Migration and Inter-Dependence, Sustainable Urbanism in the Pearl River Delta Region, South China

Abstract

Under influence of globalization regional boundaries seem to be melted with the hands of migrants and pave the integration process. Ideally integration occur through voluntary linking in the economic and political domains of two or more formerly independent states to the extent that authority over key areas of national policy is shifted towards the supra-national level. The Pearl River Delta (PRD) region of South China is unique as its status transformed from an international boundary between the UK and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to an internal boundary inside China under ‘one country-two systems’ in 1997. Cross-border migration between Hong Kong and the PRD can be seen as the discourse of dependant development. Contrary to the contribution of migrants through spontaneously locating and relocating themselves across border with their social and entrepreneurial interplay in history, governments responded selectively to cross-border issues While most research emphasize economic and political aspects, analysis into the migration history reveals that integration in the PRD region is a unique form of ‘inter-dependent urbanism’ through the hands of temporary and permanent migrants who once happened to be separated by force, are merging in the same nation-state recently. This subtly perceived trend of urbanization has scope to achieve sustainability of the region.