China Natural Resources News:

We know that the establishment of a territorial space planning system that integrates various types of plans into one single master plan is a major deployment for the reform of the system for developing an ecological civilization. Ever since the CPC Central Committee and the State Council issued the document of several opinions on building a territorial space planning system and supervising the implementation in 2019, how is this work progressing? Thank you.

Zhuang Shaoqin:

This document is the general design and overall deployment of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council to promote the integration of multiple plans. The document clearly states that space planning such as the plan to develop functional zones, land use plan, and planning in urban and rural areas should be integrated into a unified territorial space planning. At the same time, it also says that the implementation of "integrating various types of plans into a single master plan" should be promoted in accordance with the four aspects of plan formulation and approval, implementation and supervision, regulations and policies, and technical standards. I will mainly elaborate on these four aspects:

First, it's about the system of the plans' formulation and approval. The territorial space planning system includes five levels and three types, inheriting some characteristics from the previous plans for land use and urban and rural planning. The five levels refer to the administrative levels of the country, province, city, county, and township. Types include the master plan, detailed plan, and special plan. Currently, in terms of the master plan, the territorial space plan outline has been formulated. This outline is based on "three spaces and three lines," which means three types of land spaces, including urban space, agricultural space, and ecological space, as well as redlines for protecting the ecosystems, designating permanent basic farmland, and boundaries for urban development. Although the area within the three types of lines and boundaries is less than 50% of the entire territorial land area, it defines the skeleton and foundation of the entire territorial space layout. The delineation of "three spaces and three lines" provides a basic guarantee for ensuring China's food security, ecological security, and energy security, and promoting sustainable urban and rural development. When delineating the "three lines," priority was given to the protection of farmland. Red lines for farmland protection and ecological protection were drawn first, and then urban development boundaries were delineated, which is to spur the efficient and intensive land use and promote the green transformation of the economy and society. By coordinating the space requirements of various special plans on the "one map" of territorial space plan, we have truly implemented the "integration of various types of plans into a single master plan," while also promoting the digital transformation of space governance. The outline is of landmark significance for promoting the reform of the "integration of various types of plans into a single master plan." At the same time, the local territorial space planning, especially the territorial space planning above the city level, has already produced phased results.

In terms of the detailed plan, the reform broke through the original urban-rural division. Under the condition that the original urban-rural plan and land-use plan are handled in a consistent manner, the detailed regulatory plan can be formulated and revised for the urban areas, which can serve as a basis for guiding urban renewal and various constructions. In rural areas, village plans can be formulated to promote rural revitalization, which is also a type of detailed plan.

In terms of the special plan, there are actually two levels. At the national and regional levels, specific departments take the lead in formulating the special plans. After coordinating with the territorial space plan, special plans can be included in the territorial space plan to ensure the implementation of the special plans. At the city and county levels, according to the Urban and Rural Planning Law, the relevant special plans are an integral part of the master plan. Therefore, the MNR, together with the relevant departments, shall advance the special plans simultaneously with the master plan, and eventually, they shall be included in the territorial space plan to ensure their legitimacy and practicability.

Second, it is about the system for supervision on implementation. Since 2019, we have been building a supervision system for the implementation of the territorial space plan, which can incorporate all plans of "five levels and three types." The system can implement full-spectrum, all-factor, and full-life-cycle management of the entire territorial space so as to supervise each piece of land and each project. Meanwhile, we have established an oversight, evaluation, and early warning system for the implementation of the territorial space plan. This system conducts monitoring, evaluation, and early warning based on the annual surveys and changed status of territorial land and other surveys and information, including the monitoring of geographic and national conditions. Since last year, we have completed the examination and evaluation for 108 cities approved by the State Council based on the third national land survey. In the first half of this year, we have carried out special examinations and assessments in more than 600 cities across the country based on their population changes and other situations. In the future, we will conduct regular examinations and assessments according to the annual surveys. In addition, on the basis of "integration of multiple plans into one single master plan," we are promoting the reform of regulation over land use, especially the reforms for the integrations of multiple reviews into one and of multiple permits into one. Some localities have begun to combine the original two permits, namely, the construction land plan permit and the construction project plan permit.

Third, it is about the system of laws, regulations, and policies. Article 18 of the regulations for the implementation of the Land Administration Law implemented in 2021 stipulates that the state shall establish a territorial space planning system. The territorial space plan approved according to law is the fundamental basis for all kinds of development, protection, and construction activities. Where a territorial space plan has been prepared, the general plan for land utilization and the urban-rural plan shall no longer be prepared. After implementing "multi-planning into one," only the territorial space plan is the basis for construction and plan permission. At present, the National People's Congress is promoting the legislative work for the territorial space plan. Various localities have also done a lot of work actively in this regard. The cities of Dalian and Ningbo have issued municipal-level territorial space plan regulations, while Hunan, Guangdong, Zhejiang, and other provinces are formulating provincial-level regulations on territorial space plans.

Fourth, in terms of building a basic standard system, we have established technical standards for territorial space planning in a three-year action plan with the Standardization Administration of China (SAC). We did this to accelerate the building of a unified technical standard system from four aspects: common bases, compilation and approvals, supervision and implementation, and information technology. There are several characteristics in building such a system. First, it is necessary to adhere to "integrating multiple regulations into one," especially for unifying the classification of land and sea use. This is fundamental and includes the standards for the information and data. Second, it must meet the requirements of ecological civilization, especially the requirements of intensive conservation, green and low-carbon, and safety and resilience. Third, it must meet the requirements of high-quality development, adhere to a people-centered approach, and serve the people's needs for better lives. Fourth, it must emphasize adjusting measures to local conditions. We need to streamline the previous system which had too many standards. Moreover, we need to avoid the "one size fits all" approach which risks making cities and towns all look the same. We will give better play to local advantages and leave room for formulating local standards.

In addition to these four aspects, it is worth mentioning that, with the support of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, the development of the entire spatial planning industry has been very encouraging in recent years. The number of registered planners has increased from less than 30,000 before the reform to over 40,000 now, an increase of 39%. At the same time, the number of organizations with class-A qualifications for planner staff has increased from more than 400 to over 600. Furthermore, the number of registered planners and organizations has increased without the need to lower standards. Indeed, we have actually raised standards. Therefore, the industry has also been well developed. In terms of the discipline development, with the support from the Ministry of Education, some well-known universities have strengthened the development of the planning discipline in accordance with the requirements of "integrating multiple regulations into one" and building an ecological civilization.

Next, we will firmly implement the deployment of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council to promote the integration of multiple plans and continue to deepen the related reform. In particular, we will work to strengthen the planning regarding the aspects of science, authority, seriousness and effectiveness. And we will also continue to provide better support for the construction of new development patterns, promote the transformation of development methods, in order to pressing forward for a beautiful China and achieving harmony between human and nature. Thanks.