The dynamics between urban planning and public policy: lessons and experiences from the city of Beijing, China
| Author | Dongquan Li,G. Zhiyong Lan |
| Published date | 01 September 2022 |
| Date | 01 September 2022 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/0020852320945382 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Article
The dynamics between
urban planning and public
policy: lessons and
experiences from the city
of Beijing, China
Dongquan Li
Renmin University, China
G. Zhiyong Lan
Tsinghua University, China, and Arizona State
University, USA
Abstract
Urban planning in China, as well as in many other countries, is viewed as a distinctive
governmental function, making strategic and land-use plans for urban development. In
recent decades, the urbanization process has intensified, especially in densely populated
countries in Asia. Urban centers have often grown faster than the planners’ wildest
imagination, creating an enormous amount of urban problems, such as congestion,
traffic jams, infrastructure shortfalls, service inconveniences, and pollution. By review-
ing the dynamics between urban planning models and urban development policy issues
and priorities in Beijing, China’s mega-capital city, this article demonstrates the impor-
tance of viewing urban planning as an essential component of public policy and the
importance of striving for the better integration of planning and urban governance. The
planning profession itself also needs to be innovated to enable domestic and interna-
tional learning, to embrace planners with varying disciplinary backgrounds, and to use
new and open planning methods. Only by so doing can planning truly lead to an
urban formation of enduring utility, aesthetic beauty, and spatial justice that can offer
a constantly refreshing urban experience.
Corresponding author:
G. Zhiyong Lan, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China.
Email: lanzhiyong2005@163.com
International Review of Administrative
Sciences
!The Author(s) 2020
Article reuse guidelines:
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DOI: 10.1177/0020852320945382
journals.sagepub.com/home/ras
2022, Vol. 88(3) 721–738
International
Review of
Administrative
Sciences
Keywords
Beijing urban planning, dynamics between urban planning and public policy, public policy,
urban growth models, urban theory
Introduction: the puzzle between urban planning and urban
development in Beijing
Urban writer T.S. Eliot (2011) once described cities as settings of intense excite-
ment, great mystery, and striking human diversity. The city of Beijing in China
falls into this category, rivaling “the world cities” of London, Chicago, New York,
Tokyo, Sydney, New Delhi, and the like (Knox and Taylor, 1995). Conscientious
efforts need to be made to plan for the development of cities of such nature—as
happened with Beijing (Gu et al., 2015; Sit, 1996).
As a mega-city with over 30 million long-term residents,
1
Beijing city’s planners
have worked hard to plan for Beijing’s growth and development. The city planners
have made eight rounds of master urban plans to guide Beijing’s growth (Long
et al., 2012). These plans include: (1) the 1953 “Rebuilding and Expansion Plan of
Beijing” (draft edition); (2) the 1954 “Rebuilding and Expansion Plan of Beijing”
(revised draft edition); (3) the 1957 “Primary City Construction Master Plan of
Beijing”; (4) the 1958 “Primary City Construction Master Plan of Beijing” (revised
edition); (5) the 1973 “City Master Plan of Beijing”; (6) the 1982 “City
Construction Master Plan of Beijing”; (7) the 1991 “City Master Plan of Beijing
(1991–2010)”; and (8) the 2005 “City Master Plan of Beijing, 2004–2020” (Li and
Han, 2013). Over the years, these plans have proposed varying models to guide
Beijing’s growth. However, regardless of how meticulously these plans were fleshed
out, Beijing seemed to have grown out of its bounds. Tensions were high between
the plans and local implementation priorities.
It should be noted that other than local plans, China uses five-year national
plans to guide its economic development. These plans started in 1953 and are made
every five years to lay out developmental goals for the next five-year period; it is
now in its 13th five-year plan (for 2016–2020). The five-year plan determines eco-
nomic development priorities, investment strategies, and developmental objectives.
Urban plans were usually made or modified after each of these five-year plans was
made.
2
Presumably, cities with such conscientious planning should have experienced
well-balanced development and enjoyed harmonious growth. The reality is, how-
ever, less rosy. Urban congestion, traffic jams, housing difficulties, infrastructure
inadequacy, and service delivery shortfalls in Beijing are as serious as, and in fact
worse than, many other large cities, such as New York, Tokyo, London, and
Washington, DC.
Some may quickly conjure up a suspicion that these problems have arisen
either because of poor planning or a lack of resources for implementation.
722 International Review of Administrative Sciences 88(3)
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