Thoughts on Issues of China's Urbanization

Urbanization in essence is people's urbanization. China's urbanization can be mainly characterized by a gradual rural-urban migration along with economic and social development, and the emergence of "semi-urbanized population," who are like "migratory birds." The quality of urbanization should be tested and judged from the effects of the urbanization process. Based on China's basic national conditions, the key to improving the quality of urbanization is to reform the institutional aspects of the dual urban-rural structure and to carefully design various policies.

A Pluralistic and Participatory Community Governance Model for Urban China in the Era of Economic and Spatial Restructuring

As China’s socio-economic development is entering into a transitioning era,urban residents’demands are becoming more diversified,complicated,and fragmented.Ought to address issues regarding community environmental renovation,infrastructure and facilities constructions,and efficient public service supplies,measures should be adopted to adjust the urban community governance model in China to face emergent challenges.Against this background,this paper argues that the"participating actors,""community management and organization framework,""related laws,regulations,and policies,"and"resources allocation and management"are the four crucial dimensions in urban community governance.We then adopted these four underpinnings as the theoretical framework to unravel the complex dynamics of community governance in contemporary urban China.This paper argues that the current community governance system falls short in accommodating the growing demands of community development due to"ambiguity of participating actors,""excessive administrative intervention on community management,""insufficient legislation supports,"and a"deficiency in financing management system."Therefore,this paper argues that through the pluralization of public participation,diversification of community organization modes,and the enhancement of participation accessibility,community governance performance in urban China could be drastically improved.Therefore,a pluralistic and participatory community governance model is proposed in this paper to provide additional policy implications for community governance in urban China.

Influence of High-Density Urban Built Environments on Stroke in China: A Case Study of Wuhan

This paper explores the association between high-density urban built environments and stroke through the spatial regression model. An empirical study based on the disease data of Wuhan in 2015 shows that high-density urban built environments have a significant impact on stroke, and that the city center sees a high prevalence of stroke. Among urban built environment elements, net population density, residential land density, and building density are positively correlated with the risk of stroke, whereas the accessibility of community hospitals, parks, fast-food shops, and bus stops is negatively correlated with it. The mechanism analysis demonstrates that urban built environments have an important impact on stroke through such factors as the natural environment, physical activity, dietary habits, and social capital. Accordingly, the paper proposes that during the healthy city planning process in China, it is essential to reduce net population density and building density and relocate the older adults in city centers. In addition, measures should be taken to improve public service facilities at the block level and to control the risk of stroke in the high-density urban built environment.

An Exploration on Four Generations of Urban Design Paradigms from the Perspective of Rational Planning

Urban design is becoming a hot topic in academic discussions and engineering practice in the transformation of urban development in China. This paper systematically summarizes the historical development concerning urban design ideas and thoughts. Based on an in-depth analysis on the development frontier in urban design discipline and professional field in both China and abroad, the paper concludes that urban design has undergone several development phases, including traditional urban design, modernist urban design, and green urban design. Considering the new urban design development trend that is characterized by digitalization as the method and tool, the paper puts forward the "digital urban design paradigm" as the fourth generation and sums up its five innovative values. The most important characteristic of urban design is "multi-scale experiential control on space in the whole chain," and digital urban design has greatly expanded the scale of such kind of experiential control. The relationships between the four generations of urban design paradigms are not simply successive, but inherited and partially iterative urban design "paradigm synthesis" under the joint effects of design objectives with difference in similarity, various spatial scales, and various social demands. Digital urban design possesses not only the social values and design originalities of man-machine dialogues, but also quantitative properties and database outcomes, which can more effectively combine with or even merge into the statutory urban planning system of China. Thereupon, the leap-forward development of urban design based on systematical coordination can be realized.

