China City Planning Review (No.2, 2019)

♦Land Coordination Analysis and Planning Strategy Suggestions in Northeast China Under the Spatial Planning Transition

Author: Guo Rong, Huang Mengshi

Abstract: Facing the new era of construction of socialism with Chinese characteristics, it is critical for the northeastern region of China to hold this new chance for its overall revitalization. The foundation and key of this revitalization lie in finding out problems in the urban development and then putting forward feasible countermeasures. This paper studies 34 prefecture-level cities in northeast China, and uses the coordination index to analyze the relationship between land and population, economy, and investment, of different types of cities in the region from 2000–2014, in order to discover problems in its urban development and provide planning countermeasures. Data shows that in northeast China, the imbalance between urban land expansion and population is significant, the imbalance between urban land use and either economic development or capital investment is periodical, for which the primary reasons include strong centralization effect of center cities, limited input on land resources, and weak industrial competitiveness. Correspondingly, the paper proposes planning strategies in terms of vitalizing stock land, enriching land use functions, and coordinating industrial resources, with an expectation of providing both the theoretical foundation for the economic revival in the northeastern region and a guidance on practice of revitalization strategies in all cities of the region.

Keywords: land coordination; urban land expansion; population shrinkage; planning strategy; northeast China

♦Understanding Communities in China and Europe: Similarities, Differences and Consequences for Socially Integrative Cities

Author: Chen Yulin, Thea Marie Valler, Liu Jiayan, Liu Jian, Marius Korsnes

Abstract: One large challenge we face in achieving integrative and sustainable cities in China and Europe is to understand what is making people “stick together” and care for their local communities. Only when we understand local communities better will it be possible to make improvements. In this paper we start by reviewing the way in which communities and community building have been understood in Europe and China respectively. The paper then goes on to assess the similarities and differences between China and Europe with respect to the role of communities and provides an overview of potential barriers and opportunities for achieving socially integrative cities through local community building and public engagement.

Keywords: community; China; Europe; community development; social cohesion; socially integrative cities

♦The Processes Behind Community Building and Place Making in Transitional Urban Moments: A Comparison Between China and Italy 

Author: Badiaa Hamama, Maria Paola Repellino, Liu Jian, Michele Bonino

Abstract: The establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, the transition from a planned economy to a market economy at the end of the 1970s, and the pursuit of a broader contact with the outside world are all moments which brought considerable changes to the Chinese urban context on various scales. The shaping of the physical environment witnessed significant changes and transitions; however, some urban elements like the enclosure, the wall, and the gate persisted, and their existence is unquestionable in today’s Chinese cities. The concept of collectivism, anatomized from its very traditional meaning, was transformed by the socialist ideology first, and then the market-oriented philosophy later to a tool for the redefinition of the meaning of community and community building in the mutable urban context. Similarly, since the reconstruction after World War II, Italy witnessed big changes as well as the search for an urban modernity and identity, emphasizing a strong link between physical form and community building. This paper, using a comparative approach, opts to analyze how existing urban concepts have been transformed and how new mechanisms and processes emerged in community building and place making in China, focusing on the socialist and post-socialist periods, and in Italy, focusing on the aftermath of WWII till the late 1970s. The new social and urban challenges imposed by the transitional circumstances led to the adoption of alternative paradigms in both cases. In China, comprehensive development and the re-discovery of the human dimension of cities became an important focus, while the re-invention of traditional urban forms and the humanistic dimension of industrialization became one of the main concepts in community building and place making in the Italian urban context.

Keywords: place-making; community-building; China; Italy

♦“The City Is the Best Teacher”: A Review of the Educating City in Europe and China

Author: Elisabetta Patrizi, Xu Zhuqing, Fabrizio d’Aniello, Stefano Polenta

Abstract：The Athenians thought that a city, understood as a community made up of people with different needs and potential, had the primary task of educating its citizens, in order to favour their harmonious integration in the polis and their active participation in the polis’ life. From this cultural perspective, admirably synthesized by Plutarch through the expression “the city is the best teacher,” we can trace the roots of the current concept of the educating city. This article aims to explore the various dimensions of the educating city concept, by demonstrating, how only cities that are able to activate different educational processes (formal and informal) can be authentic vehicles of social integration. In this direction, the city, on the one hand, can realize every person’s potential, abilities, and rights to the lifelong education; on the other hand, the city can promote the community identity itself, as well as the self-construction of the sense of community. This, also through innovative conceptual proposals for overcoming the relational and aesthetic poverty of the metropolis form of the contemporary city, fosters the perception of the city as a highly complex living organism.

