Abstract
PurposeThe purpose of this paper we present a case study where the Swedish planning support system Citylab is applied to a Chinese case in Changzhou's Tianning District.Design/methodology/approachChina's planning system is a vertical system based on policy development on the national level, policies which are to be implemented on local level. There is a gap between the ambitious central policies and the implementations on local levels. China is now exporting its planning model to other developing countries which makes it urgent to show examples of other strategies including more horizontal planning involving the public. The planning system in Sweden is based on a much more horizontal process. Therefore, the authors try to learn from Sweden's vertical planning system in the urban development environment of China.FindingsA key message for policy makers in China is that systems like Citylab can play an important role in developing practical and scalable examples of more sustainable city districts. The paper concludes that a barrier for local sustainability planning in China is still lack of effective communication between local actors including the public.Originality/valueThe authors exemplified Changzhou Tianning District's practical exploration, thus proving the adapted Citylab method's practical operability. Based on the common problems faced by eco-city development in developing countries, the method framework of Citylab is applicable to other developing countries, with strong room for deduction and development.
Highlights
As one of humankind’s greatest challenges today, urban planning will play a key role in the development of more sustainable cities (Zheng et al, 2014)
The focus question was “What are the advantages and limitations of sustainable development in Tianning District?” By collecting the results of the feedback, we focus on the unsustainable status of the four aspects of land-use structure, cultural characteristics, public services and energy related to government strategies and draw lines to show the interactions between different nodes in the map
This paper shows how, according to the current urban construction regulations in China, that the Citylab method can be adaptively applied, the district general development vision can be constructed and the eco-cycle model can be adopted to guide further planning
Summary
As one of humankind’s greatest challenges today, urban planning will play a key role in the development of more sustainable cities (Zheng et al, 2014). Many of these challenges are expressed in the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (United Nations, 2016), which comprise 17 goals with indicators. But local understanding is essential in order to create real change This is why participatory planning tools and processes will be needed to create effective changes towards more sustainable urban development. What is needed are scalable, practical examples from Chinese cities
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