The City Planning Practice Of Guangzhou(1978-2010) Based On The Values Changing

Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in1949, urban master plan has beenthe major policy document and technical document in the urban planning field. And for aconsiderably long period of time, urban master plan has been the solo administration groundfor the implementation of urban planning framework. The introduction of reform and openingup policies has brought about profound social and economic transformation in China, and thisperiod of time also witnessed fundamental changes in the urban planning field. Due to thechange of personal value triggered by the reform and opening up, transforming changes havetaken place in the national economic system, social management system based on nationaleconomic system, as well as the urban planning system. It is therefore significant to observethe changes of practice in urban planning, as these changes serve as a link between past andfuture in the urban planning history in China.The Third Plenary Session of the11th Central Committee of the Chinese CommunistParty in1978marked a major milestone on China’s historic development. Deng Xiaoping firstproposed reform and opening policies at the meeting, welcoming an ensuingPrior to the industrial revolution, the relationship between urban size and urbanmorphology was a relatively balanced one. However, due to the profound changes takingplace after the industrial revolution, in particular the change of personal value, the oncebalanced urban development was lost completely, resulting in a series of urban problems.People came to cities to seek greater economic benefits, assuming that cities would functionefficiently to help urban dweller realize their financial goals in a fastest possible way. Whensuch money-driven ideology and practices went to the extreme, the basic urban values weregradually altered and people were forced to re-think the role of cities and their core values.Urban planners started to make urban planning in a more efficient and fair manner.Despite the hard efforts being made by urban planners to make urban planning, such asambitious urban development blueprints and objectives, based on an ideal value system withfocus on environmental friendliness, equity and efficiency, numerous research findings haveproved that urban planning mechanism was only an integral part of social system. Urbanplanning practices account for a small proportion of the entire urbanization practices, and urban planners are mere members of society. In other words, the value systems of urbanplanners are subject to change because of the multiplicity of their social roles and theinfluence by other value systems.In the past30years after the introduction of reform and opening up policies and due tothe change of personal value, China introduced the urban planning law, and the plannedeconomic system was replaced by the socialist market economic system.Amid such transformation of value system, Guangzhou became one of the first-batchstate-level famous Chinese historical and cultural cities. Guangzhou urban master plan, thevery first in China, was approved by the State Council. Guangzhou set up governmentregulation and local laws on urban planning, as well as China’s first overall urbandevelopment strategy planning. The metro networks also brought about revolutionary changesto Guangzhou residents’ daily transportation mode.As one of China’s few cities to embrace the transformation of value systems, Guangzhouhas made numerous forward-looking explorations in its social and economic development. Inparticular Guangzhou has made corresponding adjustments in the urban planning field. Therewere many successful cases on urban spatial expansion, as well as costly failures arising fromhigh expectation to generate rapid economic growth. The study of urban planning practices ofGuangzhou, therefore, is important and insightful to gain a better understanding of urbanplanning in China.By adopting the method of combining the theory with practice, this paper fullyinvestigates the roles and functions of urban planning on the urbanization with focus on valuesystems. By analyzing the urban planning practices at different period of time in Guangzhou,the urbanization history, as well as the dynamic factors and immanent cause for such practices,this paper attempts to study the urban planning regulation, plan making, urban planningadministration and actual implementation from an institutional reasoning viewpoint. Thepurpose of the paper is to reveal the internal relations between the reality of rapid social andeconomic development and the urban master planning ideal. This paper also studies the legalstatus of urban master planning, implementation mechanism and interactive relationship withother statutory planning systems under the socialist market economic system, so as todemonstrate the role of urban planning as a part of the social system and the inevitability of strong connection among government, market and society.This paper has five chapters.Chapter One is the introduction to the theoretical study of urban planning in China andthe rest of the world, highlighting the significance of this paper, research methodology andtechnology roadmap. Chapter Two first reveals the urban planning history in Guangzhoubetween1949and1978, with focus on the urban master plan preparation and experimentalmeasures taken to accelerate reform and opening up under the unitary value system. Duringthis period of time, many practical activities, such as urban planning legislation, urbanplanning preparation, institutional reform and urban planning implementation, wereintroduced. This chapter tries to understand the relationship between urban planningmechanism and urbanization progress, so as to sum up the main features prior to the urbanplanning reform. Chapter Three mainly study the urban planning practices during1989and1997. During this period of time—an early stage of market economic system—China startedto recognize plural value system from the legal dimension. There was no effective regulationon market forces for the pursuing of greater economic benefit, and naturally the urbanplanning institutional improvement was lagging behind the rapid economic development andurbanization. Despite Guangzhou’s hard efforts to improve its urban planning system to meetthe needs of market economic system, there were constant and increasing conflicts betweenurban planning and the social and economic development in Guangzhou. Chapter Four coversthe urban planning in Guangzhou between1998and2010. During this period of time,Guangzhou municipal government had a clear thinking on urban planning, re-emphasizing thegovernment’s leading role on market force regulation, and many efforts were made toimprove the urban planning system and urban planning preparation. Guangzhou wasconfronted with many challenging tasks, such as adjustment of administrative districts and theneeds for urban spatial expansion. In line with the strategic planning and its planned basicindustrial development policies, Guangzhou government steadily advanced its economic andsocial development. With supports from the central government, in particular the introductionof new urban planning systems, Guangzhou took an innovative approach to engage thegeneral public on its urban planning, through dialogue and public consultation on the urbanplanning preparation. Chapter Five is a theoretical conclusion. The author suggests that unitary value system still dominates the current social management model in China, but pluralvalues are well accepted in society. The co-existence of different value systems is likely tolinger for a long time. And there is a kind of spiral development of urban planning betweenequity and economic efficiency. This chapter also pinpoints the existing urban planningproblems that fail to address the needs of market economy, as well as key issues worth furtherresearch and investigation.