Discrimination on the Concept of Historic City in China

In 1982,the State Council announced a list of historic cities in China,aiming to set up a conservation measure to conserve the cultural heritages from the perspective of a city.The historic city is a concept in relation to urban administrative governance.Its conservation scope and specific contents should be defined in conservation planning.Since the conservation planning of historic city is a part of the city master planning,its planning area should be the same as that in the master planning,with focus on the central urban area.The conservation planning of a historic city should define its objects in view of the interconnection between city history and culture and thus specify its conservation scope and contents accordingly.     

Improving Open Spaces for a Sustainable City

The feasibility of city living with nature as a way to restore the balance between human uses and natural processes is the focus of this paper about the city of Maringa in Southern Brazil. This urban form, a planned new town founded in 1947 upon a previous, comprehensive British land-development scheme, originally offered a friendly interaction between urban settlement and nature. Hence, this paper outlines how open spaces can be enhanced as an ecological structure, bringing parks, squares, gardens and urban farming into a productive system, both for nature＇s and for people＇s sakes. Following a morphological study, the proposed ecological structure will maintain ecological processes within the urban grid and help to preserve historical and social values, by linking a wide variety of natural and restored ecosystems and landscape features. The adoption of this kind of ecological planning will certainly result in an increase of the urban landscape quality, changing actual planning paradigm and preventing the city from environmental quality decrease.     

中国经济技术开发区建设的生态学理论研究

Introducing ecology and sustainable development concept into Development Zone planning has now been an unavoidable issue for us. The ecological urban planning must be based on the sustainable development theory. In the Development Zone construction, People are inclined to think that the city represents the most terrible aspects. If people do not underpin the relationship between human and the environment in a specific manner, this spiritual relationship will finally break down. The development of a city is a dynamic process, and it is impossible to get the urban planning done once and forever. Thus, enough space should be set aside for the sound development of a city.     

Study on Planning Standards for Urban Renewal Areas in Shenzhen

The paper starts from the origin and evolution of city planning standards of Shenzhen before analyzing the new demands for the standards by the development of city renewal amid city transition,and establishes a primary framework for the planning standards and requirements.In addition,on the basis of comparing with the formulation of planning standards of Hong Kong,Shanghai,and Changsha,the paper carries out a discussion on the formulation ideas and main contents of the planning standards for the urban renewal areas in Shenzhen.Moreover,the paper also analyzes the standards for renewal objects,scope,mode,functions guidance,development control,and public facilities,all of which are quite heated issues and key elements in the process of formulation and approval of renewal planning,in order to improve the institutional structure of the City Planning Standards and Requirements of Shenzhen and meet the government’s demand in realizing a refined management.     

Strengthening of the Territorial Position of Valladolid through Planning Strategies： Networks,Patterns and Centralities

The urban condition of the European territory requires new approaches to explain the current development of cities and to propose new planning tools. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate that we can support an innovative perspective based on intermediate geographical scales, more useful for outlining the specific features of territory. While we analyze the territory, we should overcome the strictly local scale of the administrative boundaries and create new relationship between contemporary urban concepts （metropolization of territory and metapolis） and the regional ecological patterns. In the case of Valladolid （E） urban/metropolitan area, we focus on both causes and process of city growth. We have understood that it could be inefficient for planning forgetting the real spatial configuration （the city is located in an intersection between two territorial corridors） and misunderstanding the territorial role of the city at different scales （the double centrality in the emerging urban area and in the region）. The significance of this case is to reveal the inter-scalar condition of places as generators of constraints in the contemporary urban fabric and, at the same time, to show the quality and the potential of places in the future urban realm.     

Editor's Note

正Since the promulgation of the City Planning Law in 1989,city master planning,called also as city comprehensive planning,has become the primary component of China’s statutory urban-rural planning system and has played a significant guiding role in the development of Chinese cities amid the accelerating process of urbanization in the past decades.However,along with the proceeding of China’s reform and opening-up,especially the establishment     

Planning Policies Towards Shanghai''''s Rapid Urban Development

The central core of Shanghai is expanding rapidly. The industrial area in the outskirtsmapped out in the overall planning of 1959 has become part of the two wings of the cen-tral city in the overall planning of 1984. The satellite town of Minhang, together with Wuj-ing, Baoshan and the towns in the neighborhood, tends to be joined together with thecentral city. More than one thousand multi-storey residential buildings have been put upin the central city,60 percent of which are erected in the old distrlcts. This, again, turnsthe old districts into overpopulated areas. In order to control the population density ofthese old areas and to develop Pudong(on the east of Huangpu River). Shanghai will beexpanded to the eastern side of Huangpu River. The central city, thus, will become a beltof dense population with Huangpu River as its axis: and it will outgrow, in size and inpopulation, its limits set by the overall planning. In the next century, how will the structure of city planning change? How to readjustthe planning of regional functions. urban traffic systems and infrastructural facility sys-tems? How to control unsystematic development in the city and in the outskirts? How toremove some of the residents from the central city to Pudong? How to change HuangpuRiver into a city axis? The following article will hold a discussion on the above problems.     

