1 Introduction

Since the reform and opening up, Zhejiang’s economy has seen vigorous development in marketization, privatization, and openness. The achievements have enabled the township and county economies to thrive and a pathway of urbanization with the local characteristics to form. At the same time, since 1953, Zhejiang has been implementing the fiscal regime of “province governing county” and has experienced five rounds of “greater autonomy to counties with strong performance”Footnote 1 and three rounds of “greater autonomy to towns with strong performance”Footnote 2 experiments. The strong momentum of bottom-up development has created the institutional foundation for achieving “coordinated development of cities of different sizes and small towns and mutual reinforcement of rural and urban economies” across the province (Chen et al., 2020).

In this context, the urban and rural areas in Zhejiang is characterized by first-mover advantage and saw spatially dispersed, rapid development. In addition, with the local conditions of “seven mountains, one water and two fields out of ten” and limited land for a large population, Zhejiang suffered early from extensive development, widespread pollution, dispersive facilities and other spatial development problems. These problems prompted the province to take the lead in exploring comprehensive coordinated spatial planning. At the historic juncture when the new campaign of across-the-board territorial spatial planning is in full swing, it is of great significance to review the historical evolution of relevant practices, discuss the main areas of current explorations, and examine the overall development trend of planning.

2 Historical review: evolution of comprehensive planning in Zhejiang Province

Since the mid-1990s, Zhejiang has been exploring comprehensive planning, whose evolution can basically be divided into five stages according to the type and exploration direction. These stages and their corresponding characteristics are shown in Table 1.

Table 1 Evolution of comprehensive planning and important regulatory policies in Zhejiang since 1996
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2.1 Urban system planning stage (1996–2002)

In 1996, Zhejiang Province began to prepare its Urban System Plan (1996–2010), which was implemented with the approval of the State Council in 1999. It was the first provincial urban system plan approved for implementation in China. The plan focused on coordinating the relationship between urban and rural development and between sustainable and rapid development of the national economy and society and farmland protection. The aim was to implement the sustainable development strategy, emphasize the coordinated development of towns with population, economy, resources and environment, and coordinate the layout of regional infrastructure. The efforts have become one of the critical sources for Zhejiang to explore comprehensive planning.

At its 10th Party Congress in 1998, Zhejiang proposed to speed up urbanization. Later, the Provincial Party Committee and Provincial Government incorporated the urban system planning of county/city administrative areas as one of their major areas of work to promote urbanization. By 2001, all counties and cities across Zhejiang basically completed the preparation and approval procedures of their urban system plans.

For the first time, this round of planning made the urban system planning of county/city administrative areas independent of the overall planning of county towns. The urban system planning focused on deepening the planning of the scale, level and functional structure of the urban systems of county/city administrative areas, presented the planning strategy for the delimitation of urban business districts and the cultivation of key towns, and coordinated the transport, water and electricity networks of county/city administrative areas. Instead of following the traditional planning concept of “counties take priority over towns and townships”, the planning highlighted the role of small towns in county/city administrative areas, explored “point-axis” spatial development plans in these areas, and proposed control measures for the development of key non-construction spaces, such as scenic spots and water sources, in county/city administrative areas. The planning was the first attempt of comprehensive planning for county/city administrative areas in Zhejiang Province.

2.2 Integrated urban-rural planning stage (2003–2005)

In 2003, Xi Jinping, then Secretary of the CPC Zhejiang Provincial Committee, put forward the “Double-Eight Strategy” and launched Zhejiang’s Green Rural Revival Program, with the aim of elevating integrated urban and rural development to a major provincial strategy. Jiaxing, Jinhua and other cities and counties formulated the outlines of integrated urban-rural development planning and designed a number of specific plans.

On the basis of the urban system planning, the integrated urban-rural planning refined the measures for optimizing the layout of urban and rural communities and controlling the spaces in county/city administrative areas, and further strengthened the role of comprehensive planning, especially rural development planning. However, considering the differences in regional development conditions, the integrated urban-rural planning was mainly carried out in some economically developed cities and counties where towns were concentrated and urban and rural areas were closely linked and explored the spatial development problems that extended beyond urban areas to rural areas in particular.

2.3 Overall planning of county/city administrative area (2006–2013)

In 2005, the per capita GDP of Zhejiang Province exceeded US $3000, marking a new stage of its development. At the same time, since provincial urban system plans were implemented, the province saw the urbanization rate increase rapidly, with an average annual growth rate of more than 1.2% over 5 years. In 2006, Xi Jinping, then still Secretary of the CPC Zhejiang Provincial Committee, took the lead in putting forward a new urbanization path in the country and promoted the overall planning of county/city administrative areas across the province. In 2010, the Regulations of Zhejiang Province on Urban and Rural Planning incorporated the overall planning of county/city administrative areas into the local statutory planning system. By 2013, all counties and cities in Zhejiang basically completed the preparation and approval procedures of the first round of overall planning for their administrative areas.

The overall planning of county/city administrative areas was the achievement secured by following the new strategic thinking on urbanization in a critical period of transformation and development in Zhejiang Province. The achievement embodied the spatial planning strategy for the transformation and development of county/city administrative areas in Zhejiang under the guidance of the “Double-Eight Strategy”. By extensively drawing on the experience in the early urban system planning and integrated urban-rural planning, the overall planning of county/city administrative areas featured “full space coverage, multi-factor balance, integrated urban-rural development, and multi-sector coordination” in its content design (Chen et al., 2009). With rich and comprehensive information, the overall planning focused on innovation in the following six areas:

First, covering all planned spaces. The limited areas in traditional urban planning are extended to cover all county/city administrative areas, breaking the traditional barrier to integrated urban-rural planning.

