（英文版）
作者：Yan Song & Xiaohong Pan
发表时间：2009-11-17
概要：
Since the economic reforms launched in late 1970s, Chinese economy has grown 10% annually over the period of 1979-2004. At the same time, China has been experiencing large scale of urban development at an unprecedented rate over the last two decades. During the period between 1978 and 2003, number of cities with population larger than one million increases from 13 to 49, number of cities with population ranging from half to one million increases from 27 to 78, number of middle-size cities increases from 59 to 213, and number of small-size cities increases from 115 to 320. Level of urbanization in China has increased from 18% to 41% during the same time period. It is generally expected that Chinese economy will continue to grow at a similar pace and urbanization, currently accounting for 30% of the nation’s population, will accelerate for years to come.
For a half century, most Chinese cities have been built according to a set of urban plans such as City-Town System Plan, Master Plan, District Plan, Detailed Plan, Special Plans, and Short-Term Construction Plan. In addition, urban plans should coordinate plans in other fields. Examples of these plans include comprehensive plan for land resources and land uses, comprehensive plan for river basins and flood controls, transportation plans and national and regional economic and social development plans.
An important question to be asked is if these plans have shaped China’s massive and rapid urban growth in a smart way. Of course, answering this question would need much need researches such as evaluation of various plans and planning agencies, development of relevant indicators, and analyses of determining factors of development patterns across Chinese cities and these are beyond the scope of this paper. Rather, this paper begins with an overview of China’s planning system. This is followed by a preliminary analysis on the unintended effects of China’s various urban plans. The paper concludes by looking at the implications and prospects of China’s urban planning system.
关键词：Urban planing；Development
