The concept of Quyu (区域) in China Across policy and academic debates, regions are increasingly recognised as key arenas for addressing climate change, demographic shifts, and economic transitions. In Western contexts, they are often conceptualised as functional economic spaces shaped by inter-firm trade, labour mobility, supply-chain integration, or as outcomes of local agency where regional […]
Development History: A Multi-Dimensional Region Centred on Shanghai In the Chinese context, as urban spatial patterns and governance systems evolve, the concept of “region” increasingly exhibits multi-dimensional and dynamic characteristics, especially prominent in Shanghai and its surrounding areas. Shanghai is one of China’s four municipalities directly under the central government and a core city of […]
Gauteng province remains the engine of South Africa’s urban-industrial economy, but its dominance has long depended on the marginalisation of peripheral regions. The structural imbalance under apartheid was a result of policies that favoured the Pretoria-Witwatersrand-Vereeniging complex and underdeveloped black urban populations. The apartheid regime created a political economy rooted in racial, class, and spatial […]