While the Chinese planning system is vitally important to the rapid development which has been taking place over the past three decades, this is the first text to provide a comprehensive examination and critical evaluation of this system. It sets the current system in historical context and explains the hierarchy of government departments responsible for planning and construction, the different types of plans produced and recent urban planning innovations which have been put into practice. Illustrated with boxed empirical case studies, it shows the problems faced by the planning system in facing the uncertainty in the market economy. In all, it provides readers with a full understanding of a complex and powerful system which is very distinct from other planning systems around the world. As such, it is essential reading for all students interested in the current development taking place in China and, in addition, to planning students with a general interest in planning systems and theory.
Biography
Dr Li Yu is Senior Lecturer of School of Planning and Geography at Cardiff University, UK.
’Li Yu provides a magisterial overview and analysis of the complex and contested nature of city and regional planning in China. He traces the development of modern China and outlines the evolution of planning though history to its present role in a burgeoning market economy. Li Yu maps the institutional and organisational arrangements for planning and considers the catalogue of strategic and local issues in the country. There are wonderful insights into understanding the changing state-market-civil relations in the modern world and sobering lessons for the spirit and purpose of planning.’ Greg Lloyd, University of Ulster, UK ’If you want to learn more about the tremendous changes that have taken place in Chinese cities during the last 60 years, as well as the role urban planning has played in such a fascinating process, this is the one book you have to read. Unfolding in a panoramic perspective, Li Yu sets out a critical and enlightening study on the responsive mechanism and practice of urban planning through the rapid urbanization process, in respect of social change, history and the political system. It also offers the reader the main motivations behind the achievements and failures in nearly 30 years of Chinese urban development. Yu takes the reader on an enthralling journey through the history of urban planning in contemporary China.’ Kai Wang, China Academy of Urban Planning and Design, China