Spatial Distribution Characteristics and Evolution Trends of Urban Aging Population

This paper selects Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Wuhan as examples and builds a database based on the statistics of the ? fth and sixth national population censuses and the latest statistics of aging population collected by ministries and commissions of the Central Government and local departments, as well as by our research team from 2000 to 2010. With its data unit accurate to Jiedao~① level, it is the ? rst time to analyze the micro-level spatial distribution characteristics of the aging population in China's mega cities in comparison with research accomplishments in geography, which lays a foundation for further relevant studies and strategy formulation. The paper draws spatial distribution maps of the aging population in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Wuhan by Geograpic Information System(GIS), and uses Aging Degree Index and Population Gravitational Center respectively to analyze the spatial distribution characteristics and spatial evolution trends of aging population in these mega cities. The research indicates that, on the one hand, the spatial distribution of the aging population shows similar characteristics with that of developed countries when they were at the same urbanization level, especially with Japan which shares a cultural homology with China; on the other hand, it is greatly in? uenced by the distribution of af? liated residential space of large industrial sectors, enterprises, and research institutes under the early planned economic system. There are two trends: one is centrifugal spread, namely, the elderly are moving from the city center to the outside; the other is centripetal concentration, namely, the elderly who lived in the outer suburbs are moving towards the city center. These phenomena, such as centripetal concentration, suburban spread, exurban concentration, and socio-spatial differentiation of urban aging population, are driven by selective development in the city center, city function upgrading, re-hollowing of villages, and occupation and income differentiation of the elderly before retirement.

The Role of Planning in National Innovative City Development: On the Evolution and Implementation Effect of Shenzhen Industry Layout Planning

From the two perspectives of urban development and industrial development, this paper presents and explains the stage characteristics of the evolution process of Shenzhen to build a national innovative city, on which both the urban and the industrial policies produce remarkable influences. By analyzing three cases of industry layout planning of Shenzhen, in particular the evolution of planning thoughts and the implementation effect of the plans, this paper argues that an effective industry layout planning should focus on studying the spatial requirements of industries and creating the suitable physical environment for industrial development instead of directly arranging the layout of various industries. Moreover, the implementation of the latest planning policy in Shenzhen proves that the industry space policies issued by the local government should be problem-oriented and be aimed to solve the practical difficulties in the innovative development.

Re-understanding the Role of City Master Planning in the Spatial Planning System

Holding a dominant position in the spatial planning system at the city level, a city master plan should be able to guide both long-term strategies and short-term planning implementation, while taking into account both resource conservation and urban-rural development and coordinating multi-government power and interests of various stakeholders. In the future, city master planning should keep its advanced nature and must follow the principles of being people-oriented, paying equal attention to both development quality and quantity, promoting diversified development, and containing multiple driving forces for development.

Spatiotemporal Responses Between Urban Regeneration and Policy Change of Stock Industrial Land:A Case Study on the Downtown Area of Tianjin

The regeneration of stock land has gradually occupied the mainstream of China’s urban development.In order to cope with the inherent complexity of land property rights and transaction costs in stock land regeneration,relevant urban policies need to play a necessary guiding role.Taking the downtown area of Tianjin as an example,this paper discusses the interaction between spatial regeneration and policy change of stock industrial land.Firstly,a spatial database is constructed through multi-party research to quantitatively describe the spatial and temporal evolution of the stock industrial land since 1995.Secondly,the relevant urban policies since 1979 are sorted out,and the characteristics of policy changes are evaluated and analyzed.Finally,through comparative studies,it is confirmed that the regeneration rate of stock industrial land is affected by policy change,and the speed of policy impact is subject to the policies’inherent characteristics,namely,"guiding policy"or"regulating policy."

Healthy Urbanization:From Quantitative Growth to Qualitative Promotion–Adjustment on Emphasis of Urbanization Strategy

China is currently experiencing the dramatic process of rapid urbanization,and the issue of how to realize a healthy urbanization is such a hot topic that it attracts attention at various levels from the Central Government to the local governments,as well as in many fields from academic community to political circles.Around this issue,this article provides several related point of views from seven experts and scholars,in order to inspire the thoughts on the future of China’s urbanization.

