City Planning Review（2024.2）

♦REGIONAL COLLABORATIVE GOVERNANCE IN CHINA AND KEY ISSUES IN THE NEW ERA 

Author：ZHANG Jingxiang; LI Wei; ZHANG Fengrui

ABSTRACT: With the re-localization of the global capital in the new era, regional governance has been endowed with a new value in the context of the restructuring of industry and supply chains. This paper re-examines the evolutionary process of regional collaborative governance based on its “objective response and proactive actions” bi-directional driving mechanism. It reveals that regional collaborative governance has gradually become a secure and controllable guarantee for industry and supply chains. Drawing on the international experience and reflecting on domestic practices, the paper identifies three key issues faced by regional collaborative governance in China: competition and cooperation, upper- and lower-level governments, government and market. It proposes a development philosophy of co-creation, co-governance, sharing, and win-win results within a regional community and a two-tier management framework capable of effectively transcending administrative barriers, to form a governance model driven by both the government and the market. 

KEYWORDS: new era; globalization; regional integration; regional collaborative governance; China

♦REGIONAL COLLABORATIVE GOVERNANCE AND CONTRACT-BASED COLLABORATIVE PLANNING: METROPOLITAN AREA GOVERNANCE SYSTEM RECONSTRUCTION AND PLANNING IDEA REFORM IN CHINA 

Author：LU Qingqiang; LONG Maoqian; OUYANG Peng; HU Ming

ABSTRACT: The coordinated development and regional governance of a central city and its surrounding areas based on a metropolitan area as a unit has gradually become a consensus and breakthrough between the central and local governments and between the government and the market. On the basis of summarizing the practical experience of early metropolitan area planning and drawing on the international experience of regional collaborative governance, this paper explores the planning and governance issues of metropolitan areas in the new era from the perspective of the institutional field of regional governance system reconstruction. The paper proposes that the metropolitan area governance should be transformed from regional alliance to regional collaboration, and that the regional governance system should be reconstructed and improved in terms of governance actors, executive agencies, governance mechanisms, governance objectives, and governance effectiveness. Additionally, the idea of metropolitan area planning needs to be transformed from the limited communicative planning in the early stage to the contract-based collaborative planning in the new era, and reformed from the aspects of planning positioning, planning actors, planning focus, and planning implementation, in order to meet the needs of building a modernized metropolitan area and establishing a regional collaborative governance system. 

KEYWORDS: metropolitan area planning; regional governance system; communicative planning; regional collaborative governance; contract-based collaborative planning

♦BOOM OF CROSS-BOUNDARY COOPERATION ZONE: SCALE RESTRUCTURING AND SPATIAL TRANSFORMATION – A CASE STUDY OF THE YANGTZE RIVER DELTA 

Author：YANG Lingfan; LUO Xiaolong; GU Zongni; DING Ziyao

ABSTRACT: Since the 21st century, local governments in China have undergone a shift from competition to cooperation in urban development and growth strategies, with the boom of cross-boundary cooperation taking over from the development zone fever to characterize the process of urban spatial restructuring during the transition period. Firstly, based on the spatial transformation process of cross-boundary cooperation zones in the Yangtze River Delta, this paper reviews the three transformations of industry transfer park, cross-boundary cooperation new area, and cooperation innovation area that cross-boundary zones have gone through, as well as the basic trend of spatial transformation. Secondly, based on the parallel relationship between the spatial transformation and the scale restructuring activities of cooperative actors, the paper further explores the dynamic mechanism of scale restructuring, and sums up three governance modes of trusteeship, decentralization, and enterprization formed in the scaling up, scale integration, and scale diversification stages. Thirdly, the paper proposes a logical framework for scale-power restructuring and spatial transformation in cross-boundary cooperation zones, and puts forward policy suggestions in terms of building a dynamic policy support system, an interests coordination mechanism, and a layered control mechanism under the provincial and local supervision. 

KEYWORDS: inter-city cooperation; enclave; development zone; space; scale; governance; Yangtze River Delta

♦PRACTICE OF AND REFLECTION ON TERRITORIAL PLANNING FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF COLLABORATIVE GOVERNANCE: TAKING JIANGSU AS AN EXAMPLE 

Author：HU Haibo; LU Xiaolin; DING Lin; YAN Yalei; ZHANG Yan

ABSTRACT: Territorial planning is an important tool for improving modern governance methods, enhancing spatial governance capabilities, and promoting coordinated regional development. Under the framework of cross-regional, full-process, and multi-subject collaborative governance, based on the practice of multi-level synchronous preparation of the territorial master planning of cities and counties in Jiangsu Province, this paper explores an effective path of promoting collaborative regional governance through territorial master planning. Cross-regional collaborative governance achieves the implementation of different spatial collaborative governance goals through means such as urban positioning collaboration, ecological environment governance collaboration, transportation collaboration, municipal infrastructure collaboration, and cultural collaboration. Through the establishment of a normalized communication and consultation mechanism, the full-process collaborative governance can achieve the vertical transmission and feedback between provinces, cities, and counties, as well as the horizontal consensus across multiple departments and systems, and resolve cross-boundary regional conflicts. Multi-stakeholder collaborative governance focuses on institutional construction, ensuring the diverse participation of administrative, market, and social forces. 

