CHINA AS A LABORATORY FOR CHANGE

It is expected that by 2050 more than 75 percent of the world’s population will live in urban areas. As one of the most urbanized countries in the world, Australia has already surpassed this percentage. Like much of the Western world, Australia’s urbanization was firmly established by the early twentieth century, whereas urban growth in the current century is forecast predominantly for Asian and African countries. This transformation from rural to urban is particularly acute in China, where in 1980 it was reported that over 80 percent of Chinese people still