Urbanisation is not only the inevitable course to modernisation, but also the largest driving force in unlocking domestic demand potential and development momentum in today's China. Since the promulgation of the National New-type Urbanisation Plan (2014-2020), China has been actively promoting a new people-centred path to urbanisation, which has greatly improved the level and quality of urbanisation. By 2016, the urbanisation rate of China's permanent residents and registered population reached 57.35% and 41.2% respectively, making great strides towards meeting the 2020 objective in an orderly and steady manner.
In China, urban clusters formed around municipalities, provincial cities and other sub-provincial cities are becoming the most economically developed and innovatively active regions. Focusing on these large cities and the urban clusters forming around them is the key to capturing the next phase of China's development and transformation.
