With a history of more than 2100 years, Guangzhou, despite its glory past, has now experienced a decline in the role as a central city in the region due to the rapid growth of cities in the Pearl River Delta. Guangzhou is also suffering from problems caused by congested inner city and unregulated growth of new development areas. The city's structure has gradually changed from a compact model to leapfrogged urban sprawl. These problems are aggravated by limited land resource under its direct jurisdiction and the pressure to reposition itself in a regional development context that is more competitive than ever before. To face the challenges ahead, Guangzhou has expanded its administrative boundary recently and has taken a number of planning and infrastructure development initiatives to enhance its competitiveness in the future. © 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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