During the 3-week China field camp in 2016, students had the opportunity to visit four historically and structurally unique cities in the Pearl River Delta: Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Foshan, and Hong Kong. Through numerous guest lectures, seminars, site visits, and candid conversations with local city-building professionals, planning officials, and scholars, faculty and students, we explored the social, cultural, economic, political, and physical factors that have shaped these four cities, and gained a better understanding of how the emerging planning issues have been addressed (or not). We also sought to understand specific historical particularities that have shaped each city and their regional connections through the specific contexts of the Pearl River Delta, looking for patterns and localities that remain and persist. We compared the planning situation observed and planning approaches used with those in Toronto.