SHENZHEN, China · When residents in southern China’s richest city learned of plans to build an expressway that would cut through the heart of their congested, middle-class neighborhood, they organized a campaign to fight City Hall.

Over the next two years they managed to halt work on the most destructive segment of the highway and forced design changes to reduce pollution. It became a landmark in citizen efforts to win concessions from a government that by tradition brooked no opposition.

And it was no accident that the battle was waged in Shenzhen, a 26-year-old boomtown that was the first city to enjoy the effects of China’s economic expansion and that has served as a model for cities throughout the country. Read more

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