The Effectiveness of Planning Control on Urban Growth: Evidence from Hangzhou, China

Yizhou Wu, Peilei Fan, Bo Li, Zutao Ouyang, Yong Liu and Heyuan You
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Yizhou Wu: Department of Urban Planning, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310058, China
Peilei Fan: School of Planning, Design, and Construction & Center of Global Change and Earth Observation, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA
Bo Li: Land resource management center, Chengdu Hi-Tech development zone committee, Chengdu 610041, China
Zutao Ouyang: Center of Global Change and Earth Observation, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA
Yong Liu: College of Resources and Environment, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China
Heyuan You: School of Public Administration, Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics, Hangzhou 310018, China

Sustainability, 2017, vol. 9, issue 5, 1-24

Abstract: Urban sprawl presents a serious challenge for sustainable urban land use. Urban planning attempts to guarantee sustainable urban development and proper use of land resources. However, a large gap usually exists between planning and actual development. This paper aims to analyze the evolutionary characteristics of urban form and the spatiotemporal dynamics of urban planning from 1964 to 2013, using the case of Hangzhou, China. We proposed a framework that included remote sensing, landscape metrics, and control effectiveness indexes. The results indicated that urban planning failed to perform effectively in Hangzhou, reflected by the uncontrolled urban sprawl during all the planning periods. The low effectiveness of planning was resulted from multiple factors, including historical economic events that made expansion unexpected, functional orientation of planning which drove fragmented suburbanization, the ineffective methods for forecasting population and land use, and the influences by the market forces. The findings deepen the understanding of the impacts of urban planning, and provide references for making rational urban management decisions and sustainable urban land management.

Keywords: urban planning; control effectiveness; spatiotemporal dynamic; urban growth; plan-making logic (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (14)

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