*4.2. The Main Challenges of New-Type Urbanization and Rural Revitalization in the New Era*

The strategic coupling and coordinated management of new-type urbanization and rural revitalization is the implementation of "people-oriented" development and the only way to urban–rural integration. The review of overseas research, and the experiences and evolution of urban–rural relations and urbanization processes in Western countries are valuable, and have reference significance to China. However, it is not appropriate for China to adopt Western models completely because there are many differences in urbanization processes between China and developed countries. First, the urbanization in developed countries is gradual, with the evolution of industrialization over a long period of time, and the urbanization of the population, the urbanization of land and industrialization are synchronous. By contrast, before reform and opening up, there was mostly no process of urbanization in China. Then, urbanization experienced a high speed and large scale after reform and opening up. This means that cities in China need to receive large-scale populations from rural areas within a short time and face a rapid increase in the urban public services required by the urban population. The fact that the urbanization of the population, the urbanization of land and industrialization are not synchronous is resulting in the appearance of peri-urbanization. Second, population mobility and settlement in cities face different extents of difficulty in China. The former is related to economic conditions and own needs. The latter is limited because settlement in cities needs to meet the requirements of the household registration systems in different cities, especially in megacities. Except for the roles that government play in the process of urbanization, the national conditions, systems and demand in Western countries and China are different. In such a unique environment, there are many problems brought about by rapid urbanization. The traditional urbanization mode of China shows the important characteristics of "large-scale spatial production", "peri-urbanization", "complexity of multiple factors" and "serious urban–rural isolation", some of which hinder the healthy development of urbanization. Thus, taking Western experiences and models as reference, China should change the urbanization mode considering individual characteristics and needs. The traditional urbanization model, in which space production is taken as the core and population and industrialization are considered as playing leading roles, must be changed. Further urbanization should promote and implement new-type urbanization and a rural revitalization strategy with good human life, local culture, social justice and

civil rights, being "people-oriented" at its core and gradually forming a mode of new-type urbanization with Chinese characteristics and rural revitalization.

The principal contradiction facing China in the new era has changed into the contradiction between unbalanced and inadequate development and the people's ever-growing needs for a better life. The contradiction is mainly concentrated in the agricultural and rural areas, so the evolution of urban–rural relations determines the overall change in social contradictions. Due to the existence of historical laws and geographical inertia, there will be the following major challenges and trends in urban–rural relations in China by 2050:

The geographical characteristic of "one side adjacent to the sea" will still be the main factor for the regional imbalance of urban–rural relations in China. Because most of the coastal areas in the world are still in periods of rapid development, the advantages of foreign trade and the urbanization of coastal areas in China will continue, while the inland areas are still facing the constraints of water resources and development paths, so it will be difficult to change the situation of the imbalance in development between the eastern and the western areas in the short term.

The unbalanced and insufficient development in space will continue to embody the characteristics of the "Hu Line" as the geographical boundary. The "Hu Line" not only reflects the long-term demographic geographical pattern of China, but also profoundly reflects the spatial differences in society, the economy, culture and other aspects in China. The east and west of this line have historical inevitability and realistic stability. Therefore, breaking through the current situation of the spatial imbalance of the "Hu Line" will be a long-term process.

**The exploration of development paths and transformation driven by innovation.** It is crucial to have talent attraction and technological innovation, as well as the transformation of the development mode. In particular, great importance should be attached to the impact of science and technology on the urban–rural relations and regional development. With the continuous promotion of information technology, the Internet has greatly changed the spatial distance of urban–rural areas and different regions, which provides a basic guarantee for the development of emerging industries in rural and inland areas, promoting rural revitalization and inland development into a new era of diversified development.

**Deepening the reform of the system and mechanism is the key measure.** The proposal of "Rural Revitalization" in the new era has brought important strategic advantages for the integration of urban and rural development, and agricultural and rural areas are even at an unprecedented national strategic height. China will accelerate the reform of the system and mechanism for the integrated development of urban and rural areas to achieve balanced and full development. In July 2014, the State Council agreed to establish an inter-ministerial joint meeting system to promote new-type urbanization with The Letter of State [2014] No. 86, which requires that under the leadership of the State Council, the National Development and Reform Commission should take the lead in comprehensively promoting the implementation of the national new-type urbanization plan and the policy formulation (Figure 4). The State Council held six meetings to summarize and deploy the key tasks of the annual work, which played an important role in effectively promoting the implementation of the national new-type urbanization plan and coordinating and solving major problems. In July 2019, the State Council further agreed to establish an interministerial joint conference system for urbanization and urban–rural integration development, which is the system design and guarantee expected to play an important role in accelerating the high-quality development of urbanization and urban–rural integration. In addition, the evolutionary history of urban–rural relations is basically consistent with the changes in Chinese history and culture, so an urban–rural integration system and cultural system with Chinese characteristics are important parts of the overall development of urban and rural areas.

**Figure 4.** Evolution of inter-ministerial joint meeting on urbanization and integrative development of urban–rural relations (collected from relevant reports).
