Towards Sustainable Neighborhoods: Challenges and Opportunities for Neighborhood Planning in Transitional Urban China

Qi Zhang,Edwin Chan,Esther Yung

doi:10.3390/su10020406

Abstract

Unlike many developed countries where sustainable development has been implemented at neighborhood scale, sustainable planning research and action has still been concentrated at the national level and little has focused on the neighborhood level in China. This issue was highlighted by the demand of facilitating sustainable development and significant transition of the socio-political context, which made the development of neighborhood planning even more urgent and challenging. Hence, this study aims to identify the major challenges, particularly related to the institutional aspects, for adopting neighborhood planning in the local community in China. Comprehensive literature review was employed to demonstrate the crucial position of institutional elements in facilitating sustainable neighborhood development and planning. A comparative study of the common characteristics for adopting neighborhood planning in four different countries was conducted. Based on the characters, the possible barriers hindering the practice of neighborhood planning in China were proposed and then validated with the in-depth expert interviews. The results show that there is little support from national policy and local governance, ambiguous legislation on community public management, as well as inadequate public participation and a weak sense of community. Corresponding policy implications and recommendations are included to provide insight for planners and decision makers to better utilize neighborhood planning to achieve sustainable urban development.

Highlights

Sustainable development has been the subject of political, professional and academic discussion for more than 20 years
New global commitments and standards of sustainable development, including 2030 Agenda and New Urban Agenda, had been adopted by world leaders in 2016 and the sustainable cities and neighborhoods were both under the spotlights [6]
This study mainly focuses on institutional aspects which largely affect the practice of neighborhood planning in transitional China

Summary

Introduction

Sustainable development has been the subject of political, professional and academic discussion for more than 20 years. Planning and development decisions at local level gradually play a significant role on enhancing the local sustainability [3,4] In response to this concern politically, several thousand municipalities in different countries adopted the 28th chapter of Agenda 21, often known as “Local Agenda 21,” which triggered the action at local scale [5]. Other than the traditional three-pillar concept, institutional sustainability gradually turned to be the fourth dimension when substantial implementation advocated by Agenda 21 were expected [22]. This trend implies the institutional role of neighborhood planning as a local method to enhance neighborhood sustainability. The switch of local governance from danwei compound system to community-shequ organization created an interesting context: A modern effective pattern of neighborhood governance was expected and a unique China-based opportunity to promote neighborhood sustainability through neighborhood planning was historically provided [12]

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion