Today we want to bring the attention to the publication titled “The City After Chinese New Towns: Spaces and Imaginaries from Contemporary Urban China”, curated by Michele Bonino, Francesca Governa, Maria Paola Repellino, and Angelo Sampieri.

By 2020, some 400 Chinese New Towns will have been built, representing an unprecedented urban growth. While some of these massive developments are still empty today, others have been rather successful. The substantial effort on the part of the Chinese government is to absorb up to 250 million people, chiefly migrants from the rural parts of the country.

Unlike in Europe and North America, where new towns grew in accordance to the local industries, these new Chinese cities are mostly built to the point of near completion before introducing people.

This interdisciplinary publication, written by architects, planners and geographers, explores the new urbanistic phenomenon of the “Chinese New Town”. Especially commissioned photographs and maps illustrate many examples of these new settlements.

We believe this book is a gem of rare importance in the context of the study of China in Italy and Europe.