Wuhan's Urban Expansion Along the Yangtze River

中南大学
CENTRAL SOUTH UNIVERSITY
（Rapidly Urbanized city: Wuhan）
课程名称《城市与区域规划理论与方法》
作者
Dhahir A. Taha (代海尔)
学号 151318002
学院建筑与艺术学院
专业班级 15 级城乡规划学
指导教师戚智勇
2016 年 1 月 11 日

Urban and Regional Planning
1
TABLE OF CONTENTS
S. No. Topic Page No.
1. Table of contents 1
2. Introduction 2
3. Yangtze River 3
4. Wuhan City 5
5. Yangtze River In Wuhan City 6
6. Wuhan City's Urban Area 7
7. The process of urban expansion 8
8. Urban Planning and Its Impacts 14
9. Conclusion 16
10. References 17

2
Introduction
Since the human being people was preferring to live and do their daily activities near the rivers
due to many benefits that they can get from rivers such as agricultural use, fishing,
transportation, recreation and etc.
A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean , sea, lake
or another river. In some cases a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its
course without reaching another body of water. Small rivers can be referred to using names
such as stream, creek, brook, rivulet, and rill.
With the passage of time even thought the development changes the world with the new
urbanism, still almost of the people preferring to live near the rivers because of natural
scenery and healthy environment hence these places get most development than other which
is littler far from rivers.
Hence governments are focusing to develop those areas which are bit distant from the river bank
and specify the river bank for commercial and entertainment activities.

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Yangtze River :
Chinese name 长江 (Cháng Jiāng) Other names: Yangtse / Yangzi River, Yangtze Kiang. it is
consider the largest in China and the third largest in the world after the Nile in Africa and the
Amazon in South America. Originating from the Tanggula Range in Qinghai Province in
western China, it traverses eleven provinces and cities from west to east, including Qinghai,
Tibet, Sichuan, Yunnan, Chongqing, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Anhui, Jiangsu and Shanghai.
Finally it pours into the East China Sea at Shanghai.
A. Early History:
Since the fourth century, when the national capital was moved to Jiankang (present-day
Nanjing) at the start of the Eastern Jin dynasty (AD 317–420), the Yangtze River Delta has
been a major cultural, economic, and political centre of China. Hangzhou served as the
Chinese capital during the Southern Song dynasty (1127–1279), and Nanjing was the early
capital of the Ming dynasty (1368– 1644) before the Yongle Emperor moved the capital to
Beijing in 1421. Other key cities of the region in pre-modern times include Suzhou and
Shaoxing. The ancient Suzhou was the capital of the Wu state (12th century BC–473 BC), and
the ancient Shaoxing was the capital of the Yue state (20th century BC?–222 BC). Nanjing
first served as a capital in the Three Kingdoms period as the capital of Eastern Wu (AD 229–
280). In these periods, there were several concomitant states or empires in China and each one
B. Location:
Yangtze River length (6,380)km (3,964 miles) Source Glacier of Jianggendiru, west to the
Geladandong Peak, the main peak of Tanggula Mountain Source elevation 5,042 m (16,542
ft) Location: 24°30′-35°45′N, 90°33′-112°25′E . Generally, people consider the river a
dividing line between North China and South China. Areas to the north and the south of the
river have many differences in climate.

4
Fig 1: Yangtze River in China
C. Economically Important:
As the largest water system in China, Yangtze River economically and culturally important to
the country. It has numerous tributaries including Min River, Han River, Jialing River, Gan
River, and Huangpu River. The Three Gorges Dam on the river is the largest dam project and
hydropower station in the world.