Keywords: educating city; lifelong education; extra-scholastic spaces; social integration; metropolis form

♦Historic Districts in the Wake of Modern Adversities: Reflections from China and Norway

Author: Sai Varsha Akavarapu, Wang Yu, Lisbet Sauarlia

Abstract: A shift to a market-led economy initialized due to globalization has caused massive restructuring – both economically and spatially. In the midst of such restructuring processes for place promotion and investment marketing, falls culture and heritage. The developed world identifiedthe value of heritage and centered the restructuring around the global-local nexus, whereas the developing world, increasingly influenced by the far west, made progress towards “Americanization.” However different the approaches might be, a similarity in the situation of perception of culture can be found today – induced by the technical and global forces. A new debate emerged in the professional communities on preserving the essence of historic districts/neighborhoods based on the ideologies and perceptions of governments and communities alike. This paper aims to decipher the influence of the changing notion of “development” and the globalization on the historic districts in the developing and developed worlds, by detailing the case of the Drum Tower Muslim District in Xi’an and a mining town named Røros (a world heritage site) in Norway. The study is primarily based on secondary sources, discussions with experts, field visits, and in depth interviews with local people. The findings from both the cases prove that there is no clear distinction in the current scenario of historic district preservation, although the governing processes and planning mechanisms of both countries have stark differences.

Keywords: historic district conservation; cultural heritage; globalization; modernization; economic and spatial restructuring; China; Norway

♦Holdout Problem and Its Governance in Market-Oriented Urban Renewal: Taking Shenzhen as an Example

Author: Ouyang Yifan, Du Jingshen, Jin Xiangmu

Abstract: This paper studies the occurrence, characteristics, and governance mechanism of the holdout problem during market-oriented urban renewal in Shenzhen after a related foreign experience analysis, through methodologies of logical analysis and case study. The results indicate that the holdout problem is almost an inevitable result of market-oriented urban renewal, and its proliferation not only goes against social morality and the principle of justice, but also harms social public interests, and even causes market failure. The paper proposes two approaches to dealing with holdout problem: first, to introduce the contracting commitment to restrict the owners’ freedom of contract, and to guarantee the public benefit of all owners; second, to introduce land expropriation right to regulate holdout behavior via authority of state.

Keywords: market orientation; urban renewal; holdout problem; compulsory contracting system; expropriation right

♦Research on the Development of China’s International Cooperation Parks Along the Belt and Road: Status Quo, Effect, and Trend

Author: Zhao Shengbo, Wang Xingping, Hu Xuefeng

Abstract: This paper predicts the future development trend of China’s International Cooperation Parks (ICPs) along the Belt and Road by systematically summarizing the current situation and the effect they exert. Relevant research shows that these ICPs have not only promoted China’s industrial capacity cooperation and international industrial transfer, but also contributed to resource sharing between China and the countries along the Belt and Road. In addition, the ICPs play a positive role in further advancing social development of host countries and bilateral cooperation. Research also indicates that the development of ICPs, influenced by both a Chinese domestic “pushing force” and a foreign “pulling force,” is a result jointly produced by political, economic, diplomatic, and cultural factors. As ICPs are built in increasingly more countries along the Belt and Road and their leading industries tend to be more diverse, the environment and infrastructure in host countries would be improved and the importance of Chinese private enterprises would be further enhanced. In addition, ICPs will also further promote the development of local industrial parks. What should also be noted is that problems like an unbalanced layout, irrational planning, and lack of planning standards still exist in the ICPs, thus solutions and strategies for resolving these problems are proposed in the paper.

Keywords: overseas investment; the Belt and Road; International Cooperation Park