Thomas Campanella’s critical overview of contemporary Chinese urbanization ‘THE CONCRETE DRAGON: China’s Urban Revolution and What it Means for the World’ has just been reviewed by Re: Place Magazine:

Campanella compares China’s unprecedented growth to America in the 1950s, when suburbia became a desirable place to live and owning a car meant having freedom. What’s fascinating here, though, are the things that are unique to China’s sprawl and development. It seems like everything is built quickly and it’s built to impress. China is preparing for the Olympics and wants the world to take notice in a way that no other country has done in the past.

Although it is interesting to read about the largest shopping mall in the world, or the tallest skyscraper, or the latest incredible amusement park, it is really the human side of this story that is most incredible and is well captured in this book. Campanella talks about the hardship of the average Chinese worker who can’t afford to buy into the new middle or upper class lifestyle and so is often forcibly kicked out of their homes in the name of progress.

Click here for the full review