KEYWORDS: collaborative governance; territorial planning; Jiangsu

♦THE GOVERNANCE TURN OF URBAN DESIGN IN CHINA 

Author：WANG Shifu; LIANG Xiaoqi

ABSTRACT: Examining the evolution of urban design theories and practices on a global scale and within the domestic context, scrutinizing the rationale and trajectory of urban design in China, and reassessing the concept of “what defines good urban design”, it becomes apparent that, starting from 1978, the overarching progress of urban design in China has been marked by a lack of localized theories and institutional systematization, resulting in a lag compared to local urban design practices. Currently, in response to the new demands arising from China’s urbanization process and the overall requirement for the modernization of governance capabilities, China’s urban design has shifted its focus from technical and institutional practices towards a greater emphasis on social processes. The theoretical perspective now pays more attention to the collaborative relationships among diverse stakeholders involved in the urban design process. In practice, various innovative models of accompanying urban design services have emerged. This article contends that the governance turn in China’s urban design contributes to highlighting the social aspect of urban design. Understanding “good urban design” involves a comprehensive urban spatial governance practice that includes elaborate urban design schemes, effective urban design management, and successful implementation. This shift will profoundly influence China’s urban design theories and practices. 

KEYWORDS: urban design; design governance; sociality; urban design implementation and manage-ment; Beautiful City

♦EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE FOR STEADY-STATE DISTRIBUTION PREDICTION OF URBAN POPULATION BASED ON DECISION TREE MODELLING: TAKING QUANZHOU BAY AREA AS AN EXAMPLE 

Author：YANG Junyan; ZHANG Zhonghu; SHI Yi; GU Jie; ZHENG Kunyi

ABSTRACT: An important task of urban planning is to allocate urban space resources based on the predicted spatiotemporal variation characteristics of urban population. Urban population moves rapidly in different spaces and has the characteristics of non-equilibrium distribution. The spatial and temporal changes of the uneven distribution of the population have a certain regularity, that is, the steady-state distribution. Based on LBS data and multi-source big data of the built environment, this paper selects 4 categories and 36 sub-categories, and adopts the intelligent decision tree model to construct a prediction model for the steady-state distribution of urban population. As for the empirical findings in Quanzhou, the accuracy of the prediction model is 84.32%, which provides a solid basis for its reliability. Its internal theoretical basis is the steady-state spatiotemporal activity law of urban population in space, which can support decision-making for future urban planning. 

KEYWORDS: spatial and temporal distribution of population; multi-scenario prediction; planning evaluation; random decision forests

♦AN EFFECTIVE WAY TO PERCEIVE THE LANDSCAPE OF HISTORIC URBAN AREA: SELECTION OF ROOFTOP VIEWPOINTS AND LANDSCAPE VIEW PROTECTION AND OPERATION IN HISTORICAL URBAN AREA OF GUANGZHOU 

Author：LV Haonan; GAO Yuan; ZHANG Wanhan

ABSTRACT: The landscape perception and protection in the historic urban area has been the focus of urban planning in recent years. Based on the research of the public’s actual viewing behavior, it is found that the rooftop has become an important perspective for the public to perceive the landscape in historic urban area. Compared with the traditional ground viewpoint, the rooftop viewpoint effectively expands the visual area and the visible distance, enriching the viewing experience. Taking the historic urban area of Guangzhou as an example, six rooftop viewpoints to be cultivated are selected and divided into two types: low-rise building rooftop viewpoint and high-rise building rooftop viewpoint. Then, the visual characteristics of rooftop viewpoints are quantitatively analyzed with the help of ArcGIS, and the management and control scheme of landscape view is formulated. Finally, the operation model of rooftop viewpoint is considered from the perspectives of monitoring mechanism, legal guarantee, function organization, and property rights, which provides new ideas for landscape management in historic urban area. 

KEYWORDS: rooftop viewpoint; landscape preservation; landscape view; historic urban area of Guangzhou

♦RESEARCH ON THE PATH OF PARTICIPATORY VIDEO UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF PLANNING: TAKING THE CITY IMAGE OF SIMIAN COMMUNITY IN TEXTILE CITY OF XI’AN AS AN EXAMPLE

Author：LI Wei; ZHANG Kai; QI Jianwu

ABSTRACT: Participatory video is an important medium for understanding places and gaining recognition, helping to increase community participation, enrich planning interactions, and expand planning tools. Taking the shooting, community participation, and planning exploration of the participatory video “The City Image” of the Simian Community in Textile City of Xi’an as an example, this paper explores the shooting (including training, interviews, filming, editing, etc.), display and dissemination, multi-agent interaction, and planning response logic of participatory video in the planning context. It also discusses the technical elements and key links of participatory video in urban planning. Through empirical research, it is believed that participatory video has positive feedback value in community participation, planning investigation, analysis, and strategy generation. As a planning tool, it can assist planners and designers to deeply understand the daily life and place spirit of others. As an important medium for obtaining cognitive experiences, it helps to enhance the enthusiasm of the public to participate in planning and assist in planning decision-making. 

