China City Planning Review (No.1, 2021)

♦Cooperation for Win-Win Results: Healthy Community Planning

Author: Yin Zhi, Jia Qiang, Ye Yumin, Liu Dongwei, Duan Degang, Yang Xiao, Mi Weisong, Zhou Jingmin, Shao Lei

Edited and translated by Li Min / Proofread by Liu Jiayan

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, this meeting took “Cooperation for Win-Win Results: Healthy Community Planning” as its theme, guided by the principle of “strengthening and innovating social governance, building a social governance pattern of joint contribution, co-governance, and shared benefits” proposed in the report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC). In both online and offline ways, it brought together experts and scholars from universities and scientific research institutes, heads of relevant departments, and representatives of the fields of housing studies and community planning, to jointly promote healthy and sustainable development of communities. CCPR (China City Planning Review) was a media supporter of the Meeting. After obtaining the keynote speakers’ agreement, we collected the keynote speeches and condensed them into the following articles, which have been proofread by the speakers.

♦Path Selection for the Reform of Planning Management Agencies and Modernization of Spatial Governance in China

Author: Su Dong, Liu Jian

Translated by Li Caige / Proofread by Mao Qizhi

Abstract: In recent years, with the profound changes of “promoting the modernization of the national governance system and capacity,” the reform of state institutions has become an important measure and step. In the field of planning management, the establishment of the Ministry of Natural Resources plays a crucial role in the institutional reform over the years. This paper discusses the reform of planning management from the perspective of the public management and urban planning discipline, and tries to explore the internal logic between “institutional reform” and “governance modernization.” It demonstrates the interweaving and transforming process between the adjustment of planning agencies and national governance, discussing whether the establishment of the Ministry of Natural Resources has responded to the path selection of governance modernization. The paper makes a diachronic analysis on the 13 state institutional reforms since the founding of People’s Republic of China, especially on the adjustment process of planning management agencies. It builds an “institution-governance” analysis framework with the three elements including institution, function, and management as its core and with the institutional strength and governance effectiveness as the entry and exit, and analyzes the parallel transitions of planning management agencies and spatial governance logic as well as the necessary undertaking mechanisms, with the aim to provide reference for the establishment of a new pattern of spatial governance.

Keywords: planning management; institutional reform; national governance; territorial and spatial planning system

♦A Preliminary Study on Urban Governance System: Based on the Urban Management Model of S District, Beijing

Author: Li Xiaozhuang

Translated by Li Min / Proofread by Liu Jian

Abstract: While cities witness the dramatic changes in external morphology amid rapid urban transition, their internal governance structure should be adjusted accordingly. Based on investigations, this study summarizes the urban management model of the S District of Beijing characterized by “integration” and a “downward shift.” It finds that, in practice, there are often such problems as having a defective organization, single participant, imperfect institution and mechanism, weak comprehensive law enforcing, and backward urban management informatization. To solve these problems, it is urgent to transform the old urban administration framework to a new urban governance system. Based on the theory of governance, this paper develops a theoretical framework of an urban governance system that consists of the four layers of goal, idea, driving force, and task, in order to guide the modernization of urban governance.

Keywords: urban management; urban governance; urban governance system

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

Author: Bian Fang, Lü Bin

Translated by Qian Fang / Proofread by Tang Yan

Abstract: 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.

Keywords: community governance; public participation; community development; pluralism; urban China

♦Transition of Implementation Pattern Under the Predicament of Urban Renewal: A Perspective of Spatial Governance

Author: Tian Li, Tao Ran, Liang Yinlong

Translated by Liu Jinxin / Proofread by Liang Sisi

Abstract: The recent prevalence of property-led urban renewal in Chinese cities has generated problems such as “nail households”^① and the loss of public welfare. This paper begins with the theoretical framework of spatial governance in urban renewal and then discusses the problems of property-led urban renewal. From a perspective of spatial governance, it proposes the framework, process, and policy design for the transition of the urban renewal model characterized by “government leadership and self-renewal of village collectives.” By taking an urban village within a large city in south China as a case study, this paper compares the profit distribution among each party between the property-led urban renewal model and the village collectives’ self-renewal. It concludes with the significance of this new model for the establishment of a spatial governance system and high-quality urban and rural development in China.

Keywords: urban renewal; urban village reconstruction; spatial governance; anti-common tragedy

♦Using Entropy Weight Method to Assess Transit Satisfaction: A Focus on Older Adults

Author: Yang Linchuan, Guo Yuanyuan, Liu Jixiang

Edited by Li Caige / Proofread by Liang Sisi

Abstract: Population aging is happening in many places, such as on the Chinese mainland and in Hong Kong. Hong Kong, with the second-highest percentage of older adults in Asia, is among the world’s fastest-aging societies. Moreover, the city has very high transit patronage: transit trips constitute approximately 90% of all trips. Given the significance of transit in Hong Kong, improving transit services for older adults is of substantial importance. In light of this, based on the data of transit satisfaction (or perception) collected by a questionnaire survey in March 2015 (N=613), this study adopts the entropy weight method to determine the importance weights of an array of transit service quality attributes (e.g., seat availability and travel stability). Then, it performs an index-based importance-satisfaction (I-S) analysis using the outcome of the previous step as a basis to determine priorities for transit service improvement. The results show that in the view of older adults, three service quality attributes in need of improvement are seat availability, waiting conditions, and service frequency. Accordingly, the paper puts forward policy implications for further implementation.

Keywords: older adult; entropy weight method; importance-satisfaction analysis; mobility; transit satisfaction

♦The Trend of Housing Marginalization of Low and Lower-Middle Social Groups in Large Cities and

Its Planning Countermeasures: Taking Chengdu as an Example

Author: Yang Qinran, Yuan Ye

Translated by Liu Jinxin / Proofread by Tang Yan

Abstract: As low and lower-middle social groups account for a great proportion of the total population in China and their status in society is special, it is of great social and practical significance to study their housing conditions and characteristics. Based on research at home and abroad, this paper defines the basic characteristics of low and lower-middle social groups in China, and elaborates the definition and connotation of housing marginalization, thereby proposing that these residents in the Chinese city are facing a problem of housing marginalization. According to data from the fifth and sixth population census and statistical yearbooks of Chengdu, it reveals changes in housing location, housing tenure structure, and housing quality of the study group between 2000 to 2010 by means of spatial and statistical analysis, which indicates that the low and lower-middle social groups are facing the three trends of “living in outskirts,” “predicament in tenure selectivity of housing,” and “impoverishment of housing quality.” In response to these trends, three planning suggestions are proposed: ① to establish “housing policy areas” suitable for the group of residents to reside and work; ② to innovate policy measures to support the low and lower-middle social groups to rent and purchase houses within these areas; ③ to guide the residents to integrate into the community life circle in these areas so as to avoid poverty concentration.

Keywords: low and lower-middle social groups; housing marginalization; planning responses