Philip J. Cunningham

Opinion | Strict city planning, lack of dynamism could limit Xiongan’s growth before it’s even finished

Shenzhen and Pudong were able to grow and reach their current heights thanks to good geography, climate, policy experimentation and, importantly, location

Xiongan lacks those advantages, and the central government’s tight controls risk choking off the kind of organic growth seen in the world’s great cities

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Workers are seen on a construction site for municipal support facilities at the Rongdong area of Xiongan New Area, in Hebei province, on March 30, 2021. Photo: Xinhua

Philip J. Cunningham

Published: 4:15pm, 15 May 2023

Is Xiongan a new Pudong or a Potemkin? Is it the latest Shenzhen or just a Shangri-la? President Xi Jinping took a bullish attitude during his recent inspection of the city-in-progress, describing it as “sophisticated” and “a miracle”. He also said practice had shown the Communist Party Central Committee’s decision on building the Xiongan New Area is “entirely correct”.

Xiongan is a done deal, politically, given that it’s a prestige project backed by the party, but the build is still incomplete so it’s hard to tell how it will turn out.

China has built cities from scratch before, so the idea can’t be dismissed entirely. Yet sceptics question the value of building a city to offload population and jobs from overcrowded Beijing when Xiongan – located in a delicate wetland zone prone to floods – has a population cap of 3 million.

The burden is especially heavy on Xiongan, since it is being touted as providing a corrective to the ills of city life – overcrowding, unbridled development, rampant commercialisation and the heavy carbon footprint that goes with all of the above.

Shenzhen was dotted with duck farms and fishing villages just a few decades ago, and is now a vibrant metropolis of at least 13 million people. Pudong, once the neglected side of the river in Shanghai, is now home to more than 5 million people with another 5 million in neighbouring districts.

Compared to these two urban “swans”, Xiongan is still something of an ugly duckling. For one, the showcase cities of the Deng Xiaoping and Jiang Zemin eras were beneficiaries of location.