KEYWORDS: participatory video; public participation; planning tool; The City Image

♦RESEARCH ON PLANNING STANDARDS FOR URBAN PUBLIC SOCIAL WELFARE FACILITIES IN THE NEW ERA: TOWARDS AN AGE-FRIENDLY SOCIETY

Author：WANG Jiawen; HU Jiyuan; WANG Jianlong; WANG Siyuan; MU Hao

ABSTRACT: China’s Outline of the 14th Five- Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development and the Long-Range Objectives Through the Year 2035 clearly states that effort should be put into “enhancing people’s livelihood and well-being, promoting the level of joint construction, governance, and sharing”, which poses new developments for China’s social welfare facility system. The current urban public social welfare facility system, function, and related planning standards are unable to meet the need of social development in the new era. Based on the status of social welfare development in China, this paper analyzes the primary problems in the current system of urban public social welfare facilities oriented at “the elderly, children, and the disabled”. According to the feedback for the application of current planning standards for urban public social welfare facilities, this paper puts forward a general thought for the revision of the planning standards in the new era, and provides several suggestions in terms of system improvement, grading optimization, index revision, site selection, etc. 

KEYWORDS: urban public social welfare facilities; planning standards; the elderly; children; the disabled

♦NEEDS OF PEOPLE WITH AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER FOR PUBLIC FACILITIES: A PRELIMINARY EMPIRICAL STUDY AND REFLECTIONS ON PLANNING RESPONSES 

Author：ZHU Wei; WANG Jiaxin 

ABSTRACT：In the background of “inclusive city”, urban planning should consider the needs of people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) for public facilities. Based on literature research, questionnaires, and interviews with families with ASD people, experts, and organizations, the paper summarizes their use behavior and needs for public facilities, focuses on their “pain points”, and discusses the corresponding principles and measures of urban planning. It is found that green spaces are the most popular and satisfactory facilities with the highest intensity of use and minimal obstacles. Sports facilities are commonly used, but the lack of supporting functions and potential hazards hinder the use of them, while community sports spaces become the people’s main alternatives. ASD people have greater difficulties in using other public facilities, and the main barrier is the lack of inclusiveness in terms of hardware, public awareness, and public services. The priority needs of ASD people and their families include intervention training, family consulting, daycare, sheltered employment, and full-day care. The main task of current urban planning is to develop standards for setting up public service facilities for ASD people, including standards for the dedicated facilities (services) and inclusive design guidelines for the shared facilities (services). 

KEYWORDS: Autism Spectrum Disorder; public facilities; needs; planning standards

♦A STUDY ON IMPROVEMENT PLANNING AND IMPLEMENTATION SYSTEM OF SEWAGE TREATMENT IN HIGH-DENSITY BUILT-UP AREAS

Author：WANG Ning; GUO Fanjin; ZENG Jian; GAN Shuoru; DING Siyuan

ABSTRACT: Quality improvement and efficiency enhancement of sewage treatment is a crucial aspect of urban renewal in the context of the stock planning. It represents an effective approach to enhancing the urban ecological living environment. With Siming District in Xiamen as a case study, the technical method of status investigation and digitalization of drainage is proposed to develop and summarize a sewage treatment improvement planning model for high-density built-up areas that incorporate “source tracing, thorough overhaul, and drainage management into communities”. With the help of the territorial planning based on “multi-plan integration”, targeted technical standards, implementation details, policy regulations, and other supporting measures are proposed, an “intelligent” information management platform for the sewage treatment system is established, and a comprehensive planning implementation system is built. It effectively coordinates “planning, construction, and management” of the sewage treatment in high-density built-up areas. The proposed model provides new insights for promoting the modernization of the sewage treatment system and governance capabilities in the new era. 

KEYWORDS: sewage treatment improvement; territorial planning; implementation system; high-density built-up area 

♦A STUDY ON URBAN PLANNING OF CHANGZHOU FROM 1840 TO 1949 

Author：DAI Haiyan; ZHANG Hong

ABSTRACT: This paper first expounds on the development background of the regions south of the Yangtze River as well as industrialization and urbanization of Changzhou from 1840 to 1949. Then, dividing this period into five stages, the paper analyzes not only the urban planning process, urban construction activities, and urban planning characteristics in each stage, but also the evolution of planning management institutions. In the end, the paper comes to three conclusions: in terms of path, the modernization of urban planning in Changzhou, a non-port city, was propelled by local economic development that was led by the local gentry, and it had become the primary objectives of urban planning across different stages to meet the needs of urban development and solve problems emerging in urban development. In terms of concept, Changzhou’s urban planning had experienced a change from being led by the local gentry to being driven by the local government through the administrative measures. In terms of methodology, before 1928, there was no direct evidence indicating that Changzhou was affected by foreign urban planning as the operational system and institutional framework of urban planning overseas were not fully developed; after 1928, foreign urban planning began to have an impact on Changzhou through top-down administrative promotion, which could be clearly seen in Changzhou’s urban planning practice. 

KEYWORDS: urban planning history; Changzhou; evolution path; concept; methodology