The paper explains the current state of greenfield development for housing in major German cities. The respective projects are a result of the ways metro regions are structured both administratively and physically, the resulting governance arena that is dominated by the core cities but characterized by a number of constraints that make large greenfield developments increasingly difficult, and the complex socioeconomic and cultural realities in relatively “mature” post-industrial urban environments. The paper demonstrates that the resulting development model builds on an attempt to realize “urban” features and qualities in the periphery. It seeks to meet the changing demand for housing and to respond to multiple sustainability requirements. In this respect, it differs significantly from “modernist” suburban development in the 20th century both in terms of physical structures and the roles of the participating stakeholders. For this purpose, the paper analyzes the governance arenas surrounding important greenfield projects that are currently developed. It shows how contested decision making is in a complex environment of contradicting claims to urban planning and housing policies, and that the new neighborhoods can neither be seen as mere appendices of existing peripheral settlements, nor will they ever be able to act as autonomous “new towns”. The planning and implementation efforts depend on the ability of the core cities of metro areas to coordinate fragmented governance arenas, to mobilize supporters and to overcome tenacious resistance from a loose coalition of opponents to peripheral development.

The paper deals with the politics of upgrading urbanized villages in the Pearl River Delta. Urbanized villages are enclaves of formerly autonomous, very densely built-up settlements managed by village committees representing farmers' collectives and inhabited to a substantial extent by migrants and floating workers. In an environment of transition from a labor-oriented regional economy to higher value-added industries and with the ongoing reform processes, local governments try to fully integrate urbanized villages into their respective cities. This comprises an institutional reform, which makes them part of the political and administrative hierarchies and part of a rather physical upgrading strategy intended to overcome urban problems associated with security, health, economic growth and real estate development. However, the customary strategy of comprehensive redevelopment no longer seems feasible. The cities of Guangzhou and Shenzhen are therefore struggling to develop more sophisticated strategies to tackle the challenge of urbanized villages. The focus of this study is on the different approaches developed by the two cities. Whereas Guangzhou tried to establish a piecemeal strategy, taking the somewhat different local conditions into account, Shenzhen tried to proactively promote the diverse strengths and location factors of the urbanized villages and facilitate the integration process by establishing larger regeneration units, thus comprising the areas surrounding urbanized villages. Both cities, however, are gradually adapting their strategies to the respective local conditions. Our study investigates micro-level urban governance and thereby tries to identify how the various stakeholders organize decision-making in a struggle for power between the different administrative levels in formal and informal communicative settings. It seeks the conditions required for influential development strategies when dealing with different degrees of inherited autonomy and compares the levels of power that planning has in the two cities.

This article analyses the production of urban space and the respective negotiation processes in Dhaka (Bangladesh) and the Pearl River Delta (China). It considers such processes to be significantly influenced by the political system and political culture of the two countries, manifested in a state´s political stability, its development orientation and the possibilities for public participation in decision-making. Three forms of space production — namely strategic urban planning, urban extension at the agglomeration fringes and inner city urban regeneration — are compared between Dhaka and the Pearl River Delta. The respective governance arrangements in the production, organisation and appropriation of space at different spatial scales are identified, with specific regard to the interaction between stakeholders and the governing logic inherent in the emerging constellations. By relating governance research to the different degrees of political stability, we attempt to widen the scope for an analysis of mod...