China has the second-largest population of any country in the world, at 1.4 billion people—just behind India. And of that total, two-thirds—more than 900 million—live in urban areas. So If you’re interested in learning about urban planning, there’s no better place to go than China.
Thanks to the efforts of Yingling Fan, associate dean of faculty and an urban planning professor at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs, a group of nine students from the School did just that earlier this year. Fan, a native of China, led them on a two-week tour of five cities in China to experience alternative ways of urban planning and urban life.
Fan has offered this course in the past, but this year’s trip was the first since 2019—before the COVID-19 pandemic.
PhD student Mauricio Leon Mendez described the trip as “mind blowing. It was incredible to see how a place with so many people could organize and provide services” such as mass transit, bike sharing, green spaces, and walkable cities.
That’s due primarily to China’s centralized planning approach that allows the government to make and implement decisions swiftly, enabling large-scale projects to progress rapidly. In contrast, the U.S. system prioritizes community engagement and public input, fostering inclusive decision-making but often resulting in a lengthier process.
“As a student of policy, it’s really important to understand how different systems influence outcomes,” said Leon Mendez. “In the U.S. we have a democratic system and we like deliberation. We like everyone to be on the same page. It’s a different ideology [compared to China], and therefore we move slower and more intentionally.”
While the two countries have different approaches to urban planning and policy making, Fan said their goals are similar: prosperity, equity, community health, and livability for their residents. “Engagement occurs in China, but it’s different from what happens in the U.S.”