5
Wuhan City:
Wuhan is the capital of Hubei province, People's Republic of China, and is the most populous
city in Central China. It lies in the eastern Jianghan Plain at the intersection of the middle
reaches of the Yangtze and Han rivers. Arising out of the conglomeration of three
cities, Wuchang, Hankou, and Hanyang, Wuhan is known as "Jiusheng Tongqu (the nine
provinces' leading thoroughfare)"; it is a major transportation hub, with dozens of railways,
roads and expressways passing through the city and connecting to major cities in Mainland
China. Because of its key role in domestic transportation, Wuhan was sometimes referred to
as the "Chicago of China."
Holding sub-provincial status, Wuhan is recognized as the political, economic, financial,
cultural, educational and transportation center of central China. The city of Wuhan, first
termed as such in 1927, has a population of 10,220,000 people (as of 2013). In the 1920s,
Wuhan was the national capital of a leftist Kuomintang (KMT) government led by Wang
Jingwei in opposition toChiang Kai-shek, as well as wartime capital in 1937. At the 2010
census, its built-up (or metro) area made of 8 out of 10 urban districts (all but Xinzhou and
Hannan not yet conurbated) was home to 8,821,658 inhabitants.
Fig2: Location of Wuhan City Jurisdiction in China Fig3: Location of Wuhan City Jurisdiction in Hubei

6
Fig4: Wuhan City Districts Table 1: Area, Population and Density of Wuhan city Districts
Yangtze River In Wuhan City:
Wuhan city is one of that eleven cities in china that the river
Yangtze passes throuth, length of of the river in this city
is about 59.92 Km it enter city from south then to the
center and turn right to go out from the city from east,
biside of Yangtze River there are Hanshui , Daoshui,
Sheshui and Jushui Rivers and forther more there are
many Lakes like east lake, South Lake, Shahu Lake, Yuehu Lake and Moshui Lake.
Wuhan has seven bridges and one tunnel across the Yangtze River, The project of building
the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge, also known as the First Yangtze River Bridge, was
regarded as one of the key projects during the first five-year plan.
On October 25, 1955, construction began on the bridge proper. The same day in 1957, the whole
project was completed and an opening-to-traffic ceremony was held on October 15. The

7
bridge is 1,670 m (5,479.00 ft) long, of which the upper level is a highway with a width of
22.5 m (73.82 ft) and the lower level is a double-line railway with a width of 18 m (59.06 ft).
The bridge proper is 1,156 m (3,792.65 ft) long with two pairs of eight piers and nine arches
with a space of 128 m (419.95 ft) between each arch. The First Yangtze River Bridge united
the Beijing–Hankou Railway with the Guangdong–Hankou Railway into the Beijing–
Guangzhou Railway, making Wuhan a thoroughfare to nine provinces in name and in fact.
Wuhan City's Urban Area:
Fig 5 : Wuhan Municipality and districts (source :Han and Wu 2004)
The administrative division of a municipality defines how a variety of demographic, social and
economic data are registered and reported. The administrative units in Chinese cities are
stratified as municipality, urban district (or sub-urban district and county), sub-district (or town,
township and farm) and community (or residential committee) (see examples in Cheng et al.
2006). Till the end of 2012, Wuhan municipality, or called Greater Wuhan, is composed of seven
urban or central districts and six suburban districts (Fig.5). The total number of permanent
inhabitants of Wuhan municipality is 10.02 million in 2011 and total area 8,494.41 km2. The
permanent inhabitant, contrasting with floating population, means those who have stayed for
more than 6 months.

8
The process of urban expansion:
a) Pre-1949:
To be consistent with the division of Chinese development history, the pre-1949 period is called
―recent times‖ and the post-1949 period ―contemporary age‖. Historically, the three towns of
Wuhan were constructed and configured in different dynasties. The first town—Wuchang
named as ‗Jiangxia‘ occurred some 1,600 years ago. The second town—Hanyang was
founded around a castle that was built during the Han Dynasty (206 BC–222 AD). The third
one—Hankou began during the period of the South–north Dynasties (420–589 AD) and the
area wassituated next to Hanyang before the Han River changed its course during the Ming
Dynasty (1368–1644 AD), separating it from Hanyang. By the thirteenth century, Wuchang
and Hanyang had been developed into commercial and handicraft towns. Since 1700s,
Hankou had been already a major inland river trading port. Wuhan was only a city ‗along the
Han River‘ before 1840, but became a city ‗along the Yangtze River‘ later. This transition
was a result of the opening to the world after 1840, which converted the city into a centre of
not only domestic but also international trade due to its convenient water and ground
transportation systems with good connections to the surrounding areas. In 1905, Wuhan had
―114 foreign firms, 8 local banks and 9 foreign bank branches‖ (Zeng and Cai 2002, p. 360).
The three towns were functioned as the centers of commercial and trade, industry and
transportation in order. The output values in trade and industry took the third~fifth and the
second~fouth places respectively among all the largesized
Chinese cities in that period (Pi 1996). Particularly, Hankou town had become one of the four
largest commercial towns across China since 1570s.Since 1900, the three towns had been
developed into functionally different centres, i.e. Hankou for commercial, financial, trade,
transportation, service, entertainment, and information; Wuchang for institutional and
educational activities; and Hanyang for steel and machinery industry. During the period
1840–1949, the population of the three towns had increased from 0.2 to 1.2 million and the
city area
including the suburban areas had expanded from 20 to 941 km2. By the mid-1920s, the
production capacity accounted for 13.67 % of the national total, ranking the second in China,

