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Against the background of current economic upgrading trends in China’s so called “factory of the world“, the Pearl River Delta, this paper adopts an analytical urban governance perspective to investigate the role of informality in urban affairs. In the wake of dynamic economic and urban growth coinciding with rising environmental and social issues, local governments increasingly re-orientate their urban development strategies and apply flexible modes in responding to these challenges. The main hypothesis of this paper is that informality in particular is used as a tool of flexibility and that experimental policies as typical characteristics of the transitional process in China are widely applied nowadays to attract knowledge-intensive and service-oriented industries as well as a highly educated, and presumably creative, workforce. The hypothesis is validated by empirical research analyzing governance processes in development and locational policies of Guangzhou Science City.

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