China City Planning Review (No.3, 2019)

♦Spatial Allocation of Urban Medical Facilities for the Elderly in China: With Hefei City as Example

Author: Gao Yanyan, Li Zao, Zhu Gaoli, Zheng Zhi

Abstract: The severe situation of a constantly growing aging population has brought along great challenges to the development of China’s medical and health undertakings. From the perspective of fairness, this paper discusses the rationality of the spatial allocation of medical facilities in the urban area of Hefei, considering the elderly’s demand through accessibility analysis. In term of medical facilities distribution, the 10-minute pedestrian accessible area of all medical facilities for the elderly is far from evenly covering the city’s urban area. The areas of high coverage rate concentrate within the Second Ring Road and aggregate in the sub-centers of the city as well. While in the fringe areas far away from the city center in the direction of the sub-city centers, which are undergoing the anti-aggregation of the elderly, the coverage rate of medical facilities is quite low. In term of medical facilities capacity (i.e., number of beds), there exits also an imbalance, with some facilities facing a serious shortage of beds, while some others seeing a remarkable surplus of beds supply. Under the premise of not adding any new medical facilities, a rational coordination of related service among different areas of the city based on the actual distribution of the elderly would be an effective measure to achieve a balance between supply and demand.

Keywords: medical facility; spatial allocation; the elderly; accessibility; fairness

♦Future Streets in China 

Author: Gary Hack

Abstract: This article focuses on how urban street design will need to respond to changes in mobility, new types of vehicles using the roads, and currently unmet functional needs. Infrastructure typically lasts a generation, so it must be built anticipating future needs. However, despite wide-spread agreement that the types of vehicles using roadways and patterns of usage are likely to change, design standards rooted in the past continue to guide the process of creating streets in China. The article begins with an understanding of current deficiencies of streets, and a prognosis of how the mobility system is likely to evolve. Based on this, it suggests new patterns for streets of the future.

Keywords: streets; new mobility; urban roads; autonomous vehicles; living streets

♦Streets Place-Making in Beijing’s Innovative Districts: From the Perspective of Public Assets and Property Rights

Author: Liang Sisi

Abstract: Around the globe, streets and sidewalks in cities are being contested as spaces that should be used for more than transportation. This paper analyzes street spaces as public goods, or their nature as a “public pool,” from the perspective of property rights. After conducting a picture for the use of public street spaces in two innovative districts in Beijing via big data description and field investigation, this paper analyzes the use of public spaces from the perspective of property rights, spatial supply and demand, and the distribution and management of public goods. It further proposes three strategies for street design transformation, including refined management, design integrity, and planning priority transformation.

Keywords: property rights; public space; street design; place-making; innovative district; Beijing

♦Reflections and Practical Explorations of Rights in Street Design

Author: Ge Yan

Abstract: Street is the public resource of the city. While the street design is seemingly a technical means for physical space, essentially it is the redistribution of urban space rights. This paper argues that street design should focus on the “street right,” which can be divided into the right to pass and the right to stay, and it may as well be divided into permanent right and process right. Permanent right mainly includes property right and use right, and process right includes participation right and decision-making right. At present, there are many problems confronted by streets in China, such as uncoordinated division of property right between public and private parties, unfair spatial distribution neglecting the use right of slow traffic, less participation and no decision-making right for citizens during street design process, etc. Based on recent design practices in Shanghai, Xiamen, Shangyu, and several other cities, this paper explores strategies in terms of the coordination and integration of property right and space, fair distribution of street use right, and the public empowerment in street design.

Keywords: street design; permanent right; process right; property right; use right; participation right; decision-making right; practice

♦Formation of Better Streets: Interpretation of Urban Design Guidelines for Beijing Street Regeneration and Governance

Author: Ye Nan, Guo Jing

Abstract: As a showcase for public well-being and urban identity, a better street should carry not only the constantly flowing traffic stream, but also diversified lifestyles and various streetscapes. Beijing is the capital of China, one of its ancient capitals, and a tier 1 international metropolis, both its street connotation and functions are extremely complex. Along with new requirements proposed in the Beijing City Master Plan (2016 – 2035) for controlling construction land, strengthening urban identity, and improving urban governance, the Urban Design Guidelines for Beijing Street Regeneration and Governance (the Guidelines) is not only an important breakthrough point for promoting urban transformation to sustainable urban regeneration and governance, but also the foundation of optimizing capital city construction and building a world-class, harmonious, and livable capital city. Taking full consideration of value orientation, technical methods, system design, and governance transformation, the Guidelines adopts five measures, including identity enhancement, coordinated design, enhancing cultural and aesthetic quality, building platforms, and managing “stubborn diseases” – problems which have plagued people for many years and have been intensifying with years to pass, to comprehensively improve the street design and governance, in the hope of making it a real typical space that represents the image and cultural charm of the capital city.

Keywords: Beijing; street space; urban design; regeneration and governance

♦Approaches for Mega-Cities to Break Through Path Dependence and Realize Transformation and Innovative Development: A Comparative Study on Shenzhen, Guangzhou, and Tianjin

Author: Geng Jia, Zhao Min

Abstract: As China’s economy has entered the development stage of a “new normal,” the traditional path relying on investment scale expansion for economic growth can no longer sustain. Thus the key of the supply-side structural reform lies in breaking through the long-term path dependence and facilitating the transformation and innovation of socio-economic and urban development. This paper takes Shenzhen as the benchmark of the comparative study, and Guangzhou and Tianjin as the comparative object to analyze the contributions of the demand-side “troika” – investment, consumption, and export, to economic growth from 1986 to 2015. Then, it introduces multiple growth elements on the supply-side to analyze the significant contribution elements in urban economic growth and their contribution degrees. Meanwhile, in combination with the economic development background and the policy guidance since the reform and opening up, the paper analyzes the characteristics of the development paths and their trends of the three cities. In the end, based on the comparative study, it carries out a discussion on the development path for mega-cities and their urban planning strategies at the new era from three perspectives.

Keywords: mega-city; transformation and innovation; comparative study; planning strategy

♦Research on the Spatial Evolution of the Chengdu-Chongqing Urban Agglomeration: Based on Cross-Sectional Data from 2000 to 2015

Author: Xiao Lei, Pan Yonggang

Abstract: Based on the cross-sectional data of 2000 and 2015, this paper quantitatively analyzes several indicators of the Chengdu-Chongqing Urban Agglomeration, including the permanent population, urban population, GDP, and total industrial output value, to explore the overall situation of the spatial development of urban agglomeration at this stage. The study finds that the permanent population and GDP maintain the trend of concentrating to higher-level cities, and the central cities of Chengdu and Chongqing have an obvious status of polarization. The main city of Chongqing is relatively dependent on industry, while the main city of Chengdu is driven by service economy and has a stronger capacity of urban population concentration. Different from the traditional understanding, Chongqing’s regional central cities have realized rapid industry-driven growth, and their development is faster than that of Sichuan’s prefecture-level cities. Despite of a large outflow of population, county-level units have achieved high growth rate of urban population, and the in-situ urbanization is obvious. The spatial pattern shows an “eastward inclination,” in which the development of western Chongqing is the most outstanding, while that of Chengdu Plain and southern Sichuan region with a better basis has slowed down, and the originally backward areas, such as northeastern Chongqing, southeastern Chongqing, and eastern Sichuan, have a prominent development.

Keywords: Chengdu-Chongqing Urban Agglomeration; spatial evolution; urban system; urbanization