Gold Award
The 13th (2023) Qian Xuesen Urbanology Gold Award
Showcase of Award-Winning Works
Introduction
More than two thousand years ago, Aristotle, the great ancient Greek thinker and philosopher, stated: "People come to the city to live; they dwell in the city to live a better life." In 1985, Qian Xuesen, the father of China’s "Two Bombs, One Satellite" program, pointed out that a city constitutes a complex giant system, which must be studied systematically and scientifically via systems science methodologies.
Starting in 2011, the Hangzhou International Urbanology Research Center established the "Qian Xuesen Urbanology Gold Award", named after the founding pioneer of urbanology Mr. Qian Xuesen. It launches calls for outstanding research papers centering on seven major themes respectively: urban population, transportation, education, public health, land and housing, cultural heritage, and the environment, to recognize and reward collectives and individuals who have made outstanding contributions to urbanology in China.
Today we present the nominated work for the Gold Award (Land and Housing Category) of the 13th (2023) Qian Xuesen Urbanology Award:
A Collection of Papers: Fiscal Research in Urban Planning and Urban Development by Liu Zhi, Zhao Yanjing et al.
I. Rationale for Recommendation
Centered on the theme of "Exploring the Relationship Between Urban Planning and Municipal Finance", this series of papers discusses the linkages between urban planning and municipal finance, the significance of coordinating the two, and potential future development paths for China from multiple dimensions including theory, policy, domestic practice and international experience. It also puts forward concrete policy and operational proposals. The collection helps advance interdisciplinary research bridging urban municipal finance and urban planning, improves urban planners’ capacity to incorporate fiscal considerations into planning work, provides theoretical support for China to build institutional arrangements and policy systems that coordinate urban planning and municipal finance, and pioneers innovative models for sustainable urban development.
II. Work Overview
Six papers under the theme "Exploring the Relationship Between Urban Planning and Municipal Finance" examine the correlation between urban planning and municipal finance, the importance of their coordination, and prospective development directions for China from theoretical, policy, domestic practical and international comparative perspectives. The six papers are titled as follows:
A Preliminary Study on the Relationship Between Urban Planning and Municipal Finance
Financial Issues in Urban Regeneration
China’s Municipal Fiscal Issues from an Urban Planning Perspective
Land Value Capture Financing Instruments in Urban Construction
Historical Evolution and Teaching Models of Public Finance and Urban Planning Education in the United States
Urban Governance and Financing in Developing Countries and Its Implications for China’s Metropolitan Areas
Core Significance
For a long time, China’s urban planning formulation and implementation have lacked effective alignment with municipal fiscal arrangements. As China’s urbanisation enters its second half, the urban development and land development model reliant on outward spatial sprawl has become increasingly unsustainable. Debt risks stemming from land finance keep accumulating, and local governments face tight constraints on mobilising financial and fiscal resources.
China will continue to advance high-quality urban development in the future. The delivery of urban planning schemes, urban regeneration initiatives and urban infrastructure construction all rely heavily on municipal fiscal support, making fiscal and planning implementation issues worthy of particular attention.
Globally, constructing institutional frameworks and policy systems that coordinate urban planning and municipal finance to secure sufficient, sustainable funding for urban construction has been adopted and practiced by a growing number of cities, emerging as a core agenda for sustainable urban development.
Against this backdrop, grounded in China’s unique administrative and fiscal systems, this series of papers conducts in-depth research on the relationship between urban planning and municipal finance, innovates investment and financing mechanisms for urban planning, and delivers targeted policy and operational proposals addressing current bottlenecks in aligning urban planning with municipal finance.
Detailed Content
This series of papers puts forward the following specific policy and operational recommendations:
Guide a pragmatic shift in urban planning mindsets;
Establish workflows for medium-term construction and fiscal planning within China’s urban governance institutional framework;
Build an urban infrastructure asset management system;
Deploy financial balance models and methodologies in urban regeneration;
Further advance reforms of the real estate tax and land transfer revenue systems, and introduce land value capture policy tools to finance urban construction;
Encourage Chinese universities offering urban planning majors to add more courses on municipal finance.
