City Planning Review（2024.11）

♦ FORMS AND NORM TRANSITION OF PLANNING FOR ANCIENT CHINESE CAPITAL CITIES: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY ON 17 ANCIENT CAPITAL CITIES AFTER KAOGONGJI

Author：LIU Di

ABSTRACT: There are two fundamental issues in the academic debate regarding the planning and research of ancient Chinese capital cities: (1) Why are there so few complete cases in later practices that match the form outlined in the Kaogongji? (2) Why do the Ming and Qing capitals, which share a common origin, differ so significantly in spatial form from the capitals of the Qin and Han dynasties? From the perspective of social trends, the overarching argument is that natural forms, humanistic forms, and functional forms operate in parallel with the capital city in a “form bundle”, and that their norms have undergone multiple historical changes. This study analyzes the content of these various forms and elaborates on the social motivations and processes of normative changes. Using 17 capital city sites from the Western Zhou Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty as the empirical basis, the study deconstructs continuity slices of historical city site maps. It proposes a framework for analyzing form constraints and a table of normative changes, with form and norms on the horizontal axis and historical city time series on the vertical axis. This is supplemented by a textual, graphic, and numerical empirical support system derived from historical materials and data to validate the above arguments. This approach offers a new perspective for moving beyond isolated case studies in the planning of ancient capital cities.

KEYWORDS: urban planning in ancient China; Kaogongji; traditional philosophical ideas; traditional planning concepts; human settlements; the form of the capital city; pattern evolution

♦ “EFFICIENCY TRAP” AND TRANSFORMATION PATH OF LAND USE IN URBAN FRINGE: A COST-BENEFIT BASED EXPLANATORY FRAMEWORK

Author：LIANG Chen

ABSTRACT: The urban fringe (UF) is the most resilient space in the urbanization process, offering both the strategic depth for expansion and the resource reserves for stock development. However, the simultaneous failure of both the expansion and intensification paradigms has resulted in stagnant development within the UF, leading to a downward spiral of land use efficiency and posing a significant challenge to achieving high-quality urbanization. Firstly, this research summarizes a three-stage model of the “efficiency trap” in the land use within the UF and reveals the negative feedback circle mechanism of inefficient land use. Furthermore, a multidimensional explanatory framework is developed from a cost-benefit perspective to understand the dilemma of land use efficiency in the UF. Excessive land supply, disadvantageous location, and lagging technological development contribute to diminishing returns on land use scale within the UF. Meanwhile, land debt, social governance, and ecological degradation are key factors driving an increase in the marginal costs of land use within the UF. Finally, this research proposes a transformation path for land use within the UF that focuses on cost reduction and revenue increase, considering economic, spatial, and social dimensions.

KEYWORDS: urban fringe; urbanization; land use efficiency; spatial performance; cost-benefit

♦ HOW COMMUNITY IS POSSIBLE: TRADITIONAL WISDOM AND CONTEMPORARY INSPIRATION OF CHINESE NEIGHBORHOOD BUILDING AND GOVERNANCE

Author：LIU Jiayan

ABSTRACT: This paper explores the traditional wisdom that is rooted in China’s local traditions and cultural DNA and embedded in neighborhood building and governance with Chinese characteristics. It uncovers that, under the framework of “dual-track politics” and “simplified governance” prevalent in traditional Chinese society, grassroots governance presents a distinctive model characterized by “integration of land and family bonds, dual co-governance”, and the two forces rooted in the geographical township system and the clan system are intertwined within the neighborhood unit. From the three core dimensions of territory, life, and governance, the paper distills the integral building and governance strategy of traditional neighborhood settlements oriented towards community. As a community based on territory, the neighborhood unit allocation is land-based, relying on the organizational logic of “household-land” dual-structure. As a community of life, it reflects the common values shaped by “Rule of Virtue” and “centering on benevolence”, along with rites, customs and discourse identification realized by informal systems. As a community of governance, it promotes fair distribution, cooperation, and mutual assistance through the co-governance of the officials, local elites, and the populace, with civil organizations serving as the institutional force. In the end, conclusions drawn from past experience and challenges that inspire contemporary community building are proposed.