照亮黑夜

The first International Seminar on Women‘s Safety was held in Montreal, Canada in May 2002. Its purpose was to bring together women‘s groups, community organizations, city governments, and national and international agencies to work on increasing women‘s safety in cities and communities and on integrating a gender perspective into local and national crime prevention policies. This article briefly introduces some innovative approaches to women‘s safety discussed at the conference.     

Joining Paths and Dividing Paths： Juiz de Fora, Brazil

The aim of this paper is to present the urban history of Juiz de Fora, a city with some 500,000 inhabitants in southeastern Brazil, and discuss how strategic decisions about the planning and construction of roads and highways can determine ways of life in a city. While paths may integrate landholdings and territories, they may also segregate communities and environments, causing deep rifts in the fabric of urban and land areas. The growth of Juiz de Fora is particularly marked by the construction of paths. This article reviews the local urban history from the establishment of paths in the city, to an analysis of the major impact and benefits they have had, notably on the local economy and demographics, as well as on the conservation of the local environment： Issues that are frequently relegated to a secondary role in the cost-benefit analysis of the city＇s planning decisions. After analysis of the case study, the authors concluded that citizens should be included on the agenda of the city, from spectators to actors of daily urban life.     

Anyang:A Case Study of Foreign University Involvement in Chinese Sustainable New Town Planning

Over the last ten to fifteen years,planning and design professionals in the United States and Europe have increasingly been engaged in consulting work in China.Major Architectural & Engineering firms from the United Kingdom and the United States,for example,have been opening offices in Beijing and Shanghai.Recently,the concern with sustainable urban development and China’s policies to alleviate pressures of urbanization has been an engine for commissions for new town plans and city expansion plans across China’s provinces.During the 2007-2009 academic years,the School of Planning at the University of Cincinnati prepared a conceptual plan for the expansion of the City of Anyang through a collaborative agreement between the city and it.The experience of the faculty leading this project with field work,the planning process,plan preparation,and the engagement of students has revealed some important issues that need to be addressed by planning schools and planning professionals engaged in planning in provincial China.Thus,this paper is a case study of foreign university involvement in Chinese sustainable new town planning,and the following sections discuss the Anyang Eastern New Town Conceptual Plan,identify the key issues regarding preparing the plan,contracting and payment,data availability,data sharing and field investigation,and finally discuss the lessons learned regarding the planning process,project program and expectations.     

Major Issues in Transport Planning of Shanghai

Urban transport is an urgent metropolitan problem to be solved.The city of Shanghai has made somemeaningful efforts in transport planning,especially in the analysis of present traffic loads and urban traffic.The arti-cle also offers suggestions about the future transport strategy in Shanghai city.     

The Historical Evolution of Chinese Urban Morphology

China has had a long urban experience. The existence oftowns in China can be dated to 2600 BC, and the pattern of urbanmorphology were essentially different from those in other majorcultural regions, which represents one of the major forms of urbangrowth of the world. This paper describes the characteristics andhistorical development of Chinese urban morphology. The centrallocation of political and administrative buildings, a grid-iron streetpattern, symmetrical layout and axis are the most important charac-teristics of Chinese traditional cities, which reflected the distinctivepolitical and economic system and cultural traditions of China. Polit-ical forces play a key role in shaping this urban pattern. The histori-cal development of Chinese urban morphology experienced fourphases: the walled city (770 BC——AD 906), the open city (618——1840), the colonial city (1840——1949), and the modern city(1949——1985). Each of these phases has its distinct characteris-tics and different planning philosophies reflecting the current na-tional political and economic development. The central feature of ur-ban development in China is that the process has been controlledto a large extent by the highly centralized government. After 1949,Chinese cities experienced a fundamental transformation in their in-ternal structure and morphology which reflect the communist idealsin urban planning. The key aims of urban planning in communistChina is to establish a highly productive and convenient living envi-ronment, and to reduce the gaps between city and countryside in or-der to achieve a new type of socialist city with 'classless' or 'uni-form socio-economic characteristic.     

Conceptual Model for Collaborative Planning in Iran with Emphasis on the Role of Urban Planners： A Case Study of Anzali＇s Development Strategy

Nowadays, public participation is one of the most important factors to improve the feasibility, legitimacy and quality of urban plans. In Iran, due to lack of comprehensive understanding about the participation notion and its necessary socio-economic and political infrastructures, participatory decision-making has faced with some serious challenges in both processes of preparing and implementing. The present paper focuses on providing practical strategies for preparing collaborative urban plans in Iran＇s conditions. Also it seeks to answer this question： What is the role of planners to prepare a real collaborative plan？ It is assumed that a conceptual model for collaborative planning can be fitted with Iran＇s conditions by means of integrating the fundamental philosophic ideas of participatory planning such as theories of Paul Michel Foucault and Jürgen Habermas, given the fact that the present situation of collaborative planning in Iran needs a supportive theory which is compatible with power structures of Iranian urban planning system. In this regard, the Habermas＇ theory of “communicative action” and the Foucault＇s theory of “power structures” are reviewed by a comparative analysis methodology to present an integrated conceptual model for collaborative planning in Iran＇s condition. At the end, the CDS （City Development Strategy）---making process of Anzali City of Iran is analysed to examine this claim in the practice. The results yield that enabling urban planners to act as communication facilitators during planning can direct the collaborative planning in Iran from theory to a real practice by means of integrating the positive aspects of communication and power.     

