Urban Units as an Analysis Tool for Mega-Urban Development. The Case of Guangzhou, China

In China urbanization developed quite late in international comparison due to the household registration system
which made migration into cities difficult until the state opened politically and economically in 1978. Since then
the study area Guangzhou, located in the Pearl River Delta, belongs to one of the most dynamic and rapid
growing regions in China. Migration, industrialization and urbanization led and are still leading to an
uncontrollable and incalculable development of the city causing not at least serious consequences for the
environment. Regarding the water resources, problems of water supply and purity of drinking water as well as
adequate sanitation facilities, sewage disposal and treatment of wastewater are apparent and endanger parts of
Guangzhou’s population: access to good water quality often depends on the social status and living standard. In
particular, domestic wastewater is discharged untreated into water bodies forming the main source of pollution in
river water in the Pearl River Delta nowadays. Surface and groundwater quality are increasingly deteriorating
which also affects human health given that groundwater is still used directly as drinking water.