Becoming Urban: Rural-Urban Integration in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province

By investigating the transformation of Nanjing's suburban countryside, this paper examines the relationship between the city and its immediate periphery and the political underpinnings of rural-urban integration. It traces the changing status of a suburban village over the last half century from a vegetable-producing collective to a remnant rural settlement in a predominantly urban landscape. Its evolution brings to light the condition of a protracted, incremental and still incomplete urbanization. "Becoming urban" is more complex than the measurable shifts to nonagricultural activities and the urban household registration. This paper discusses how the transition has been shaped by changing national policies on rural-urban relations and local development pressures and demands on rural resources.