- Evaluation of Planning Implementation in transitional China. A case of Guangzhou City Master Plan    283 kb by    LI, Tian & Shen, Tiyan | litian262@hotmail.com    Short Outline This paper provides an evaluation framework of planning implementation and explores the role of physical planning in the rapid city growth of China, taking the Guangzhou Master Plan as a case study. Abstract Fast-growing cities and dual land markets pose difficult challenges for urban planners in China. Over the last two decades, there has been a great deal of urban planning activities and very rapid city development in China. However, the Chinese planning system has long been criticized due to its nature of physical planning and failure to guide the social and economic development. So far there is a lack of evaluation of the role of planning in the city development process. This research aims to help bridge this gap, and it explores how and to what extent urban planning has impacted on city development in China. This research adopts the tool of GIS and establishes the evaluation framework of planning implementation, taking the Master Plan of Guangzhou city as a case study. The central hypothesis of this research is that the approach to city master plan adopted under the centrally planned economy has not been altered in the new circumstances of land markets, and has failed to provide adequate guidance for fast city growth in China. In pursuit of local economic growth, planning has frequently been used as a tool of local politicians to achieve their ambitions and create a modern city image rather than address a range of social, economic and environmental issues. In order to be more responsive to market forces and promote sustainable city development, fundamental reform of the traditional planning system is required. Keywords Planning implementaion, Evaluation, Guangzhou Case Study presented on the ISOCARP Congress 2007: Urban Trialogues   Click to open the full paper as pdf document   Click to send an email to the author(s) of this paper