Changing Spatial Elements in Chinese Socio-economic Five-year Plan: from Project Layout to Spatial Planning by Lei Wang

Author:Lei Wang
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
ISBN: 9789811318672
Publisher: Springer Singapore

4.4.3 The New Spatial Planning in FYP System: The Spatial Policy Framework Approach (11th FYP and 12th FYP)

In the mixed economy within the decentralized institutional set-ups, although national FYP has the powerful guidance on investment, there is a large amount of private capital out of the national policy framework to pursuit the maximum profits in specific areas. In order to attract investment, local states compete with each other fiercely to create preferential policies and institutional innovations catering for various investors. Various development zones, industrial parks and university towns were established by local governments to stimulate urban spatial development and to capture financial returns. In consequence, the space became complicated and chaotic arena with disordered development along with the accelerated economic growth and urbanization. The uncontrolled problems made the central government consider an alternative way of governing spatial development (Lu 2009).

After joining the World Trade Organization (WTO) in late 2001, economic globalization has been bringing China with great opportunities for industrial upgrading and technological innovation. The fierce global competition also stimulates the policy responses from Chinese government. It is conceived that the sound spatial governance mechanisms could coordinate and regulate the behaviors of market activities in spatial development, framing regional coordinated development pattern, and thus enhancing regional competitiveness (Boudreau 2003; Carr and Feiock 1999). Thus to foster strategic regions becomes national projects. Regional integration and collaboration is valued and driven by both central and local governments (Wong et al. 2008; Yeh and Xu 2008).

The urban planning and land use planning are designed as instruments of development control at city level in China. However the coordination at regional level is out of their reach (Wu et al. 2007). Besides, with the nature of sector plans in China, urban planning and land use planning are not possible to function over coordinating spatial development with such a comprehensive characteristic (Fan et al. 2009). Well then, being designated with comprehensive functions of macro-economic administration, NDRC is the best candidate to serve the coordination affairs over spatial development through its FYP mechanism. Indeed, NDRC is the most powerful ministry-level department in China. Facing the declining role of the FYP mechanism in spatial development, NDRC considered to reform planning institutions in order to adapt to the deepened market reform in 2000 (Yang 2003).

Under the above context, the national 11th FYP was formulated to cope with the spatial issues of sustainability, coordination and competitiveness. As discussed by many scholars (Fan 2006; Naughton 2005), the 11th FYP was a revolutionary plan. It put forwards many new terms and ideas such as scientific development perspective and harmonious socialist society. It also emphasized spatial planning and attempted to establish spatial governance mechanisms in China. Different from the spatial planning before 11th FYP Period primarily focusing on economic growth, the FYP’s new spatial planning approach emphasized both the guiding and binding functions for investment and development projects. The NDRC tried to achieve these using the following three initiatives at different geographic scales (Table 4.3).Table 4.3The three initiatives of changing spatial planning in

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