"The development of master-planned communities in Chinese suburbs: A case study of Shanghai's Thames Town", by Jie Shen (Cardiff University) and Fulong Wu (University College, London), published in Urban Geography, explores the emergence of residential enclaves in China and seeks to understand how these enclaves, often associated with the consumption of luxury housing, are developed and promoted in the context of state control over land and housing, using Shanghai's Thames Town as a case study. The authors find that despite a promotional strategy centred on building an "English town" exclusively for the rich, Thames Town is an outgrowth of the local government's entrepreneurial strategies to stimulate development and construct a livable image for the city.

This article was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada through funding from the Major Collaborative Research Initiative, “Global Suburbanisms: Governance, Land and Infrastructure in the 21st Century”.

Shen, J. & F. Wu. (2012). The development of master-planned communities in Chinese suburbs: A case study of Shanghai's Thames Town. Urban Geography, 33(2), pp. 183-203.