9
next to Shanghai (Yuan and Yin 1997), and this ranking position also applies to population
density (Pi 1996).
b) Post-1949:
Since the Chinese communist party came into power in 1949, there have been numerous
political, socio-economic and cultural reforms, nationally and locally, in the past eight
decades, which have had unprecedented impacts on the urban development of Wuhan city, as
other mega-cities in China did. There are several models describing the urban morphology of
Chinese cities during this period. For example, Zhang (2008) split the urbanization process of
China into six stages: short but rapid expansion (1945–1957), fluctuation (1958–1966),
stagnant (1967–1977), recovery (1978–1985), townization (1986–1995) and long expansion
(1996- present). Wu‗s model (1998) represents a universal process of urban growth in China,
despite its origin from the case of Guangzhou city. The Chinese city of the 1949–1976 era
sprawled outwards rather than upwards. The construction of large numbers of high-rise
buildings in the 1980s and 1990s, particularly in commercial sector, has come to symbolise
the transformation of China‘s cities.
It was estimated that the urban built-up areas of Wuhan city grow tenfold between 1955 and
2000 (Cheng 2011). The spatial patterns of temporal urban growth from 1955 to 2000 shown
in Fig. (6) have many indications. First of all, the urban growth of this period was
characterized by spreading outward from the Yangtze River and from a discontinuous
(sprawling) to a continuous (compact) pattern. Secondly, the urban growth 1955–1965 was
dominated by leap forward
development slightly along the rivers. Thirdly, the urban growth 1965–1993 was dominated by
infill development mostly along main roads and slightly along rivers. Fourthly, the urban
growth 1993–2000 was dominated by outward expansion from traditional industrial centres,
mixing with continuous compact development. To understand better the spatial patterns of the
temporal urban growth in Wuhan, it is necessary to explore the process of urban development
and relevant national and local policies. The governmental policies in the period from 1949 to
2010 can be referred to the paper by Zhou et al. (2013).

10
Fig 6: Temporal Urban Growth of Wuhan 19955-2000

11
c) Post-2000:
Generally, 2000 is a fourth turning point of China‘s urban development (Zhou et al. 2013) when
urbanization was promoted as a national strategy. The spatial patterns of residential and
commercial land uses shown in Fig.7 imply there is no significant change of urban form from
2000 to 2006. This is because there have been more vertical instead of horizontal
development.
In 2007, an urban network development strategy proposed by Wuhan municipality was approved
by the State Council. The urban network is centred on Wuhan city with the inclusion of other
nine cities that are all located with 100 km distance from Wuhan. The total population within
the network is 31.1462 million in 2010 and its total area 5,780,000 km2. It is an emerging
urban cluster (or called urban circle in Chinese) in China following the Bohai Rim, the
Yangtze River Delta, and Pearl River Delta. Wuhan municipality is also approved as a
comprehensive reform pilot area of resource-saving and environment-friendly society in 2007.
Thus, building a resource-efficient and environmentally- friendly eco-city has become anew
aim for the spatial development strategy in Wuhan.
Fig. 7: Residential and commercial land uses in 2006

