China aims to improve the quality of human-centered urbanization and construct a "two horizontal and three vertical" strategic pattern of urbanization, according to a proposal from the Central Urbanization Work Conference.

Experts express their views based on the conference communiqué: the key of ongoing urbanization should center on people and aim at hukou (household registration) reform. The driving force of China's future economic growth and urbanization depend on future urban agglomerations.

Promote human-centered urbanization

The conference called for human-centered urbanization to improve the population quality and the living standards of people in urban areas. The first priority is to urbanize in an orderly manner rural migrants who are long-term residents and "who have had and can maintain stable employment and long-term residence in cities".

At the operational level, based on China's urbanization development requirements, the major task is to solve the hukou problem for rural migrants who have already worked in urban areas, and improve their quality and their capacity to integrate into cities.

There exists a large gap between urban and rural areas in China. Li Shi, Dean of the Institute of Income Distribution, Beijing Normal University, says that urbanization can help farmers become city dwellers and enjoy equal public services and social benefits, which will further reduce the gap between urban and rural areas.

Resolving the "semi-urbanization" problem has become a direct step on the path to address the overall issue. Data released by the National Bureau of Statistics shows that China's urbanization rate will reach 52.57 percent in 2012, while the urban population itself makes up only 35 percent of the total population.

The newly-released "China's income distribution research report" shows that there are about 200 million migrants in China, whose education, health care and social security are severely restricted by the current hukou system. The report points out that hukou reform is an important measure to narrow the income gap.

There should be different approaches to implementation tailored to different types of city. The conference called for the complete removal of hukou restrictions in towns and small cities, the gradual easing of restrictions in medium cities, the setting of reasonable conditions for settling in larger cities, and strict controls on the size of the populations of megacities.

The conference also states that the urbanization of the agricultural population should fully respect the will of the farmers themselves, and formulate specific measures according to local conditions.