This study considers recent changes in the built environment of Chinese metropolitan areas during the transition from a planned to a market economy. Implications of this transition include changes in the political economy (increasing localisation, diversification of investment and the growth of foreign capital), in the organisation of urban and land development (from project-specific to comprehensive development and real estate development) and in the functions of urban planning (from a sectoral-subordinated to a municipally based control). The imprints of these changes on the built environment are illustrated with reference to the example of metropolitan Guangzhou. Among the new elements identified here are the landscapes of the new business district, gentrified residential communities, new social areas, urban sprawl, large peripheral residential communities and development zones and sub-centres.
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