KEYWORDS: community ; traditional neighborhood; neighborhood building; grassroots governance; community development

♦ DILEMMAS, PROPOSALS, AND MODELS OF “HOLLOW VILLAGE” GOVERNANCE BASED ON THE OPTIMIZED COLLECTIVE ACTION THEORY

Author：HUANG Shizhen

ABSTRACT: In recent years, the governance of hollow villages has become a crucial approach in China’s rural areas to alleviate resource waste, absorb urban elements, activate existing spatial assets, and contribute to rural revitalization. However, governance faces dual challenges due to restrictions on collective land, housing property rights, and household registration. Common-pool resources remain vacant in rural areas while the inflow of urban elements is obstructed. This situation necessitates practical innovations and theoretical breakthroughs. Based on the case analysis of Danzhou Town, this paper presents the following three conclusions. Firstly, the transformation of Danzhou Town from a “hollow village” to “Art Danzhou” demonstrates typical characteristics of collective action, which has undergone the failure of old collective actions and the success of new ones. Secondly, under the downward extension of governance will and the leadership of local governments, a new action basis aligning interests has been established, new institutional paths have been innovatively explored, and a practical and sustainable action system has been built, thus achieving the good governance of hollow villages. Thirdly, by constructing a new framework for collective action, a positive model has been established in which government, market, and society agents share development benefits. Danzhou’s model provides a referential, transferable, and implementable solution for hollow village governance and rural development practice in other regions.

KEYWORDS: rural governance; governance theory; community governance; collective action; hollow village

♦ REFLECTIONS ON THE ISSUES OF DOCTRINES AND PRINCIPLES OF THE UNIFIED TERRITORIAL SPACE USE REGULATION SYSTEM FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF LAND DEVELOPMENT RIGHTS

Author：XIAO Jinsong

ABSTRACT: The unified territorial space use regulation system is the core content of current territorial planning. Its essence lies in the definition of land development rights, involving the hierarchical total factors of the entire territorial space domain, covering the whole process from the formulation to the implementation and supervision of territorial planning. On this basis, this paper answers the questions of “what to regulate and how to regulate” in the unified territorial space use regulation system. Firstly, it develops a basic framework for the unified territorial space use regulation system to clarify all the content covered by the system. Secondly, it summarizes the issues of doctrines and principles behind the practical issues that arise in the implementation of this system. Based on the different relationships between land development rights and the ownership rights of state- owned and collectively-owned land in China, and from the perspective of regulating land development rights and realizing land ownership and use rights, it develops the basic regulation logic of universality and specificity for different land use rights and authorities, including “regulation boundaries and authorities, regulation plan formulation methods and implementation measures, and compensation and expansion methods for rights after regulation”.

KEYWORDS: territorial planning; unified use regulation system; issues of doctrines and principles; land development rights

♦ “HUMAN, MEDIA, AND CITY”: AN EVOLUTIONARY LOGIC AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE PHENOMENON OF EMERGING INTERNET-FAMOUS CITIES “GOING VIRAL” FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF DIGITAL MEDIA

Author：CUI Ao

ABSTRACT: The continuous iteration of digital technology has contributed to the deep integration and frequent interaction among “human, media, and city”. Cities such as Zibo and Harbin have gone viral through strategic promotion via Internet media events, resulting in the emergence of phenomenal hotspots alongside the rise of living scenes and consumer-oriented services. Based on this, the study explores the diversified integration of subjects, media, and effect fields in digital media communication, analyzes the relationship between “human” and “media” as subjects and objects, explicit and implicit mutual learning between “media” and “city”, and virtual and real interaction between “human” and “city”. It further divides the evolution mechanism and pathways of emerging internet-famous cities “going viral” into acyclical process of “media presentation, embodied engagement, and value feedback”. This analysis reveals the transformation under the logic  of technology, content, spatiotemporal context, social interactions, and governance in the digital age, aiming to foster and ensure the unique expression and sustainable evolution of cities “going viral”.

