Innovative Planning and New-Type Urbanization in China: The Case of Wuxi City in Jiangsu Province

Urbanization has been a transformative process in 21st century China. This paper seeks to examine the process of urbanization in Wuxi City, Jiangsu Province, specifically to identify the ways in which Wuxi City has engaged in new-type urbanization—an innovative pattern of urban development that seeks to integrate urban and rural development, achieve environmental sustainability, and provide for the wellbeing of an urbanized citizenry. The City’s model has potentially important reference value for other cities and towns in developed areas of China that are in the process of fashioning their own innovative pattern of urbanization.