Local Governance Strategies For Illegal Construction

Since the beginning of China’s reform and opening-up, rapid economic and social development is accompanied by the phenomenon of illegal construction, which besets city managers and hampers the sustainable development of the city. Illegal construction continues unabated in spite of the great importance attached by the government to its treatment. Rampaging illegal construction has been found, to varying degrees, in more than 600 cities in China and it takes huge amount of manpower and resources to demolish the illegal construction. Therefore, it is now urgent to address this problem in a comprehensive and all-round way. A study on how to control illegal construction is of great theoretical value and practical significance in the sense that it is capable of promoting its theoretical research, improving city planning and construction, and also providing scientific theoretical guidance for the government’s policy-making.This paper, by providing a case study of Luojiang District, Quanzhou, aims to analyze the common problems arising in the treatment of illegal construction based on an extensive survey of literature, a fieldwork and the author’s related work experience. Meanwhile, it also studies the situation of illegal construction before and after the implementation of a comprehensive rectification program in Luojiang District. It is concluded that a variety of problems exist in addressing illegal construction, such as insufficient inspection and law enforcement, function overlapping, failure to fulfill the responsibility, inadequate popularization of relevant laws and regulations, massive illegal revenue and the lack of housing support measures, etc.. Countermeasures corresponding to the existing problems are proposed as follows: straightening out the management system, putting in place a treatment system with local authorities as the main body, improving mechanisms for handling illegal construction, strengthening the guidance of public opinion and increasing the cost of violating relevant laws and regulations, etc.This paper is composed of six chapters. The first chapter introduces the significance and methodologies of this study, and researches at home and abroad. Chapter Two presents the legal concept of illegal construction and sketches the theoretical framework for this study. Chapter three studies the statue quo and causes of illegal construction and explains how it is addressed as well as the problems encountered. Chapter Four compares the situations of illegal construction before and after the implementation of the comprehensive rectification program in Luojiang District and analyzes the existing problems of illegal construction in this district. Chapter Five offers a game analysis of the treatment of illegal construction while Chapter Six advances some feasible countermeasures. Chapter Seven sums up the study.The treatment of illegal construction is a long-term and arduous enterprise, the success of which cannot be achieved in one move. It is the author’s hope that this study could provide some support in terms of countermeasure and some practical experience for cities and regions analogous to Luojiang in their endeavor to handle illegal construction so that they might avoid detours in the process of their urbanization.