An Research On The Management Of Urban Growth Boundary Of The Central Area Of Yunfu City

In July of 2014,the Ministry of Land and Resources and the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development jointly convened a meeting to launch the pilot work of delimiting the expansion lines in 14 megalopolises.The meeting unveiled the delimitation and management of urban growth officially.Urban growth is an indispensable step in urbanization process while the transformation of rural lands into urban construction lands and that of rural population into urban citizens is similarly the inevitable option in urban development.However,with the rapid achievement in urbanization process throughout the entire nation,the application of urbanization construction lands tends to thrive in anarchy with massive arable lands being encroached and occupied when the low-density expansion of urban construction is squandering resources,featuring congested traffic and damaged environment.It is imposing a severe threat to the safety of crop production as well as the sustainable development of the cities.Facing such challenges of disordered and casual urban space growth,it is so urgent to exert effective management of such adverse expansions to guide the urbanization process in a healthier and orderly manner.Researches on the delimitation and management of urbanization growth have gradually come to their burgeoning stage,following the encroaching urban illness and urban sprawls throughout the globe.The Urban Growth Boundary theory aims to define the development boundary lines,protect arable lands and foster a healthy environment for reasonable land utilization.At present,researches done in China are mainly focusing on the technical level of how to delimit the urban growth boundaries,leaving a gap between mature management system for urban growth boundaries.Taking the view angle of public policies,it is necessary to analyse and rationalize all the domestic policies issued and tools used for urban growth boundaries,and thus to lay down the foundation and theory support for working out policies to this end,by considering the successful urban growth management practices both at home and abroad.Being the youngest city in Guangdong province,Yunfu city is located in the Northwest part with magnificent ecological environment as a typical mountainous city.With the increasingly fast development in urbanization in recent years,the municipal party committee and municipal government has been promoting its strategic slogan of "Rising with Outstanding Ecology",pointing out that the coming ten years are the golden decade for accelerating development of Yunfu City,and also the key period for building an ecologically livable city.How to avoid disorderly urban sprawls,and to establish an effective mechanism for land utilization,when safeguarding the natural resources and ecological environment of the region for the purpose of realizing healthy,orderly development without hampering its growth speed has become a key subject for Yunfu City.This paper,based on the study of current urban growth boundary management practice,summarizes the policy tools and supporting policies employed by all the administrative authorities for the urban growth of the central area of Yunfu City and by studying the changing characteristics of the urban growth boundaries to bring out the problems existing in the central area of Yunfu City.Also,the paper draws on experiences from the advanced practices both in China and abroad to hammer out the improvement measures of urban growth boundary from the angle of how to set up public policies.