One City, Two Systems: Chengzhongcun in China’s Urban System

Chengzhongcun, or ‘villages-in-the-city’, have been a major feature of China’s urban landscape in the post-Mao era. The existing literature largely casts them as side effects of rapid urbanization or a momentary oddity of market transition providing temporary solutions to urban needs until more efficient mechanisms for affordable housing and social welfare are developed. This article positions chengzhongcun within the broader system of unequal exchange that is at the heart of China’s rural–urban dual system and development model. This article argues that chengzhongcun are an inherent feature of China’s post-Mao urbanization model, a physical manifestation of its dual system that differentially regulates people and space according to their classifications as ‘rural’ or ‘urban’. China’s urban development must be understood as a product of this dual system based on the exploitation of the rural sector, including its land, property and people.