Summary: The government's recently announced target of 7.5% GDP growth for this year should be considered relatively good news for China's mayors. For it's the mayors who bear much of the burden of implementing economic policy in China. But things aren't getting any easier. In fact, they seem to be getting harder these days, as revenues from the sale of land shrink, and cities tackle a host of issues associated with rapid urbanization. Nick Leung, Managing Partner of McKinsey's Greater China Practice, discussed this topic recently with Haimeng Zhang, Guangyu Li, and Jonathan Woetzel. Haimeng heads McKinsey's Sustainable Urbanization Practice in China. Guangyu leads the Public Sector Practice. Jonathan is a Director and Co-Chair of the Urban China Initiative, a new think tank run in collaboration with Tsinghua University and Columbia University.
