In February, China’s State Council unveiled guidelines for developing the “Greater Bay Area” (GBA), covering nine cities around the Pearl River Delta in Guangdong province, plus Hong Kong and Macau. While the rest of the world remains mired in a seemingly interminable debate over how to achieve inclusive and sustainable growth, China is working to deliver it.

Unless we achieve a set of commonly agreed upon indicators to measure sustainability or what is high quality, and be able to compare the performance of cities and provinces based upon it, the chance to successfully implement any sustainable policy vision and hold policymakers accountable is grim.

Cities in China and across Asia are growing outwards and upwards at breakneck speed. Livable, dynamic and vibrant cities are greater testament to a country’s prosperity and policy successes than any number of skyscrapers, no matter how big or how tall. As cities in America and China build higher, it is what is sustained below that will matter most.

Addressing the systemic imbalances in China's urban system will be a difficult and long-term endeavor. However, as service industries and technology expand their role within the Chinese economy, there's no reason why firms and jobs can't be more evenly spread out across the national network of cities, as they are in the U.S.

Among the most significant developments driving China’s economic growth and rising living standards is the shift from a rural, agricultural society to a modern, urban one. With almost 700 million Chinese – more than half of the population – already living in cities, the centrality of urbanization to China’s future is indisputable. But exactly how the trend will develop remains far from certain.

Government has an essential role to play in curbing pollution in China, however ordinary citizens can also play a role in reducing energy consumption, writes Xiong Lei.

With significant reform measures clarified on the Party's Third Plenum for such important sectors as fiscal and finance systems and State-owned enterprises, there are few direct mentions or words about urbanization. However, if reading between the lines, a major shift in the development of urbanization is too apparent to ignore, writes Zhang Monan.

In order to sustain the close to one billon people expected to be living in cities by 2030, China will be required to meet the tremendous demand for access to resources, education, healthcare, and increasingly, affordable housing for migrant workers, writes Gregory Poulin.

In the fall, China will initiate a massive urbanization plan, which could fuel the mainland’s growth prospects in the next two decades. The United States can only provide limited guidance to Chinese policymakers who are tackling challenges of an unprecedented magnitude.

The debate is over. After six years of weighing the options, China is now firmly committed to implementing a new growth strategy. At least, that’s the verdict I gleaned from the just-completed annual China Development Forum, long China’s most important dialogue with the outside world.