned economy to a more market-oriented system that is increasingly integrated with the global capitalist economy. Decentralisation of economic policy powers from Beijing to local governments at the

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content: Building upon decades of global market flows, population migrations, digital technology, and accelerated interconnectedness, the twenty-first century is facing remarkable urban transformations (Harvey 1990, 2005; Sassen 2001; Holston 1999; Brenner 2004). In 1800, 3 percent of the world's population lived in cities. In 2008, that figure reached over 50 percent (Population Reference Bureau 2011). These transformations are most evident in the emerging nodes of an interreferencing urban Asian renaissance (Roy and Ong 2011). Eight of the world's ten megacities (those with populations over ten million) are in Asia. In postreform China, which is conscious of its rising power and eager to catch up with worldly pursuits, city building has reached the scale, intensity, and audacity of a revolution (Campanella 2008; Ren 2011). What characterizes this dramatic urban transformation in China? Who are its major players and winners, and who is marginalized or excluded? What cultural meanings and lifestyles are visibly forged? How are these processes intertwined with nationalistic aspirations, social divisions, and political contestations? What analytical insights and theoretical reflections can we gain at this historical juncture from an urban postmodern linking China, Asia, and the rest of the globe? These are some of the issues in the minds of Asian scholars across the disciplines. I hope this review will provide an opening for us to engage in multiple conversations, hence my citing the works of many colleagues.

Thématique n° 2 [ScienceDirect, via Biblio-SHS] Auteur : Guo Chen Paru dans : Cities, Volume 29, Issue 4, August 2012, Pages 252-263 Abstract This paper provides first-hand empirical evidence about the differentiation of housing conditions among China's urban poor families based on a case study of Nanjing. The main findings include: (1) the Hukou family registration system has strong differential effects on poor families' housing conditions; (2) housing conditions among the urban poor are tightly associated with privatization and home ownership, where non-owners face more severe housing difficulties than nominal owners; and (3) resettlement has played a positive role in improving the poor's housing conditions, but its positive effects are only present in cases where work units or the government has taken the responsibility of housing the resettled poor. These findings show that housing the urban poor in post-reform China is largely: (1) path-dependent, (2) privatization-oriented, and (3) development-driven, and a mechanism that can pro-actively ensure the poor's basic right to housing is still lacking. Highlights ► We investigate the housing differentiation among China's urban poor families. ► We examine the variation from three perspectives. ► We show housing variations by Hukou types. ► We show housing variations by housing tenure and distribution types. ► We show housing variations due to housing change and resettlement.

[ScienceDirect, via Biblio-SHS] Auteur : Giuseppina Siciliano, Institute of Environmental Science and Technology, Autonomous University of Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain / University IUAV of Venice, Ca' Tron, Santa Croce 1957, 30135 Venezia, Italy Paru dans : Land Use Policy Volume 29, Issue 1, January 2012, Pages 165-178 Abstract This paper links urbanization strategies to changes in land use and associated impacts on rural communities and agro-ecosystems in a rural area of China. Energy, monetary and human time variables as well as information on environmental pressures, have been combined to compare different typologies of households and the metabolism of different patterns of land use from an integrated perspective. The results show that urbanization strategies, aimed at shifting the current land use and at displacing the local population, while increasing the economic efficiency is also associated with an increase in fossil energy consumption and environmental pressure, as well as a reduction of the multifunctional characteristic of the area under investigation. Based on these findings the paper also offers a critical discussion of the Chinese rural development policy arguing that the multifunctionality of rural areas should be taken into account by Chinese policy-makers and planners as a viable strategy to achieve rural development targets. Highlights ► Urbanization strategies in China drive the land use change of rural areas. ► Forced migration decreases rural food self-sufficiency and diversification of risk. ► HEPA patterns have higher economic efficiency and energy intensity than LEPA. ► Rural-urban migrations favor the creation of mono-functional agricultural systems.

Authors : Richard Dobbs (Director of the McKinsey Global Institute) Jaana Remes (McKinsey Global Institute senior fellow) In : The Cities issue. A "Foreign policy" special report, 17 Sept/Oct. 2012 http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/08/13/introducing_the_most_dynamic_cities_of_2025 (site consulté le 17/08/2012) Introducing … The Most Dynamic Cities of 2025 An exclusive look at the 75 powerhouses of the urban revolution. BY RICHARD DOBBS, JAANA REMES | SEPT/OCT 2012 The list of the world's most dynamic cities is here. If there's any bright spot in an otherwise dim outlook for the global economy, it's the rise of cities. With fragile growth in Europe and the United States, the shift in economic balance toward the East and South is happening with unprecedented speed and scale -- and it's happening through urbanization. Quite simply, we are witnessing the biggest economic transformation the world has ever seen as the populations of cities in emerging markets expand and see their incomes rise as never before, producing massive geopolitical shifts and a wave of new consumers whose spending power will change the way the world shops and invests. COMMENTS (4) SHARE: Share on twitter Twitter Share on reddit Reddit Bookmark and Share More... More than ever, cities matter. Today, just 600 urban centers generate about 60 percent of global GDP. But though 600 cities will continue to account for the same share of global GDP in 2025, this elite group will have a very different membership. Over the next 15 years, the urban world's center of gravity will move farther south and, even more decisively, east. [...]

Thématique 4 [ScienceDirect, via Biblio-SHS] Auteur : Alana Bolanda, Jiangang Zhu Paru dans : Geoforum, Volume 43, Issue 1, January 2012, Pages 147-157 Abstract In recent years, there has been heightened interest in creating more environmentally sustainable forms of urban development in China. Central in these greening initiatives has been increased attention on promoting public participation in community-based environmental activities. Focusing on China's green community initiatives, we examine the production and effects of participation in a state-led development program. Our analysis considers how incentives for program organizers and participants are structured by broader political and economic imperatives facing Chinese cities. We also consider what influence China's history of neighborhood-based mobilization campaigns had on the meanings and methods of participation in green communities. To understand how urban development processes and memories of mobilization influence participation at the local level, we present two examples of the community greening process from the city of Guangzhou, comparing policy outcomes between a new and older neighborhood. This article seeks to demonstrate that the participatory processes associated with such an urban environmental initiative cannot be adequately understood without reference to earlier participatory practices and broader policy priorities guiding development in Chinese cities. Highlights ► Emergence of green communities in China is related to broader urban transformations. ► Participatory programming reflects aspects of China's earlier mobilization campaigns. ► Even in highly structured settings, participation can produce new social dynamics. ► Cautions against reading participation solely through binary of failure or success. ► Contributes to literatures on sustainable cities and participatory development.