KEYWORDS: new internet-famous cities; “human, media, and city”; “going viral”; digital media; spatial development; urban theory

♦ SPATIAL REPRESENTATION LEARNING: RESEARCH AND DISCOVERIES ON INNOVATION CLUSTERS OF NEW QUALITY PRODUCTIVE FORCES IN THE YANGTZE RIVER DELTA

Author：WU Zhiqiang; ZHAO Gang; ZHOU Mimi; XU Haowen; LIU Zhiyu; ZHU Yumo

ABSTRACT: New quality productive forces emphasize the vital role of innovation in leading new developments and the critical role of strategic emerging industries in building advanced productivity. This paper uses a representation learning algorithm to explore the typical innovation clusters of nine strategic emerging industries, including the new generation of information technology industry, high-end equipment manufacturing industry, new material industry, biology industry, new energy vehicles industry, new energy industry, energy saving and environmental protection industry, digital creative industry, and emerging services industry, by the national economic industry classification association network constructed from the Yangtze River Delta patent data. By comparing the structure of each city, the paper analyzes the spatial distribution characteristics of innovation-led new quality productive forces. It finds that: (1) strategic emerging industries have formed different types of industrial innovation clusters in the Yangtze River Delta, including a) central-radiating type, b) strip-balanced type, and c) fragmented cluster type; (2) the Yangtze River Delta tends to form an E-shaped high-value continuous innovation cluster area facing inland; (3) Shanghai-Suzhou-Wuxi forms a cross-city homogeneous industry innovation cluster space. The study of spatial representation learning of strategic emerging industry innovation clusters deepeneds the understanding of the spatial characteristics of new quality productive forces, providing strong support for building high-quality regional innovation sources and promoting the integrated spatial development of the Yangtze River Delta.

KEYWORDS: spatial representation learning; new quality productive forces; industry innovation cluster; Yangtze River Delta; strategic emerging industries

♦ EVOLUTIONARY CHARACTERISTICS OF TOP-LEVEL DESIGN OF URBAN PLANNING IN CHINA: TEXTUAL ANALYSIS BASED ON POLICIES ISSUED BY THE CENTRAL GOVERNMENT (1956-2020)

Author：XIAO Jianhua

ABSTRACT: Summarizing the development process of urban planning in China is an important basis for the realization of Chinese-style modern city development. This paper establishes a three-dimensional analytical framework for urban planning comprised of “decision-making, implementation, and organization”, and adopts the textual analysis method to conduct a quantitative analysis on urban planning policies promulgated by the central government of China from 1956 to 2020, so as to reveal the evolutionary characteristics of the top-level design of urban planning. The following results have been found: in addition to an increasingly definite objective and an enhanced democratic level, urban planning decision-making needs to be strengthened in terms of standardization and scientific basis; in recent years, the urban planning implementation has attached more importance to the regulation standardization and regular supervision; due to insufficient cooperation, top-level urban planning organizations have long been “fragmented” in terms of functions. Accordingly, efforts should be made to continue to strengthen the institutionalization of urban planning in the future, especially the integrity and centralization of organizational functions, so as to fundamentally improve the modernization level of urban planning.

KEYWORDS: urban planning; top-level design; policy analysis; textual analysis method

♦ KEY TECHNICAL ISSUES IN THE APPLICATION OF THE CODE OF PRACTICE FOR STANDARD URBAN BUILT-UP AREA DELINEATION

Author：WANG Ruixue; HAN Runxian; CHEN Ying

ABSTRACT: Focusing on the key technical issues in the three working phases of delineating the scope of urban built-up area, this paper analyzes the problems in the application of the Code of Practice for Standard Urban Built-up Area Delineation through literature review and case study. The study finds that: (1) certain operation institutions responsible for delineating the urban built-up areas lack in-depth understanding of the technical logic of the Code, and faults can be found in the basic data cleaning phase; (2) specifying the threshold value of the relevant parameter can indeed curb the subjectivity of the operation institutions, but great attention should be paid to the problem of excessive expansion in the delineation phases of the physical urban built-up area and the urban built-up area; (3) the expansion of urban space caused by the overlaying analysis elements may profoundly affect or even change the established logic of the Code. The study concludes that the delineation of urban built-up areas is of a basic research nature, and that attempts should be made to detect and prevent the problem of over-expansion through a number of measures, such as adding socio-economic indicators and granting operation institutions the right to set parameters, so as to enhance the application value of the results of urban built-up area delineation.

