The Challenge of Spatial Plan Coordination in Urban China: The Case of Suzhou City

Abstract

The fragmented and overlapped planning administration, evolved from the planned economy, is the institutional foundation of the spatial planning system in China. Together with the problems of development control, spatial plan coordination of FYP, land use planning and urban planning in urban China thus has been concerned for a long time. This paper explores the dilemmas and relevant mechanisms of spatial plan coordination by a case study of Suzhou city. The empirical analysis shows that local spatial plans were highly constrained by the sectoral codes, hierarchic regulations and the controlling system of various quotas beyond the city level. The primary contradictions among the three plans were rooted in the planning parameters of the land area for construction and the spatial regulation on land use. The sectorally improved planning administration increased the complexity of plan coordination on the one hand. On the other hand, embedded in the different philosophies of the central and local governments over land governance, various spatial plans have become their complicated arenas and the planning process was mixed by central control and local initiatives. Subsequently, under the nested institutions of planning making, local spatial planning was manipulated and intervened, and thus spatial plan coordination failed.

中国的规划管理脱胎于计划经济，支离破碎，叠床架屋，却是今天空间规划体系的基 础。开发调控问题、五年计划的空间规划协调、土地使用规划和城市规划是中国城市 长期存在的热点问题。本文以苏州为例，探索中国的空间规划协调的困境和相关机制。实证分析表明，地方空间规划严重受到部门规章、科层规章和城市无法控制的各种指 标的制约。三个规划最主要的矛盾，在于建设用地规划标尺和土地使用空间规章。一方面，部门规划管理的改善使得规划协调更为复杂；另一方面，中央和地方对于土地 治理观念不一，植根于其中的各种空间规划成为其复杂的舞台，规划过程中中央调控 与地方计划相混杂。结果，在一揽子规划制定制度下，地方空间规划受到操控和干扰，空间规划协调也徒然无功。

Keywords:

• Plan coordination
• spatial planning system
• plan administration
• land governance
• Suzhou

Acknowledgement

Thanks due to anonymous referees for their constructive comments and helpful suggestions that led to significant improvements to this paper.

Funding

This research is supported by a South China Programme Research Grant, Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies, CUHK [grant number 6903306]; Research Founding of Peking University-Lincoln Institute Center for Urban Development and Land Policy [grant number FS20150901].

Notes

1. NDRC set up six demonstration cities/counties where this experiment was to be conducted, including Suzhou municipality in Jiangsu province, Ningbo municipality in Zhejiang province, Qinzhou municipality in Guangxi province, Yibin municipality in Sichuan province, Zhuanghe county-level city in Liaoning province and Anxi county in Fujian province.

2. In Chinese context, a municipality includes a central urban area and its hinterlands – vast rural areas in the jurisdiction.

3. MRL, 2001. The management method of prequalification for construction land.

4. Different Levels of development and reform commission have corresponding approval right with respect to the investment amount.

5. According to the Code for Classification of Urban Land Use and Planning Standards of Development Land (GBJ137–9), the current per capita construction land area in Central City Area determines the per capita construction land area in the planning horizon.

6. Interview of a local planning official A in Jiangsu, 20 130 622.

7. Interview of a local planning official B, 20 120 715 and interview of a local planner A in Jiangsu 20 130 709.

8. Three principles are used to zone local territory. They are the capacity of natural resources and the environment, present development intensity and the potential for future development.

9. Interview of a local planer B in Jiangsu, 20 120 524 and interview of a local planer C in Jiangsu, 20 121 216.

10. Interview of a local planer C in Jiangsu, 20 130 617.

11. The 11th FYP proposed to build an expressway network with lines of “one-lengthways, three-crossways, one-circle, two-radioactive and three-connective”, while the urban plan proposed to build an expressway network with lines of “three-lengthways, four-crossways, one-circle, two-radioactive, one-connective”.

12. Interview of a local planer C in Jiangsu, 20 130 617.

13. Interview of a local planner D, 20 120 716, and also based on a comparison with the national second land survey in 2009.

14. Interview of a local planner E, 20 130 306.

15. Interview of two local officials in Suzhou, 20 140 507.

16. Interview of two local officials in Suzhou, 20 140 507.