Urban Growth Boundaries (UGBs)

Most existing studies on urban planning implementation (UPI) evaluation examine the conformity between planned and observed spatial urban development. The results are, however, typically too general to provide adequate policy recommendations for planners and researchers. The stages between creating a plan and its outcome are seldom discussed in detail, primarily because of the absence of an applicable analytic framework and data. In the paper, we propose a framework for UPI evaluation from spatial dimension which provides an in- depth and accurate application to show how the conceptual framework can be applied for assessing conformance and performance (sequential conformance) of plans proposed by Hopkins (2012) could be applied in practice. We examined the degrees of conformance and sequential conformance between an urban master plan, detailed plans, development permits and observed development outcomes, using Beijing as an example. The results reveal discrepancies between all basic stages of plan implementation, and the poor planning implementation was primarily due to the existence of large areas of development without development permits. These results suggest that the poor match between a plan and its outcomes may result from poor plan using, not poor planning. Therefore, attention needs to be paid not only to creating plans but also to monitoring the performance of various levels of plans and development permits in the UPI.

Urban Growth Boundaries (UGBs) become a mandatory requirement in the newest edition of Urban and Rural Planning Law. The implementation evaluation of it is getting increasing attention. This article reviews the newest researches and case studies about the implementation evaluation of UGBs under the new data environment, and how to use new data to fulfill deeper, broader, more systematic, and more diverse researches. The methods of UGBs implementation evaluation summarized in the article could provide some references for the further study of urban planning and policy-making.

We proposed a methodology to evaluate the effectiveness of Beijing’s Urban Growth Boundaries (UGBs) using human mobility and activity records (big data). The research applied data from location check-in, transit smart card, taxi trajectory, and residential travel survey. We developed four types of measures to evaluate the effectives of UGBs in confining human activities and travel flows, to examine the conformity of urban activities with the planned population, and to measure the activity connections between UGBs. With the large proportions of intra- and inter- boundary travel flows and an overwhelming majority of check-ins inside the UGBs, the research concluded that Beijing’s UGBs were effective in containing human mobility and activity. However, the connections between UGBs, indicated by the spatial differentiation of the travel flows, were not consistent with the plan’s intention and strategy. It indicated the potential underdevelopment of the public transit serving several new cities.

The BCL junior member and I collected almost all city plans compiled for the city of Beijing during 1900-2014.

For details, see the shared slides "13 City planning of Beijing in the last one century" in the Slides channel of BCL.

We are digitalizing urban growth boundaries of over 200 Chinese cities now, which would be included in our parcel-level urban expansion model of China. The tentative results are shown below, which is navigable.

We are still working on this study.

The Liang-Chen scenario for Beijing Urban Planning, though failed to put into practice, is an important milestone in the history of urban planning in China. However, planners hold different views on this scenario: Some think that, if the scenario had been adopted, the development pattern of single center would not appear; while some others point out that this scenario is just another form of single- center-spreading. These arguments are derived from perceptual knowledge, but not rational analysis. Based on constrained cellular automatic and the theory of urban space development, the study simulates the possible urban forms that might be constructed under the assumption that Liang-Chen Scenario was adopted. Compared with the real urban forms in 1976, 1981, 1991, 2004, and 2008 of Beijing, the results show that the Liang-Chen Scenario cannot avoid Beijing urban form from single-center-spreading, if the impact of the scenario is limited to the migration of administrative center excluding subsequent influence.

For more, please refer to the BCL working paper 66.

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Most existing studies on urban planning implementation (UPI) evaluation examine the conformity between planned and observed spatial urban development. The results are, however, typically too general to provide adequate policy recommendations for planners and researchers. The stages between creating a plan and its outcome are seldom discussed in detail, primarily because of the absence of an applicable analytic framework and data. In the present paper, we propose a framework for UPI evaluation which provides an in-depth and accurate application to show how the conceptual framework for assessing conformance and performance of plans proposed by Hopkins (2012) could be applied in practice. We examined the degrees of conformance and performance between an urban master plan, detailed plans, development permits and observed development outcomes, using Beijing as an example. The results reveal discrepancies between all basic stages of plan implementation, and the poor planning implementation was primarily due to the existence of large areas of development without development permits. Moreover, there was clear cross-referencing in the planning implementation process, which undermined the formal planning implementation procedures. These results suggest that the poor match between a plan and its outcomes may result from poor plan using, not poor planning. Therefore, attention needs to be paid not only to creating plans but also to monitoring the performance of various levels of plans and development permits in the UPI.

Urban growth boundaries (UGBs) have been extensively studied and applied in the USA as an effective tool to curb urban sprawl. The “People’s Republic of China Town and Country Planning Act” requires the establishment of urban construction boundaries (UCBs) in Chinese city master and detail plans. We consider planned UCBs in China to be Chinese UGBs, as they have similar implementation mechanisms to their counterparts in the USA. However, different from UGBs in the USA, Chinese UGBs often resemble “artwork” by urban designers. Accordingly, they lack sound analytical basis and fail to sufficiently accommodate market mechanisms of land use. When measured by the criterion that the UGB should result in a spatial pattern that corresponds to its map, the Chinese UGBs are not well implemented. In this paper, we propose a method to support establishing UGBs through constrained cellular automata (CA). Our approach takes into account influence factors related to urban growth and generates UGBs based on spatiotemporally dynamic simulations. This method is applied to establish UGBs for the central city, new cities and small towns in the Beijing Metropolitan Area. The results indicate that there are significant differences between the UGBs based on constrained CA simulations and those in the previously established city master plan. We argue that our method could be a helpful planning tool for the establishment of UGBs in Chinese cities.

Urban growth boundaries (UGBs) have been extensively studied and applied in the USA as an effective tool to curb urban sprawl. The “People’s Republic of China Town and Country Planning Act” requires the establishment of urban construction boundaries (UCBs) in Chinese city master and detail plans. We consider planned UCBs in China to be Chinese UGBs, as they have similar implementation mechanisms to their counterparts in the USA. However, different from UGBs in the USA, Chinese UGBs often resemble “artwork” by urban designers. Accordingly, they lack sound analytical basis and fail to sufficiently accommodate market mechanisms of land use. When measured by the criterion that the UGB should result in a spatial pattern that corresponds to its map, the Chinese UGBs are not well implemented. In this paper, we propose a method to support establishing UGBs through constrained cellular automata (CA). Our approach takes into account influence factors related to urban growth and generates UGBs based on spatiotemporally dynamic simulations. This method is applied to establish UGBs for the central city, new cities and small towns in the Beijing Metropolitan Area. The results indicate that there are significant differences between the UGBs based on constrained CA simulations and those in the previously established city master plan. We argue that our method could be a helpful planning tool for the establishment of UGBs in Chinese cities.