Internet+ urbanization in less-developed areas -case study on Taobao towns and villages in China

Book of proceedings: Annual AESOP Congress, Spaces of Dialog for Places of Dignity, Lisbon, 11-14th July, 2017Nowadays more than 50% of the world population has already been in urban areas and the rate of global urbanization are expected to be more than 70% in the next four decades, with about 90% of the urban expansion occurring in the developing countries. As a result, New Urban Agenda-Habitat III and other influential urban conferences have led to pay more attention to a better urban life. However, the development of rural areas should be emphasized as well. On one hand, although the proportion of rural areas is declining, they have their significance of existence, such as the supplies of food or other products, rural culture, etc. On the other hand, although there seems be a wide gap between urban and rural areas, they still have their characteristic advantages which provides more possibilities for their dignified development. The Chinese strategy to deal with the relationship between urban and rural development is called Integrated Urban-Rural Development. Its specific performance covers all kinds of fields, such as accessibility of traffic system, same standards of infrastructure and public service facilities in urban and rural areas, what’s more, realize rural areas, etc., which could reduce the distance between urban and coordinated development and mutual progress. Smart rural development will be a tendency in China even around the world and will be a new symbol to measure the levels of urban development. So, Integrated Urban-Rural Development is so meaningful to provide a strong basis for the smart rural development. Zhejiang Province and Jiangsu Province are two good examples to practice Integrated Urban-Rural Development, whose towns and villages are much wealthier relatively.Published versio