urban planning

urban-planning

What’s Missing From China’s Metro Buildup?

Contributions from individuals with unique perspectives to share. Hear from everyone, from experts and commentators to those whose voices are often marginalized.

VOICES & OPINION

A focus on new construction distracts metro companies from the vital work of improving the passenger experience.

Liu Daizong

Shanghai’s Most Recognizable Voices

Timely reports on issues and events from across China. Drawing on a vast range of sources, these succinct articles provide insights into the significance of each issue in a wider context.

NEWS

Few people are more emblematic of Shanghai than its metro’s Mandarin, English, and Shanghainese announcers. They reflect the best of this bustling metropolis, so proud of its heritage while deeply welcoming of visitors.

Yang Caini

Building Shanghai’s Deepest Station

From combustible gas to land subsidence, the construction of Shanghai’s deepest metro station was rife with difficulties largely unknown to the public — until now.

Ye Zhanhang

Beyond the Midnight Hour

Visual stories that get up close and personal with contemporary China. A mix of short videos, documentaries, photography, and data visualization.

MULTIMEDIA

Lü Xiao

Xue Haolin

Wu Huiyuan 

Shanghai, in Motion

From a single line in 1993 to becoming one of the largest transport systems in the world, the Shanghai Metro has helped shape the urban landscape for 30 years.

Li Xin

Homebuyers Beware: Scalpers Cash In on Shanghai Real Estate Craze

Shanghai uses a scoring system to determine eligible buyers, but scalpers are manipulating the numbers for buyers who fall short of the requirements.

Amid Recovery Push, Street Vendors Make a Comeback Across China

Once widely regulated, local governments are now embracing micro businesses to revitalize the economy and boost jobs.

Breastfeeding at Work: Why China’s Moms Need a Room of Their Own

Articles that cut to the core of contemporary China. In-depth, informed, and carefully crafted, every piece is carried by the voices of the story’s participants.

FEATURES

By 2025, China hopes over half of all infants are exclusively breastfed in their first six months. But most workplaces lack even basic facilities.

Wang Lianzhang

What’s So Scary About the 15-Minute City?

China’s early experiments show the concept makes movement easier — and control harder.

As City Bus Service Teeters in Henan, Local Government Steps In 

The bus company said it was unable to run buses from March 1 and pay staff, citing a cash crunch.

The Hunt for China’s Ugliest Building

For 13 years, the “China’s Ugliest Buildings” poll has documented the misfires and gambles that defined the country’s urban building spree. What can the results teach us about taste in architecture?

You Xudong

Xi’an Confronts an Unusual Challenge: a Surfeit of Ancient Tombs

China wants to protect its historical relics from new urban development projects. But that’s no simple task in Xi’an — a city where imperial tombs are seemingly everywhere.

Yuan Ye

Reclaiming China’s Night Skies

Over the past 20 years, gaudy light shows have taken over skylines nationwide. But darkness is its own kind of beauty.

Xu Leiqing

The Key to Reviving Urban Rivers? Recreation, Not Regulation

Long neglected, Beijing’s Liangma River has made a comeback over the past year, thanks in no small part to an uncharacteristically lax approach to urban management.

China’s Regional Governments, Long Divided, Are Building Bridges

Provinces don’t usually get along. Beijing hopes a new layer of government can change that.

Can China’s Skyscraper Capital Come Down to Earth?

For decades, Shenzhen has adopted a brash approach to turning itself into a global hub: the bigger, faster, and more ostentatious, the better. Can the same approach make it a cultural center?

Can Bikes Cure China’s Big City Blues?

Over a span of decades, the country’s urban planners designed with cars, buses, and subways in mind. Now that cities are sprawling ever further, is it too late for the bike to make a comeback?

Mao Mingrui

China Is Making Its Cities ‘Smarter.’ Can it Make Them Wiser?

Since 2012, China has embraced the concept of “smart cities” in a bid to improve governance and urban officials’ decision-making, but more tech isn't always the answer.

Guangzhou Officials Punished for Axing City’s Beloved Banyan Trees

While residents say the lush trees provide shelter during sweltering summers, authorities argue they’re hazardous during typhoons.

Zhu Ruiying

Chinese Cities Must Better Prepare for Climate Risks, Official Says

China is home to 37 of the 100 most at-risk cities in Asia.