Projects for the Chinese city 2000–2020: The new towns by Kurokawa, Arup, and Isozaki in the Central Plains of China

This article examines how international planning experts have addressed urbanization processes in central China. Over the last twenty-five years, this region has been subjected to great socio-economic transformations driven by a succession of urban policies: the municipal entrepreneurialism of the first decades of the twenty-first century, the agglomeration strategies of the 2010s, and the ‘new normal’ of the mid-2010s. These initiatives have transformed this site into a testbed where international experts have interpreted trends in Chinese urbanization. Among the many projects undertaken, those by Kisho Kurokawa Architect & Associates, Arup, and Isozaki & HuQian Partners for the expansion of Zhengzhou, Henan Province, are emblematic of the interplay between architectural and planning cultures and the changing demands of China’s economy and society. Tracing this planning history is thus helpful to the investigation of the imaginaries promoted, and the solutions adopted, in order to guide the development of Chinese cities, as well as the limits of these proposals and the challenges in their implementation. On this basis, it is possible to reflect upon the recent experiences in planning new cities and to envision new approaches to the design of new towns.