Recently, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development issued the Guidelines for Urban Housing Development Planning and Annual Plan Preparation (Trial) (hereinafter referred to as the Guidelines), which serves as a critical framework in urban housing development planning and annual plan preparation, and is of great significance for building a new model of real estate development and promoting high-quality urban development. This article presents an interpretation of the 'Guidelines' content by Wang Kai, Director of the China Academy of Urban Planning and Design and a leading expert in engineering survey and design. Readers are encouraged to share their perspectives.
On the basis of the 2012 edition of the Guidelines for the preparation of Urban Housing Construction Planning, the Guidelines are based on the new situation of major changes in the relationship between supply and demand of real estate in China, focus on building a new model of real estate development, focus on the new characteristics of the urban stock development era and the new requirements of the quantitative and qualitative stage of housing construction, and highlight the content and requirements in four aspects:
First, strengthen the demand-oriented, and promote the accurate adaptation of housing supply and demand.
At present, the relationship between supply and demand for real estate in China is undergoing major changes. Population growth has entered a downward channel, urbanization has entered the second half, and urban population growth has slowed down. At the same time, the divergence of population mobility has intensified, while aging and declining fertility rates have become prominent trends. The changing characteristics of population and urbanization have brought about new features in the total, structure and spatial distribution of housing demand.
The Guidelines include a special chapter on demand analysis, which requires the characteristics of future housing demand changes to be evaluated from the aspects of total volume, structure and timing, including increment and stock, rigid demand and improvement demand, security and market, rental and purchase. It also pays special attention to the diversified needs of subdivided groups, and proposes to study the differentiated needs and supporting policies of different groups such as young people and new citizens, child-rearing families and elderly families for "good houses" in a targeted way. These requirements are the deepening refinement of the "people to book a house", which will help guide the city to guide the supply of housing products more accurately, further release the residents' rigid and improved housing demand, and promote the real estate market to stabilize.
Second, optimize the allocation of factors, and establish a new mechanism for the linkage of factors of "people, housing, land and money".
The development of a new real estate model requires systematic optimization and coordinated allocation of key factors (e.g., land, capital, policies), and the formulation of housing development planning should seize the opportunity of the current era to provide systematic solutions to solve the bottlenecks of land, capital and policies. This requires speeding up the establishment of a new linkage mechanism of factors of "people, housing, land and money", and making overall planning of housing development and scientific allocation of resource elements.
The Guidelines will strengthen the linkage of elements of "people, housing, land and money" in all aspects. First, in the assessment of the current situation, it is necessary to strengthen the analysis of the adaptation relationship between man-house, house-land, house-money elements. Second, in terms of planning principles, we should emphasize that housing, land and money should be determined by people, and in particular, we should promote planning as the basis and basis for housing land supply and housing-related capital investment. Third, in terms of target and index system, it proposes to reflect the allocation requirements of land supply, development loan supply, affordable housing construction and capital investment. Fourth, in terms of the main content of the plan, it is clear to add a chapter on linkage of factors, and put forward requirements for the allocation of land, finance, fiscal and taxation key resources.
Third, emphasize both increasing storage and actively promoting urban renewal in the residential area.
At present, urban development has shifted from large-scale incremental construction to placing equal emphasis on incremental storage. The government work report clearly states that "optimizing urban spatial structure and land use mode" is the core of which is to control increase, revitalize stock and improve quality. The renovation of housing stock is a crucial aspect of urban renewal, enhancing livability and comfort while shifting the real estate industry's focus from new construction to renovation and integrated services, thereby fostering a new development model.The Guidelines put forward that the planning should be based on the principle of coordinating the incremental and stock and improving the quality, and the main tasks and indicators for the renewal of housing and residential areas should be clarified. First, we should guide the renovation of old residential areas, villages in cities, and dilapidated old houses in urban areas to resolve safety risks, improve the quality of living, and fully release the potential of rigid and improved housing demand. Second, in the guidelines for the spatial layout of central urban areas, it is emphasized that the development potential of incremental and stock land should be comprehensively evaluated, and the land supply of new housing should be considered through the two channels. Third, in the annual plan, it is required to clarify the tasks of housing stock and residential renewal, and cities should determine the annual list of construction projects if conditions permit.
Fourth, focus on both quantity and quality, and promote the construction of "good housing" to meet the people's aspirations for a better life.
The overall development of housing in China has changed from "no" to "good", and the construction of "good housing" has become an important symbol of Chinese-style modernization and high-quality urban development. The connotation of "good housing" not only includes the main body of residential building, but also includes comfortable living environment, perfect surrounding supporting services, and good relationship between work and residence. Guided by "good house", we will realize the linkage construction of "good house, good residential district, good community and good urban area" and systematically improve urban livability.
The Guidelines emphasize the "Four Goods" framework (i.e., good housing, residential districts, communities, and urban areas), emphasizing the promotion of the quality of the living environment at the full spatial scale from "single building" to "city", and coordinating the whole chain of planning, construction and management. First, it proposes to adhere to the spatial coordination of "work, housing and service delivery", and strengthen the coordinated layout of housing supply and transportation facilities, commercial service facilities, public service facilities and municipal infrastructure. Second, the construction of "good houses", the layout and form of newly built residential areas, housing services and community governance capabilities are important elements of the planning. On the one hand, it is required to strengthen the planning and design guidance and control of the site selection, height, density and floor area ratio of residential areas. On the other hand, it emphasizes the overall planning of complete community construction, community governance and property management services, so as to realize the joint improvement of material space and governance capacity.
The timely release of the Guidelines has effectively solved the systematic, methodological and normative problems critical in the preparation of local housing development planning, laid a solid foundation for a new round of housing development planning and annual planning, and will play an important role in building a new model of real estate development and promoting high-quality urban development.
Editor & Translator:Jin He
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