Scale,Site Selection and Function of Economic and Technological Development Zones

This article analyses different characteristics of scale,site selection and function of the current economic andtehnological development zones in our country.It further proposes that it is inappropriate for the economic andtechnological development zones to follow the“pattern of the special zones”,but a new pattern of“small scale,unitaryfunction and closeness to old city”should be adopted to fit in with the practical conditions in our country.The scale,landuse structure and the relations between the development zone and the old city are the basic issues in planning forthe development zones.These three essential elements constitute the pattern of planning which determines to a certainextent the success or failure of the development zones.     

Step out the Paradox of Livable City Studies:Conceptual Model and Path Choice

Based on a comparative analysis on the concepts and standards of livable city in China and abroad,the paper creates a conceptual model and a fundamental formula for livable city development with economic development as the foundation,and the social and cultural conditions,the ecological status,and the city governance as three pillars,so as to provide a theoretical explanation for the two paradoxes of livable city.The paper suggests that China should choose Path C,which combines economic development with city livability.It also analyzes the development rules of livable city under Path C,and talks about the fundamental ideas of livable city construction under the current circumstances in China.In the end,the paper puts forward related planning strategies in terms of spatial structure,ecological environment,cultural construction,transportation system,and housing system,in order to establish a livable city development model that is suitable for China’s practical conditions.     

A Preliminary Research on the City Planning of “Yin”,Capital of the Shang Dynasty

“Yin”was the capital of Shang Dynasty.On the basis of archaeological findings,theauthor explored the planning and layout,distributions of city functions,structural patternsand so on of this capital of the China's slave society 3,000 years ago from the viewpoint ofcity planning.Through analysing the detailed layout of the imperial palaces,residentialareas,handicraft workshops and imperial tombs of the ancient capital city from the thensocial and economic background,the author believes that the city planning concept of theancient“Yin”township has far-reaching influence on the city planning of different dynas-ties in Chinese history.     

Some Empirical Examples of Central Place Model in China

At the beginning of 1980s,the Central Place Theory was introduced into China from the West.The authors ofthis article are the initiators of applying this model to China's urban and regional planning as well as to the allocationof commercial activities.Since the commodity economy has been developing in China for thousands of years,most ofthe areas in eastern plains and inland basins of China show the spatial structure of typical central places scene.Duringsome six years,the authors participated in a lot of rural,urban and regional planning projects in which the spatialphenomena and relevant internal mechanism proved this model and its deformation.This paper gives only a few ex-amples of the application of central place theory in China:1.the distribution of rural markets,the empirical study isbased mainly on the situation in Shengfang town and its vicinal area;2.the spatial combination of urban systems,problems about city allocation in North China are emphasized;3.commercial centers in city and the network,a cru-cial study on commercial centers in city and the network,a crucial study on commercial distribution of themetropolis.Beijing is done by using central place model.     

The Controlled Approach in City Planning:Technique and Practice---Take,as an example,the control type of planning for the developing area of Chigang in Guangzhou

On the basis of the practice in Guangzhou in recent years,this article proposes the tech-nique of the“control”approach in city planning,and presents its specific application and ex-plorations with the example of the planning for the developing area of Chigang inGuangzhou.With the reform of the urban economic-political system and the advancement of theopen-door policy,significant changes are evolving in the ideas and the ways of city planningand design.To meet the demand of these developments,the new“control”approach in cityplanning and design is thus adopted.     

Between Tangibility and Intangibility——A Review on Conservation Planning and Its Implementation in the Historical City of NanJing

The conservation plan for the famous historical and cultural city of Nanjing was prepared since several yearsago.The plan,being an integral component to enrich comprehensive planning of the city,has been workingeffectively through the planning structure to direct the development of Nanjing.However,upon further analysis,au-thors of this article feel that this plan still has its own deficiences and drawbacks in exploring indepth the city'scultural origin,in selecting the essentials while discarding the dross and in blazing new trails based on the rich legacyof the past.These aspects need to be further investigated and to illustrate these points,two scenic belts are proposedto be included into the conservation plan.     

Study on Emphases and Trend of Tianjin Urban Public Safety Planning from the View of Bohai Rim Megalopolis

Nowadays urban public safety has been an important subject of study in urban planning study. And planners realized that a safe city is very important for sustainable development. Traditional urban public safety planning begins to perfect the contents and method. And regional research is an important aspect in the improvement of new era urban public safety planning. This paper chooses Tianjin, the important city in Bohai rim area as the example for research. Tianjin urban public safety planning includes not only comprehensive disaster prevention and reduction, effectively preventing and reducing disasters, ensuring the safety of the life and property of the residents, but also sharing resources and facilities from the view of megalopolis, eliminating hidden area troubles, reducing whole environment risks and so on.