Abstract:
Mark T. Kremzner is an attorney with the law firm of Smith Elliott Smith & Garmey in Portland,
Maine. He recently concluded a two year term as Visiting Assistant Professor of Law and Asia-Pacific
Law Associate at the University of Victoria. Abstract: This Article examines the emerging legal framework for urban land
management in China with reference to several perspectives on the role of the state in
economic development: modernization, dependency, and statism. A key function of the
urban land management and planning regime in the People's Republic of China is to
promote economic development. Similarly, law and legal institutions in the reform era
are used as an instrument to secure development policies. China's urban land use laws
have the purpose and effect of channeling capital into land development and urban
renewal projects through the commodification of land use rights. While the central state
has achieved some of its development objectives, it has also experienced setbacks and
witnessed an erosion of its control over land uses.
