On March 21, 2004, Beijing Society for Studies in Science of Science
convened Academic Symposium on Urbanization and Land Resources.
On the symposium, several issues were discussed, including urbanization
and agricultural development, urbanization and industrial development,
lessons of over-urbanization in some countries of Central and South
America and Asia, urbanization and land resources and urbanization and
system construction.
In regard to the relationship between urbanization and industrial and
agricultural development, as what the experts believe, those two are not
contradictory, but unified in a high degree, according to the experience
of most developed countries. Without the continuous development of
industry and agriculture, there will be no foundation for the sustained
development of urbanization; likewise, without sustained development of
urbanization, there will not be sustained improvement of agriculture and
industry. When industrialization is continuing at high speed, urbanization
not only is possible to, but also should adapt to industrialization and
keep pace with it.
Experts pointed out that the solutions to those problems contain
several steps below: first of all, to accomplish land resources
privatization as early as possible so that the farmers who would like to
settle down in city could transform their land into cash as their primary
capital, and therefore, vacate the rural land. The second point is to reform
basic system, so that local civilians could really possess the right to
superviseand restrict local government, and compel the government to carry
out urban construction scientifically which will finally push forward
urbanization.