China's coastal cities: Development, planning and challenges

Abstract

Globalization of the world economy has assigned an important role to coastal cities to play in national development. In China, since the reform and openness policy was introduced in 1978, coastal cities have been called to act as 'engines' in economic growth. By using the Chinese experiences, this paper examines the development of coastal cities in national economic change, and discusses the issues and challenges in coastal city planning. The Chinese experiences show that the development of coastal cities is dependent upon national policies of making use of the sea in connecting China to the global economy. Once national development strategy is determined, the economic and spatial structure ..