A Preliminary Study on the Relationship Between Urban Planning and Municipal Finance — Liu Zhi
This paper outlines a theoretical framework explaining the internal logic of "planning – fiscal revenue – financing", and proposes guidance for shifting urban planning concepts toward pragmatism. It reviews the international planning community’s evolving recognition of fiscal matters’ centrality to planning. Most importantly, it advocates establishing medium-term construction and fiscal planning workflows and an urban infrastructure asset management system within China’s urban governance framework, deepening reforms of real estate tax and land transfer revenue regimes, and prompting planning schools to fill gaps in municipal finance education.
Financial Issues in Urban Regeneration — Zhao Yanjing
Focusing on financial challenges in urban regeneration, this paper develops a normative analytical framework for regeneration grounded in accounting principles. It analyses municipal finance’s critical role in urban regeneration, and explains how standardised modern accounting statements and sound balance sheets can support regeneration decision-making. The paper stresses that robust financial models are indispensable to successful urban renewal, offering key reference and guidance for urban planning and fiscal administration.
China’s Municipal Fiscal Issues from an Urban Planning Perspective — He Yang, Li Wenjing
This paper explores China’s municipal fiscal challenges through an urban planning lens. It identifies two disjointed, incompatible phenomena: "fiscal arrangements shaped solely to fulfil planning targets" and "planning designed merely to boost fiscal revenue", and advances three recommendations:
(1) Forge close integration between municipal finance and urban planning; urban planning must comprehensively assess municipal financing capacity, while municipal finance must allocate sufficient funds for essential public service provision;
(2) Strengthen coordination with urban planning guided by medium- and long-term fiscal coordination mechanisms;
(3) Refine sustainable investment and financing models for urban infrastructure.
Land Value Capture Financing Instruments in Urban Construction — Liu Wei, Liu Shenmin
This paper offers a new perspective on leveraging land, a major urban asset, to meet massive infrastructure demand driven by continuous rural-to-urban population migration, via the distribution and recapture of land value gains. It summarises global policy tools for land value capture, and puts forward two core policy suggestions: reform the existing land transfer system and vigorously advance real estate tax reform to build a complete land value capture policy system; improve foundational institutions supporting land value capture to expand policy space for municipal governments.
Historical Evolution and Teaching Models of Public Finance and Urban Planning Education in the United States — Liu Jingyi
This paper summarises the disciplinary structure and curriculum design of urban planning programmes in the United States, outlining the developmental trajectory of mainstream American planning education. Drawing on U.S. experience, it proposes concrete measures to optimise disciplinary frameworks, expand educational channels, broaden students’ horizons and enhance their comprehensive literacy, yielding valuable insights for China’s urban planning education and practice.
Urban Governance and Financing in Developing Countries and Its Implications for China’s Metropolitan Areas — Chen Tianming
This paper identifies shared challenges in metropolitan governance and financing across developing nations, highlighting ambiguities in responsibility division and benefit allocation as well as financing bottlenecks and their developmental impacts. It advances three major policy proposals: regional coordinated governance, rational delineation of metropolitan boundaries, and real estate taxation, aiming to establish a sound, virtuous municipal fiscal foundation to support healthy urban development.
Municipal fiscal challenges are not novel issues; they constitute the fundamental core of urban planning. Looking ahead, accelerating China’s high-quality urban development urgently requires interdisciplinary research bridging municipal finance and urban planning, exploring contextually tailored institutional arrangements and policy systems that align urban planning with municipal finance, and pioneering innovative sustainable urban development models. This collection provides theoretical backing for building coordinated planning and fiscal governance institutions and policy frameworks nationwide.
III. Author Biographies
Liu Zhi, Director of the Peking University–Lincoln Institute Center for Urban Development and Land Policy, former Lead Infrastructure Specialist for the East Asia and Pacific Sustainable Development Department at the World Bank.
Zhao Yanjing, Dual-appointed Professor at the School of Architecture and Civil Engineering, School of Economics and Wang Yanan Institute for Studies in Economics, Xiamen University.
He Yang, Professor, Doctoral Supervisor and Vice Dean, School of Public Finance and Taxation, Central University of Finance and Economics.
Li Wenjing, Policy Research Fellow, Peking University–Lincoln Institute Center for Urban Development and Land Policy.
Liu Wei, Senior Policy Research Fellow, Peking University–Lincoln Institute Center for Urban Development and Land Policy.
Liu Shenmin, Policy Research Fellow, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.
Liu Jingyi, Policy Research Fellow, Peking University–Lincoln Institute Center for Urban Development and Land Policy.
Chen Tianming, PhD in Urban Economic Geography from Peking University, Independent Scholar.
