Urban Planning Society of China Brief Introduction

Inaugurated in 1956, Urban Planning Society of China (UPSC) is the national planning organization of China. UPSC is committed to promote planning knowledge and technologies, the operation of which includes encouraging academic exchange, fostering planning research and training, promoting the planning profession, providing consultations to governments at different levels, publishing planning books, journals and reports, supporting and protecting professional planners, cooperating with international partners, and granting honor and awards to distinguished individuals or organizations.

UPSC annually organizes over 100 international and national academic activities. Among them, the Annual National Planning Conference (ANPC) is the biggest and the most influential planning event in China attracting more than 10,000 participants each year. UN-Habitat, ISOCARP and World Bank hold sessions at ANPCs on topics like eco-city, low-carbon development, sustainable land use planning, etc. 

UPSC journals comprise City Planning Review, China City Planning Review (CCPR), Human Settlements, Phoenix City, Urban Transport and Small Town Construction. CCPR is the only professional and academic English periodical in the area of urban planning and design in China which is indexed by EBSCO and Proquest database. 

UPSC provides governments with forward-looking advices on a variety of crucial planning issues including urbanization, planning legislation, planning administration system, housing, urban mobility, historical and cultural heritage preservation, planning technical standards, democratic decision-making, migrant workers integrating into cities, urban hazard prevention, urban design, mountainous towns, urban governance, industrial heritage preservation, and the integration of multiple plans etc.

UPSC works closely with UN agencies and international organizations including UN-Habitat, UNICEF, UNESCO, UNPD, the World Bank, International Society of City and Regional Planners (ISOCARP) etc. UPSC deeply involved in the preparation of Habitat I, Habitat II and Habitat III in particular, many senior members participated in the drafting of the New Urban Agenda. In cooperation with UN-Habitat, UPSC publishes the series of The State Of China’s Cities and the Chinese version of the journal Human Settlements. In partnership with UNICEF, UPSC published the Chinese version of Shaping Urbanization for Children: A handbook on child-responsive urban planning. UPSC is one of the initiators of the Planner for Climate Action under the UNFCCC. As the institutional member of ISOCARP, UPSC hosted the 44th and 47th ISOCARP World Planning Congress.

It also has partnership with national organizations such as American Planning Association, Royal Town Planning Institute, British Council, Italinia Urbanistica, French network of urban planning agencies, Society of Polish Town Planners, Korea Planners Association, City Planning Institute of Japan, Hong Kong Institute of Planners etc.