Practice and Exploration of the Delimitation and Implementation of Urban Development Boundary in Hangzhou

The urban development boundary is an institutional arrangement of overall planning and regulations of regional urban-rural space and ecological space, an important public policy which ensures the healthy and orderly development of urbanization, and one of the key contents that deepens the reform of the economic system. The delimitation of the urban development boundary is considered as a significant content for urban master plan revision and a fundamental basis for urban space layout and infrastructure layout in Hangzhou. As to the methods of delimitation, from the requirements of overall and long-term regional development, with the idea of "seeking the greatest common divisor," and in line with the layout requirements of population, facilities, and economic activities, the 18 space control elements sorted out according to the laws are integrated to form "one space map" that meets various requirements through interdepartmental negotiation and consultation. It should adhere to the principles including that it should follow related laws, should be implemented in space, should have multi-plan integration, and should be easy in operation. The Hangzhou Municipal Government formulates the Implementation Plan of the Hangzhou Urban Development Boundary, which, in line with the overall requirements of an intensive and highly efficient production space, a livable and moderate living space, and a pleasant and picturesque ecological space, classifies and disposes the present construction outside the urban development boundary, specifies the protection and utilization requirements for the space outside the urban development boundary, promotes the integration of functions inside and outside the urban development boundary, and establishes long-term management mechanisms including formulating regulations, dynamic monitoring, assessments of government performance, and social supervision.

60 Years of Planning: In Commemoration of Charles Chen

Charles Chen(Chen Zhanxiang)was one of the founders and pioneers of China’s modern urban planning.He used to be the Chief Engineer in the Construction Administration Department of the Government of Republic of China.He was mostly known through the'Liang&Chen Proposal,'a Plan for the New Civic Center submitted to the newly inaugurated Municipal Government of

Influence of Rural Land Institutional Reform on Urbanization During the 13^(th) Five-Year Plan Period:A Case Study of Jiangsu Province

The rural land institutions have confined the process of China's urbanization for a long time. During the 13 th Five-Year Plan period, the Chinese government will push forward a new round of rural land institutional reform, so as to promote the restructuring of current rural land use pattern, change related elements concerning urbanization, and realize the transformation of the urbanization mode. Taking Jiangsu Province, a comprehensive pilot site of new urbanization at the provincial level in China, as an example, the paper summarizes the practical experience of rural land institutional reform in Jiangsu during recent years. Further, through analyzing the influence of rural land institutional reform on the urbanization process of Jiangsu Province during the 13 th Five-Year Plan period, the paper puts forward some policy measures, with the hope of providing a lasting impetus for the new urbanization in Jiangsu Province as well as a reference for other provinces in China.

Reflections and Explorations on the Decremented Regulation of Construction Land in the New Beijing City Master Planning

Construction land use has always been a key point for the planning department to practice national transformation strategy. In the new round of compilation of Beijing City Master Plan, the management of construction land use is under the rigid restriction of the bearing capacity of resources and the environment. Setting the upper-limit of the population size, a general strategy of decremented development of urban-rural construction land has been put forward, in order to realize a transition from quantitative expansion planning to qualitative upgrading planning. By "decremented development," "decremented" means a more rigid bottom-line restriction, and "development" means a more scientific allocation of resources. From the master planning level, the new Beijing City Master Plan establishes a comprehensive control framework and restrictive index system from perspectives including land use scale, construction scale, space boundary, urban and rural structure, land use structure, and cross-boundary collaboration; and in practice, it promotes strict management methods by setting up a dismantle-construction land ratio, dismantle-construction building area ratio, employment and residence land ratio, and "two lines and three districts," which is an exploration on the planning management method of construction land use that is stock-based and decremented master planning. Considering that decremented development is a major reform and a special challenge to planning implementation, the Beijing City Master Plan carries out explorations in terms of the planning management method, land policy, jurisdiction division, assessment and supervision, etc.

Expatiation on Small Towns : A Solid Foundation for the Research and Policy-Making of Small Towns in China

Expatiation on Small TownsAuthors:Zhao Hui et al.Year:2017Publisher:China Architecture and Building Press ISBN:9787112211036(285 pages,in Chinese)Expatiation on Small Towns concentrates on the four parts of smalltowns:people,life,economy,and space,the most crucial elementsthat can directly reflect the development of small towns in China.Itcan be said that this is an innovative research outcome on small townsin China over the years.