KEYWORDS: preliminary built-up area; physical urban built-up area; urban built-up area; land patch; minimum statistical unit

♦ DUAL FUNCTION MECHANISM OF URBAN VILLAGE TO CITIZENIZATION: LADDER EFFECT AND FENCE EFFECT

Author：ZHANG Lizheng; YE Yumin

ABSTRACT: Urban villages are the main settlement for the floating population in developed cities in China. However, there has been a long-standing academic controversy on how urban villages influence these floating tenants. This paper proposes that urban villages simultaneously have the Ladder Effect which can promote the social mobility of the floating tenants, and the Fence Effect which would solidify their social class. Based on the field survey in Shipai Village and Tangxia Village in Guangzhou and in-depth interviews with 24 tenants, this paper systematically analyzes the generation mechanism of the Ladder Effect and the Fence Effect of urban villages. It is found that the key mechanism of the Ladder Effect is the low-cost housing, cooperatively embedded business model, and the reform of grass-root governance system. And the lack of public service, crowded building environment, social isolation, competitively embedded business model, as well as the collusion between capital and village collective are the key mechanism causing the Fence Effect. Meanwhile, the effects of these factors differ between different tenant groups, that is, the “survivalist” and the “developmentalist”. Based on that, this paper reconsiders the reasons why the problem of urban villages is difficult to solve, and puts forward some suggestions for urban village redevelopment.

KEYWORDS: urban village; citizenization; floating population; Ladder Effect; Fence Effect

♦ IMPACT OF TRUST BUILDING ON RESIDENTS’ SATISFACTION IN THE RECONSTRUCTION OF OLD COMMUNITIES: A CASE STUDY OF SHIJIA COMMUNITY IN BEIJING

Author：QIU Ning; ZHANG Tianjie; SHENG Mingjie; HAN Xinyu

ABSTRACT: Improving residents’ satisfaction is a key point of the old community reconstruction. In the face of the difficulty in coordinating the interests of multiple stakeholders in the process of reconstruction, community trust can effectively help reduce conflicts, enhance community cohesion and execution, and improve residents’ satisfaction level. Based on the empirical research on trust and community trust, this paper sets up a theoretical analysis framework for the relationship between community trust building and residents’ satisfaction. Through questionnaire survey and indepth interview in Shijia Community, this paper uses factor analysis and multivariate linear regression analysis to verify the positive influence of community trust building on residents’ satisfaction in the reconstruction of old communities, and reveals the role and influence mechanism of various elements of community trust in the reconstruction process. It also analyzes the paths and corresponding strategies of the three stages “formation of community governance community - platform and mechanism construction - mature mode of transformation”, so as to provide reference and basis for other old community reconstruction.

KEYWORDS: community trust; reconstruction of old communities; residents’ satisfaction level; neighborhood trust; leadership trust; Shijia Community

♦ MEGACITY RESILIENCE BUILDING: NEW YORK’S EXPERIENCE AND ENLIGHTENMENT

Author：TAO Xidong

ABSTRACT: With climate change and the increasing mobility of human society, human beings have entered a “high-risk society” full of uncertainty. Building resilient cities has become a new strategic choice for megacities as they are increasingly becoming high-risk places. Faced with increasingly worsened natural and man-made risks, New York intends to improve its resilience to disasters mainly through establishing full-time institutions, formulating the overall resilience plan, upgrading hardware facilities, zoning of coastal flood areas, focusing on community resilience building, and strengthening network resilience. Drawing on international experience, Chinese megacities should focus on five strategies for building resilience based on local conditions: accelerating organizational innovation that is conducive to building resilient cities; formulating the overall plan and special plan that fully reflect the concept of resilience; developing a financial investment support system to promote the upgrading of infrastructure; promoting the distributed design of urban energy supply and spatial layout; establishing a resilience framework for grassroots communities.

KEYWORDS: megacity; resilient city; New York; experience; enlightenment