On ‘Land Finance’ in urban China: Theory and practice

Abstract Urbanisation in China since the economic reform and opening up of the country is characterised by an unprecedented amount of land development resulting from privatisation, marketization, and commodification of land in the urbanisation process. This study extends the focal points of speculative urbanism through an analysis of land finance, a phenomenon of the financing arrangement for urban development. It reviews and compares three different modes of land finance, and examines the interplays between agencies, focusing on the exchange of land resources for capital. The collaborative mode of land finance practised in Nansha Free Trade Zone that involves the participation of strategic partners, represents a new financing model which is encouraged by the Central People's Government as a solution to reduce local debts as well as to stimulate market incentives through direct or joint investment in the urban development process.