How the City Moved to Mr Sun

How the City Moved to Mr Sun explores one of the defining urban transformations of the twenty-first century: the rapid rise of China’s new megacities. Written by architect Daan Roggeveen and journalist Michiel Hulshof, the book reveals the extraordinary scale and human impact of urbanisation beyond Beijing and Shanghai.

Over two years of field research, the authors travelled through rapidly expanding cities such as Wuhan, Zhengzhou and Chongqing. Home to millions of people, these cities rival the world’s largest metropolitan regions in size and ambition, yet remain largely unknown outside China.

Through extensive reporting, interviews and analysis, the book uncovers the forces driving this unprecedented transformation. It follows residents, architects and public officials as they navigate the opportunities and contradictions of explosive urban growth: from self-built high-rise neighbourhoods and large-scale redevelopment to the challenges of planning cities that expand faster than they can be designed.

Rather than presenting urbanisation as a purely economic or architectural phenomenon, How the City Moved to Mr Sun places people at the centre of the story. It offers a nuanced perspective on the relationship between cities, society and governance, while questioning whether China’s urban model will shape the future of cities around the world.

Combining research, journalism and urban analysis, the book established Roggeveen and Hulshof as influential voices in the international debate on contemporary urbanisation.