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Abstract: Much like other post-socialist cities, Chinese cities experienced dramatic changes after economic reform. The danwei, or state-owned work unit, was once a fundamental building block of Chinese cities. In addition to being the basic form of economic and social organization, danwei communities defined Chinese urban development before reform, taking the form of gated, walled-off combined factory and residential areas. This paper focuses on spatial changes at the neighborhood scale in danwei, by selecting the Tongrentang pharmaceutical factory in Beijing, China during the time period between 1973 and 2006 as a case study. Through archival material and interviews, this paper describes how the community changed from gated, boring, solidified and strictly constrained work units to un-gated, vibrant, mixed-use and flexible urban neighborhoods. This case study in urban China provides implications for planning professionals and policy makers. By properly redeveloping these brownfield, traditional danwei communities many change to become un-gated, livable, accessible, integrated, and sustainable in the post-socialist era. The implication for current transition theory is that despite the similarity to Central and East European countries, urban China has a local context and unique spatial changes that should be embraced in future transition studies. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The morphology of a city affects its ecological and socioeconomic functions, and thus how a city is spatially structured has important bearings on urban sustainability. The paper analyzes the spatial pattern of Beijing in relation to its urban functions. Our results show that the 6 concentric ring-roads in Beijing provide a basic framework for the city''s overall spatial pattern, and also give its apparent resemblance to the classic concentric zone theory. The paper identifies 5 concentric zones for Beijing based on a suite of urban functions. However, there are significant differences between the urban spatial pattern of Beijing and that depicted in the classic concentric zone theory. The study sheds new light on the urban morphology of one of the major Chinese cities, and provides needed information for developing plans to diffuse urban functions in Beijing. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article discusses empirical research investigating the connectivity of Chinese cities in the world city network (WCN) in 2010. Topics include an overview of the WCN, which is a regional approach developed by research institute the Globalization and World Cities Research Network (GaWC) to understand cities in relation to globalization, the role of business services firms in city network formation, and the significance of the uneven integration of Chinese cities in the WCN.