Sustainable development of mega-cities and their hinterlands – handbook provides valuable advice

The rapid urbanisation in many countries does not only have consequences for cities. The previously rural regions surrounding growing mega-cities are also undergoing change. The joint project “Urban-Rural Assembly” (URA), in which the Leibniz Institute of Ecological Urban and Regional Development (IOER) is involved, has been investigating this transformation of urban-rural regions in China since April 2019. The project team has now published findings from the project and experiences from other regions of the world in a handbook.

As our planet has become increasingly urbanized, the ways in which we think about cities and urbanism are also being fundamentally reconfigured. Nevertheless, planning approaches often remain stuck in a dualism of urban and rural areas that does not reflect the complex interrelationships and material flows of goods and people in increasingly interconnected urban-rural regions.

In the past, research on the global trend towards urbanisation has usually focused on the cities themselves. But this is a short-sighted view. In the joint project “Urban-Rural Assembly” (URA), German and Chinese partners have therefore analysed the effects of the rapid growth of cities on the surrounding rural regions. “For sustainable spatial development, it is crucial to consider cities, their hinterlands and the diverse relationships that exist between the two together,” explains Wolfgang Wende, who is responsible for the project at the IOER.

The project team analysed the diverse links between cities and their surrounding areas using a case study on China's east coast. The Huangyan-Taizhou region is developing very dynamically. Diverse and seemingly contradictory transformation processes are taking place simultaneously and in close proximity to each other. The researchers' aim was to uncover the multi-layered links between urban and rural areas.

The handbook ‘Urban-Rural Assembly - A Handbook for Co-Visioning Interconnected Regions’ now brings together analyses and best practices from this research work. It also provides practical guidance on how to collaboratively investigate, envision, and plan today’s urban-rural regions. It contains further contributions by renowned guest authors, including Kelly Shannon (KU Leuven, Belgium), Steffen Nijhuis (TU Delft, The Netherlands), Marta Doehler-Behzadi (International Building Exhibition Thuringia/IBA Thüringen, Germany), Guiqing Yang (Tongji University, China).

Publikation

Hagemann, Anke; Lynam, Ava; Xiao, Gaoli; Wende, Wolfgang; Fan, Li; Langner, Sigrun; Frölich-Kulik, Maria; Henneke, Laura; Pappert, Lukas (Hg.) (2025):
Urban-Rural Assembly – A Handbook for Co-Visioning Interconnected Regions.
Berlin: Jovis.

Background

This book is a result of the Sino-German research project “Urban-Rural Assembly – Managing inclusive transformation-to-sustainability processes at the urban-rural interface of the Huangyan-Taizhou region in China through the development of new strategic governance tools and the implementation of exemplary pilot projects as catalysts for regional value chains” (URA). The project was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) under the FONA program “Sustainable Development of Urban Regions” (funding code: 01LE1804A-D)

Learn more about the project

Scientific contact at the IOER
Prof. Dr Wolfgang Wende, e-mail: W.Wende@ioer.de

The Leibniz Institute of Ecological Urban and Regional Development is jointly funded by the federal government and the federal states.

FS Sachsen

This measure is co-financed by tax funds on the basis of the budget approved by the Saxon State Parliament.