[barry-cotter]

I kind of doubt that’s specifically a feature of post Tiananmen urban design. Baron Haussmann’s redesign of Paris during the second empire did the same thing, making central Paris a city of wide boulevards that are impossible to blockade. There’s debate over the extent to which this was a deliberate attempt to make suppression of urban revolt easier but there were six such revolts between 1830 and 1848 and only one afterward, the Paris Commune, which was comprehensively crushed.

Urban planners just like big wide straight roads and with automobiles they can really indulge themselves. They look neat and tidy on a plan and impressive in real life. Building for officials and planners, not for living. That said the party-state is very much alive to the possibility of revolt and I’m sure some people thought about the military implications of urban planning but I’d say the primary motivation was ease of planning and building more than crowd control concerns. A competent military force would be quite capable of crushing an urban revolt even if both sides were armed with nothing but rifles. Professionals beat amateurs at everything and when the professionals have not just drill, discipline and training on their side but overwhelming fire power, air support and better communications the difference in capabilities becomes comical.