Intercity Transportation Planning in China Case of the Guangzhou-Foshan Metropolitan Area

As a response to the emergence of multicity urban areas, Chinese governments began to adopt the American concept of a metropolitan area to frame strategies for spatial development and planning. Chinese metropolitan areas, however, lack U.S.-style metropolitan planning organizations that can engage multiple municipal governments in metropoliswide policy making, planning, and investment. With the Pearl River Delta's Guangzhou-Foshan metropolitan area in China as the example, this paper examines how a governing arrangement has emerged in the process of transportation planning and assesses its effectiveness in addressing the metropolitanwide need for transportation accessibility. The successes of metro transit and an annual toll pass are in contrast with limited progress in taxi management and arterial road projects, which points to the need for fine-tuning the governing arrangement.