Territorial spatial planning
Territorial spatial planning is the spatial planning system of the People's Republic of China which, according to its official definition, serves as the guide of the country's territory's development, the blueprint of sustainable development, as well as the fundamental basis of all kinds of development. Territorial spatial planning is an "all-in-one" planning encompassing former major function zone planning, land-use planning, urban and rural planning, as well as other different types of spatial planning.
Background
Prior to the establishment of the Ministry of Natural Resources and the introduction of policies of territorial spatial planning, various types of spatial planning systems had existed in mainland China, which include :| Planning system | Competent authority at the national level | Period | Legal/policy basis |
| National economic and social development plan | National Development and Reform Commission | 5 years | N/A |
| Major function zone planning | National Development and Reform Commission | 10 - 15 years | Opinions on Accelerating the Construction of Ecological Civilization |
| Land-use planning | Competent department of land management department | 15 years | Land Management Law |
| Urban and rural planning | Competent department of urban and rural planning department | 15 - 20 years | Urban and Rural Planning Law |
| Environmental protection planning | Competent department of environmental protection | 5 years | Environmental Protection Law |
In addition to the variety and complexity, due to the overlaps and gaps among the functions of different plans and departments concerned and the failure to coordinate them, contradictions among different plans had frustrated the formulation and implementation of these plans. Despite the provisions in both the Urban and Rural Planning Law and the Land Management Law requiring their corresponding plans to be coordinated with others, the mechanism of coordination remained unclear and, in practice, unimplemented.
An attempt to solve this problem was conceptualized in the Decision of the CCCPC on Some Major Issues Concerning Comprehensively Deepening the Reform passed on November 12, 2013:
On December 12-13, the Central Working Conference of Urbanization discussed the necessity to "build a spatial planning system, push forward the reform of the planning system, and accelerate legislative works of planning".
The National New-type Urbanization Plan put forward the idea to "strengthen coordination between urban planning and other planning systems including economic and social development planning, major function zone planning, land-use planning, ecological and environmental protection planning, and infrastructure planning. Push forward the integration of multiple plans, including economic and social development planning, urban planning, and land use planning, into one plan in areas where conditions permit." In the same year, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Land and Resources, the Ministry of Environmental Protection, and the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development jointly issued the Notice on the Pilot Project of "Integrating Multiple Plans Into One" for Cities and Counties, and a total of 28 cities and counties were appointed in the pilot project.
On September 21, 2015, the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party and the State Council issued the Integrated Reform Plan for Promoting Ecological Progress, which declared that "A spatial planning system will be designed, with the main purpose of strengthening the spatial governance and improving its structure, which is nationally unified and better connected between different departments of government, and according to which management is divided between governments at multiple levels, in an effort to eliminate overlapping and conflicting spatial plans, the overlap and duplication of responsibilities between departments, and the issue of local authorities frequently changing their plans." "Spatial plans will be divided into national, provincial, and municipal levels."
On March 17, 2018, the First Session of the 13th National People's Congress adopted the Decision of the First Session of the 13th National People's Congress on the Plan for Institutional Reform of the State Council, and the Plan for Institutional Reform of the State Council was approved. The plan states: "The Ministry of Natural Resources will be established. The Ministry of Land and Resources's duties, the National Development and Reform Commission's duties to organize the formulation of major function zone plans, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development's duties in regard to urban-rural planning management, the Ministry of Water Resources's duties in regard to water resources survey and ownership registration management, the Ministry of Agriculture's duties in regard to grassland resources survey and ownership registration management, the State Forestry Bureau's duties in regard to forest and wetland resources survey and ownership registration management, the State Oceanic Administration's duties, and the State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping's duties shall be integrated, and the Ministry of Natural Resources shall be established as a department under the State Council. The Ministry of Natural Resources shall retain the brand of the State Oceanic Administration. The Ministry of Land and Resources, the State Oceanic Administration and the National Administration of Surveying, State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping will be dismantled." On April 10, 2018, the Ministry of Natural Resources was officially inaugurated, which cleared the administrative barriers to the integration of different types of spatial planning.
On May 9, 2019, the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party and the State Council issued the Opinions on Establishing and Supervising the Implementation of Territorial Spatial Planning System, which set out objectives of the reform of territorial spatial planning. On May 28 of the same year, the Ministry of Natural Resources issued the Notice by the Ministry of Natural Resources on the Comprehensive Development of Territorial Spatial Planning, which prescribed "Major function zone plans, general plans for land use, urban system plans, comprehensive plans for cities, and marine function zoning, etc. shall no longer be newly formulated or submitted for approval. Provincial land-use plans, urban system plans, major function zone plans, comprehensive plans for cities, and the former pilot provincial spatial plans and pilot cities and counties' "multiple plans to one" projects which have been approved and expire later than 2020 shall be integrated into newly formulated territorial spatial plans at the same level in accordance with new planning requirements."
On August 26, the Land Management Law of the People's Republic of China was amended and adopted. Article 18 was added to prescribe the legal status of territorial spatial planning:
Main points
"Five levels, three types, four systems"
On May 27, 2019, the State Council Information Office held a press conference on the Guidelines of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on Establishing and Supervising the Implementation of a Territorial Spatial Planning System. Zhuang Shaoqin, chief planner of the Ministry of Natural Resources, said in response to a journalist's question that the levels and contents of territorial spatial planning can be summarized into "five levels, three types, four systems". They are:- The "five levels" are the five levels of the administrative divisions of China: national, provincial, municipal, county, and township levels. Among them, national plans are more strategic, provincial plans focus on coordination, and plans on municipal, county and township levels on implementation.
- The "three types" are general planning, detailed planning, and special planning.
- * Comprehensive plans emphasize the comprehensiveness of planning. They are overall arrangements for the protection, development, utilization and restoration of territorial spaces in a certain region, e.g. a whole administrative region.
- * Detailed plans emphasize implementation. They are generally formulated on municipal, county levels or below and specify land plots' functions and development intensities, etc.. Detailed plans are the legal basis for the development and protection of territorial spaces, including the implementation of territorial land use regulation, the issuance of planning permission for urban and rural construction projects, and the implementation of different kinds of construction. Plans of villages outside urban development boundaries are treated as detailed plans.
- * Relevant special plans emphasize specialization. They are generally organized and formulated by natural resources departments or related departments, and can be formulated at the national, provincial, and municipal levels; In particular, special arrangements are made for specific regions' or river basins' spatial development, protection, and utilization to embody their specific functions.
- The "four systems" include planning's formulation and approval system, planning's implementation and supervision system which involve the procedures of planning; planning's law and policy system, and planning's technical standard system which support the operation of planning.
"Two evaluations"