How does the urban and transport policies reshape the big cities of central China ? How each step of the urban planning process may provide specific insights in the social and political features of this metropolisation ? This article assumes that the current “integrationist” planning governance of Wuhan municipality helps renegotiate the political balance between the municipality and the districts, to the benefit of the metropolitan dynamic. However strong the drive for municipal primacy over urban planning policies may be, this agenda still faces territorial and administrative limitations. Lastly, from a social perspective, the “spaces of movement” i.e. subway, commercial and touristic pedestrian streets, created by this metropolises in progress will lead us to believe that mobility is valued over place as a driver for urban organization and promotion of metropolitan symbols.