Open Space Implications in Urban Development: Reflections in Recent Urban Planning Practices in Nepal

Open space has various implications in urban development planning and has been integrated in recent urban planning approaches and practices in Nepal.The open spaces are not only important for(re)shaping the urban form but are also important for enhancing urban social life and disaster risk management,particularly for dense cities.As most of the cities in Nepal have been growing haphazardly,the cities lack sufficient open space.However,the value of open space in dense cities like Kathmandu has been recognized more after the Gorkha Earthquake 2015 as the open spaces were extensively used for risk relief,treatment,recovery,and rehabilitation during and after the earthquake.With this background,this paper presents the major planning initiatives in Nepal and discusses how recent urban plans have provisioned and initiated open spaces development by reviewing concurrent urban planning practices,particularly reviewing Periodic Plans,Integrated Urban Development Plan,Smart City Plan,and Land Development Plan.The development of open areas has not been given much attention in the earlier urban planning practice but recent urban development planning has emphasized with a special focus which is very important for sustainable and safer city development and is expected to address the current bulging urban issues of spatiality and sociability.Therefore,it is very important for integrating open space implications in city planning and such open space should be conceptualized according to the city’s geography,landscape as well as socio-cultural contexts.

Development of Basic Rules in Urban Planning Practices in Shenzhen

With urban development,urban planning has progressively evolved from an ideal spatial blueprint to a comprehensive urban governance policy.Planning rules,as a comprehensive mechanism to facilitate urban governance and planning implementation,have gradually changed from being a postposition measure to guarantee urban planning implementation to being a significant prerequisite to guide the improvement of planning technology(management) methodologies.From the public-oriented,ecology-oriented,and synergy-oriented perspectives,this paper reviews Shenzhen's practical explorations on design rules,management rules,and compilation rules and proposes several thoughts on improving the rules.

Reflections on Village Planning Path from the Perspective of Participatory Planning

In this study,through village planning practice,we sorted out relevant theories and research foundations,constructed and optimized the participatory planning path of villages,and proposed institutional conditions for upgrading the main status of villagers.It is recommended to understand the working mode of villages,improve the participation ability of villagers,improve the expression of planning,strengthen the planning feedback link,and truly improve the villagers’participation awareness and ability on the basis of legislative authorization and government empowerment.

The Practice of the Comprehensive Traffic Planning for the City of Chongqing

This article discribes the comprehensive traffic planning of Cho-ngqing, an extra-large industrial city in the southwest of China,which has a geographical importance and hilly terrain. The plan-ning stresses the needs to meet the city’s future socio-economic de-velopment strategy, the guarantee for the realization of urban devel-opment strategy and the solutions to the conspicuous traffic prob-lems.

From Plan to Practice

The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the country’s ruling party, and the State Council, China’s cabinet, jointly released a document in late January, detailing their efforts to intensify the construction of a new socialist