Beijing is one of the most populous cities in the world and one of the largest in China. It has been the country’s capital for more than 850 years and has a history stretching back over more than three millennia. China has undergone rapid economic growth in the last few decades, and this has been associated with extensive urbanisation. Beijing has been at the forefront of this extraordinary expansion which has brought with it a range of environmental issues.
Beijing’s built-up area has expanded significantly in recent decades, from about 5% of the municipality (see Box 1) in the early 1970s to more than 15% in 2010 (see Table 1). This urban sprawl occurred as Beijing’s population grew from 8.1 million in 1970 to 19.6 million in 2010. Since the 1960s the city’s population has grown on average 20% per decade. The fastest rate occurred in the 10 years between the 2000 and 2010 censuses, when the number of people living in the city grew by no less than 44%. This phenomenal growth rate is put in context when compared with the population growth rate for the country as a whole over the same period: just 6%.
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