‘China’s Urban–Rural Relations: Myths, Lessons, and Legacy of the New-Type Urbanisation Plan’ offers a critical and timely examination of one of the most ambitious transformation agendas of the 21st century. The book examines how China's New-Type Urbanisation Plan has changed the connection between cities and the countryside—spatially, economically, institutionally, and socially—moving beyond celebratory narratives and crude criticisms. This book fundamentally questions the notion that urbanisation is a neutral or consistently advantageous development. It contends that although China's approach has brought about previously unheard-of levels of scale, speed, and connection, it has also resulted in uneven outcomes, enduring inequality, and contentious forms of integration. As described above, urban-rural change is a complicated and frequently conflicting process influenced by distributional dynamics, institutional frameworks, and governance decisions rather than a straight line toward equilibrium. Architects, planners and scholars will find it of interest.

Ali Cheshmehzangi is Professor and Head of the School of Architecture, Design and Planning at The University of Queensland, Australia. His research focuses on urban sustainability, climate resilience, and the evolving relationships between cities, communities, and technological systems. He has authored and edited more than 70 academic books and published extensively on sustainable urbanism, urban transformation, and the future of cities. His work on China draws on extensive research and academic experience, critically examining the country’s rapid urbanisation, urban–rural transformation, and governance practices within wider debates on sustainable development, carbon neutrality, and long-term urban and regional change.