Chinese Urbanization and the Role of High-Speed Railway - MIT Center for Real Estate
Asia Real Estate Initiative

Chinese Urbanization and the Role of High-Speed Railway

Principal Investigators: Siqi Zheng (lead), Michele Bonino (lead)
Researchers: Gustavo Ambrosini, Francesco Carota, Lei Dong, Fábio Duarte, Valeria Federighi, Matteo Migliaccio, Carlo Ratti, Fan Zhang
Year: 2020
Sponsor: Politecnico di Torino
Topics: Real Estate, Infrastructure and Mobility

Urban growth in Chinese cities, particularly far from major urban centers, reveal a complex urban-rural binary. Many studies have focused on the social and economic aspects of this territorial restructuring, while the forms and features of this urbanization process have received less attention. This is our contribution.

The project combines quantitative and qualitative methodologies in the analysis of recent urbanization in China, in particular high-speed railway (HSR) new cities, and try to answer questions like: What effects do HSR networks have on urban form? And what effects do they have on the factors determining urban vibrancy? 

In addition to that, here we make available other projects related to urbanization in China conducted by the China Room (Politecnico di Torino), the MIT Sustainable Urbanization Lab, and the MIT Senseable City Lab

Chinese Urbanization and the Role of High-Speed Railway