Discrimination on the Concept of Historic City in China

In 1982,the State Council announced a list of historic cities in China,aiming to set up a conservation measure to conserve the cultural heritages from the perspective of a city.The historic city is a concept in relation to urban administrative governance.Its conservation scope and specific contents should be defined in conservation planning.Since the conservation planning of historic city is a part of the city master planning,its planning area should be the same as that in the master planning,with focus on the central urban area.The conservation planning of a historic city should define its objects in view of the interconnection between city history and culture and thus specify its conservation scope and contents accordingly.

Improving the System of Historic and Cultural Heritage Protection Through Social Participation: Based on the Practice of Guangdong

The early historic and cultural heritage protection is regarded as the responsibility of the government, and is promoted by the government, protection experts, planners, and a few other elites. These bodies constitute a top-down historic and cultural heritage protection system based on their cultural consciousness. In the social transition of market-oriented reform and property right reform, due to the profit-driven demands of individuals, enterprise, and development-oriented government, the protection system was gradually differentiated and a lot of "protective development" practices emerged. With the advent of the post-industrial era, based on the need for cultural identity, the historic and cultural heritage protection began to get attention from third-party organizations, community residents, and even the public, who launched "bottom-up" social participation. Therefore, this paper, based on social governance theory, takes the development of civil cultural conservation organizations in Guangdong as the research object, explores how to construct a society participation network in Guangdong, and discusses the influence and limitation of the network in promoting the historic and cultural heritage protection. The paper puts forward the idea of improving the system of historic and cultural heritage protection through social participation.

An Exploration on the Implementation of Traditional Village Conservation with Enterprise Involvement: A Case Study of Xijingyu Village, Jixian County, Tianjin

In contemporary China, considerable traditional villages have either suffered from "developmental and constructive" damage, or have gradually declined due to conservation constraints. Under the current rural revitalization wave initiated by the Central Government, products, capitals, enterprises, and urban elites have entered the countryside. The actors of conserving and revitalizing traditional villages become multiple, which include local governments, enterprises, planners, village planning committees, and villagers. The paper takes Xijingyu Village in Jixian County, Tianjin as a specific case, and investigates the new mode of multiple participation in conservation and revitalization. Based on empirical data, it identifies the main problems regarding agriculture, the rural environment, and peasants, and reveals how to coordinate the roles of local government, village committee, villagers, enterprises, and other actors.

Poverty Decentralization or Reconcentration: An Empirical Study of the Effects of Collected Public Rental Housing in Changzhou, Jiangsu Province

Based on the supply-side reform objective, it is a great transformation of housing welfare measures in China to collect private unoccupied houses as public rental housing instead of building new ones. Through an empirical study of the Collecting Houses as Public Rental Housing Program in Changzhou, this paper finds that the collected houses is relatively scattered in the city, which is beneficial to avoiding over-centralization and marginalization of the poor families. However, it has resulted in poverty reconcentration in some old communities, probably further leading to spatial solidification of the poor as well as a further decline of old communities. Therefore it may not effectively solve the housing problems of the poor population by providing this alternative public rental housing, which is collected according to economic efficiency. Accordingly, the paper argues that it is necessary to reinforce community development and to renovate the declined communities in time, as an important supplement to housing welfare improvement.

Residents’Self-Build:Local Practice and Local Wisdom Beyond Planning--A Case Study on Renewal and Development in Hanyin Old City,Shaanxi Province

This paper focuses on the phenomenon of residents’self-build structures in the old city of Hanyin County since the 1980 s,and draws the following conclusions:firstly,regarding the local policies formed in the process of local practice beyond planning,i.e.,"neighbors’consent,""cooperative building,"and"building setback at no charge;"secondly,that the legal interpretation of neighboring relations is the legal basis for the rationalization of the policy beyond planning;thirdly,the local government’s selective use of planning tools and its cooperation with residents reflects the local wisdom,which helps to promote urban renewal at a lower cost.

Cooperation for Win-Win Results:Healthy Community Planning

Introduction The 2020 Annual Meeting of the Housing and Community Planning Committee of the Urban Planning Society of China(UPSC)was successfully held in Xi’an on Sept.4,2020.Jointly supported by the UPSC,the Housing and Community Planning Committee of the UPSC,the School of Architecture of Tsinghua University,the Beijing Tsinghua Tongheng Urban Planning&Design Institute,and the Xi’an University of Architecture and Technology.