The booming development of big cities in China is a double-edged sword: major metropolises are key growth engines, but the spatial concentration of people and economic activity can worsen inequality, urban governance challenges, and political tensions. To clarify why government policies often reinforce regional inequities instead of reducing them, this study probes the politics of spatial development in four Chinese provinces during the 1990s and 2000s.

Kyle Jaros is an Associate Professor in the Political Economy of China in the School of Interdisciplinary Area Studies and a Fellow of Lady Margaret Hall at the University of Oxford. Before coming to Oxford, he was a China Public Policy Postdoctoral Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Ash Center, and earned his PhD in Political Science from the Department of Government at Harvard. He also holds an A.B. in Public and International Affairs and a Certificate in Chinese Language and Culture from Princeton University.