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It is well-recognized that transport infrastructure has been taking important roles in stimulating
economic development in China. Before 1987, the railway system was the dominant transport
infrastructure connecting factories and warehouses with harbours and stations . As a riverside
city, the bridges over Yangtze and Han Rivers particularly have made great contributions to
transport mobility and urban forms. There are five new road or rail or road-rail bridges
(Junshan, Baishazhou, Erqi, Tianxingzhou and Yangluo) over Yangtze River, completed
from 2000 to 2012. These, together with the first and second bridges in use before 1995, have
facilitated the connection between city centres and suburban areas within the municipality by
the functional inner, second and outer rings across the municipality (Fig.8).
Fig. 8 Transport infrastructure of Wuhan city in 2011
Wuhan is one of the three provincial capital cities with the rapidest decrease of compactness
degree in the period from 1990 to 2010, dropping from 0.45 in 1990 to 0.12 in 2010 (Pan and
Han 2013). There are three state-level economic and technological development zones in

13
Wuhan: Donghu, Zunkou and Wujiashan. The Donghu Hi-Tech Development Zone (Fig.9) focus
on optical and electronic communications, bioengineering, material research and laser
technologies, while the Wuhan Economic and Technological Development Zone at Zunkou
emphasizes on the production of automobiles and spare parts, food and beverages. Similarly,
the Wujiashan Industry Development Park puts emphasis on food and beverages; in addition,
it also focuses on agricultural products for further processing, and bioengineering. Together,
these three Development Zones in Wuhan play a critical role in its economic development and
urban growth.
Fig.9 Donghu high-tech new development zone (Source: www.baidu.com)
The total real estate investment for residential housing is 73.73138 billion RMB Yuan in 2010,
contrasting with 6.76933 billion RMB Yuan in 2001. The residential land uses in 1994 and
2006 shown in Fig.10 indicate different spatial patterns. The total residential area is 131.60
km2 in 2006 and 51.14 km2 in 1994.

14
Fig.10 Residential land uses in 1994 and 2006
Urban Planning and Its Impacts:
Since 1949, Wuhan city has designed and revised five master plans in total in 1954,1982, 1988,
1996 and 2009 respectively (Fig.11). The land use classifications in the master plans have
been evolving in this period. From 1954 to 1982, the main urban land uses were industrial,
warehouse, residential, universities/schools, and green areas. In 1988, the classes included
industrial, warehouse, residential, commercial/trade, universities, and green areas. In 1996 the
classification was updated with low-density residential, commercial and residential,
commercial, banking and trade, offices, education and research, culture, hospital and
recreation, green areas,industrial, warehouse, external transportation, railway, infrastructure,
waters. Local land use classification used before 1992 was not uniformed nationally and
Under went many modifications. The National Land Use Standard Classification (NLUSC) is
promoted in China since 1992. It has 10 major classes, 46 groups and 73 subgroups. These
modifications indicate a shift of urban development from industry-oriented to tertiary-oriented
as more detailed sub-classes related to tertiary sector are added into the new classification.
Urban planning before 1989 was focused on the coordination of industrial projects (Yeh and Wu
1999) and the tasks of planning was to project the national and local urban development
policies into free land. The Urban Planning Act enacted in 1989 is a major milestone in the

15
history of urban planning system in China. The planners are authorized by law to investigate
the spatial and temporal.
Fig. 11 Master plans of Wuhan in 1954, 1996 and 2009
matches between constructions and plan schemes. New or re-development projects are required
to go through a legal and formal process of applying certain planning permit and building permit.

16
This makes the development control become possible on both scales: new-development in the
fringe and re-development in inner city (Tian and Shen 2011).
Conclusion:
Wuhan, the largest mega city in Central China, has been experiencing massive urban growth
since 1950 and its urban morphology has undertaken significant changes including leap-frog
sprawl, infill development, and river/road–along expansion to transport infrastructure-induced
development. As a historic and industrial city, transport infrastructure (rivers, main roads,
bridges and metro system) have taken and will take crucial roles in shaping its urban forms in a
variety of periods. However, rapid economic and industrial development without proper urban
planning has addressed many challenges for urban planning including transport, environment and
ecology, and population and migration. A comprehensive planning method based on information
support and public participation is needed to reflect the fast changing environment, consider the
dynamic interactions of the urban system and integrate opinions from multiple actors.

17
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