Harbin: A rust belt city revival from its strategic position

Abstract

Rust belt cities are a special but important phenomenon in the world's industrialization landscape and city development trajectory. This profile analyses the struggling process and revitalization initiatives of Harbin, which was the first city established after the liberation of China, featuring the largest land area and highest latitude among all Chinese cities. The remarkable history of urban and industrial development once made Harbin the cradle of manufacturing in China, strongly supported by national government with concentration of SOEs. The city however has been suffering during the transition to a market economy. Its transition is painfully challenged by the strong socialist legacies of SOEs. This paper emphasizes that the new initiatives of Harbin, based on local endowments, cold climate condition and geolocation, demonstrate great potential for successful revitalization. Such strategic choices provide experiences and alternatives for other rust belt cities.

Exploratory analysis of the position of Chinese cities as international tourism hubs: product destination versus business environment internationalization

“…Harbin, the capital city of Heilongjiang Province and located in the northeastern part of China is an example here. 2 The city is famous for its ice lanterns and ice sculptures in winter, and attracts millions of visitors every year (Kong & Chen, 2019;Xie et al, 2016). However, because the 'ice' tourism has a high seasonal dependence, when assessing the yearly numbers of tourists and days of stay into consideration, Harbin's PDI value is below the average.…”

“…As one of the cradles of heavy industry in China, many large state-owned enterprises are located in Harbin, and these are under major pressure to transition to become more market oriented. Nowadays, the city is positioned by the central government as a national 'demonstration area' for the smooth transition from heavy manufacturing to a service industry (Xie et al, 2016). Many corresponding policies and measures have been devised by the local government accordingly.…”

“…Many corresponding policies and measures have been devised by the local government accordingly. Among them, one is to attract service enterprises, especially hospitality companies to strategically revive the city's economic vitality (Xie et al, 2016). Meanwhile, the strategic location viz.…”

Reoccupying Ecological Land for Excessively Expanded Rust Belt Cities in Traditional Grain Bases: An Eco-Economic Trade-Off Perspective

“…Benefiting from fertile soil conditions and abundant natural resources, Northeast China has become a crucial base for commodity grain production and heavy industry after the People's Republic of China was founded [27,28]. However, the market reform and industrial structural transformation since 1990s has caused severe urban decline and formed large numbers of rust belt cities, which are currently facing common dilemmas that constrain urban development [29].…”

The dalian port cluster: spatial practice of the one belt one road Initiative

“…Within this axis (the purple double-headed arrow in fig. 2), regional infrastructure links Dalian Port to the river port in Harbin, a strategic location for energy transportation and storage in the northeast, and further on to the russian Ports of Khabarovsk, Blagoveshchensk and nikolayevsk [26]. These proposed infrastructural networks are also part of Medium-and Long-Term Plans for the National Gas Pipeline Network (中长期油气管网规划), issued by the national Development and reform Commission and national Energy administration in 2017, which proposes to construct storage for liquefied natural gas (lnG), reconstruct and extend the oil port and develop a new complementary pipeline network connecting offshore oil and gas platform to the hinterland.…”