China's New Megacities.

On Tuesday 29 November, Michiel Hulshof gave a lecture at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands on one of the most fascinating developments of our times: the rise of the Chinese megalopolis and its consequences for China and the rest of the world.

Many people are talking about housing and urbanization in China but only a few have as much background as Mr Hulshof and Mr Roggeveen.

Over the next two decades around 300 million Chinese villagers will move to the city, creating the largest urban society in the world. Cities like Shijiazhuang (9 million inhabitants), Wuhan (10 million) and Chongqing (30 million) are developing at breakneck pace into huge metropolises. In size they rival global cities like Chicago, London and Moscow, but their names are still unknown in the rest of the world.

Journalist Michiel Hulshof and architect Daan Roggeveen recently published “How the City Moved to Mr Sun” about these unexplored megacities.

Some very interesting comments at the end of the lecture about the complaints of the new upper middle class in China.

A welcome background picture amongst the many superficial opinions and short TV documents on this important subject.

One caveat:

You need the Microsoft Silverlight Player to see the lecture.