Second, evaluating the carrying capacities of resources and the environment and the suitability of land development to help scientifically calculate the development scale and optimize the spatial layout of land use. The carrying capacities of the ecosystem, water and land resources and project economics are analyzed and evaluated against the population capacity and land development suitability of the county/city administrative area. The analysis and evaluation results provide an important basis for determining the scale, spatial layout, and facility allocation of a project in urban and rural areas.

Third, coordinating urban and rural development. First of all, the overall planning of county/city administrative areas draws on the idea of major function-oriented zoning by dividing county administrative areas into several sub-areas and determining their leading functions. The intention is to cultivate key towns and promote the coordinated development of county/city administrative areas. Secondly, the planning is carried out based on topographic maps of scale 1:10,000. Land use in urban areas is classified into the following categories: residential, industrial, public services, and green spaces. In non-construction spaces, a boundary is delimited for water conservation areas, forest parks, scenic spots, historic sites, and other protected spaces. By refining the spatial layout of various functional zones in the whole area, spatial coordination of the planning approach is strengthened, and in particular, the contradiction is greatly resolved which is between adjacent urban areas and between constructed and protected spaces.

Fourth, coordinating all kinds of facilities in urban and rural areas. The facilities for leading cities and towns should be planned with the thought in mind of serving rural areas in terms of the standard, capacity and layout. This reflects the concept of “sharing benefits between urban and rural areas”. At the same time, the facilities for road traffic, water, electricity, and social services have their coverage extended to rural areas, promoting the integration of urban and rural facilities.

Fifth, putting forward the technical path and management system of “two-plan integration”. In terms of technical path, a proposal is made to prepare a special report on “two-plan integration” and submitted together with the planning results for approval. In the special report, the “two-plan integration” is achieved by integrating land use classification standards, basic data on the current conditions, land use scales, spatial layouts, and development sequences. The planning results are highlighted by the “two charts and one table”, namely, the short-term and long-term land-use “two-plan integration” charts and the “two-plan integration” table. In terms of management system, the overall planning and land use planning of county/city administrative areas are centrally approved by the provincial government. Moreover, a pre-review system is established for the amount of land to be used for construction in counties and cities. Specifically, before the outline of an overall plan of a county/city administrative area is reviewed, the report on the “two-plan integration” must be reviewed to determine the total amount of land used for construction. The total amount of land used for construction in counties and cities is determined by following the system of “three-level joint review by two departments”Footnote 3. The aim is to ensure the overall planning of county/city administrative areas is integrated with the overall land-use planning.

Sixth, exploring the boundary control method for land use for construction. Against the backdrop of rapid urbanization, considering the uncertainties of urban spatial development and the need for protecting suburban farmland, the planning explores the boundary control method, which combines rigidity and flexibility, for urban land used for construction. In principle, a planned boundary should not go beyond the boundary of planned centralized construction area by 115%. This planning practice has secured significant achievements.

2.4 “Multi-plan integration” planning stage (2014–2017)

In 2014, four ministries and commissions, including the National Development and Reform Commission listed Jiaxing City, Deqing County, Kaihua County and Anji County in Zhejiang Province as the first batch of “multi-plan integration” pilot cities and counties. Among them, Jiaxing was selected as a joint pilot city by the four ministries and commissions, and Deqing was chosen as a pilot county by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, Kaihua by the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, and Anji by the Ministry of Land and Resources. On this basis, the Provincial Party Committee and Provincial Government of Zhejiang issued the Zhejiang Provincial Spatial Planning Pilot Work Plan in 2017, allowing eight counties and cities including Longyou, Jiangshan, Jiande and Ninghai to take the lead in preparing their spatial plans.

In the stage of “multi-plan integration”, by following the idea of “setting up the chessboard first and then arranging the pieces”, Zhejiang defined “three zones and three redlines”, namely, ecological, agricultural, and urban spaces and the redlines for protecting the ecosystems, designating permanent basic cropland, and delineating boundaries for urban development. By doing this, the province determined the spatial pattern of county administrative areas and formulated space regulation principles. The explorations by each pilot city and county varied depending on the ministry and commission leading the pilot program, and their leading roles for the cities and counties clearly differed from each other in professional planning.

At the 23rd Meeting of the Central Leading Group for Comprehensively Deepening Reforms in February 2016, Kaihua County reported its pilot plan and ideas of “multi-plan integration”. The plan was the first county-level “multi-plan integration” plan approved in China. As a pilot city guided by four ministries and commissions, Jiaxing developed a well-coordinated plan and a sound technical system. By integrating and coordinating various plans and comparing map spots, the city added an industrial platform control redline to the “three zones and three redlines” to create the “three zones and four redlines”. Moreover, it developed a complete compilation of technical and data standards, including a master plan and a “multi-plan integration” technical report and charts. Urban and rural units were divided and unit-based planning guidelines were presented.

2.5 Territorial spatial planning stage (2018 to now)

In 2018, the Ministry of Natural Resources was established, which performs, in a unified way, the duties of regulating the use of all territorial space and protecting and restoring ecosystems. In January 2019, the Central Comprehensively Deepening Reforms Commission adopted the Several Opinions on the Establishment of Spatial Planning System and the Supervision of Its Implementation, which proposed to integrate major function oriented zoning, land use planning, urban and rural planning and other spatial plans into an overall territorial spatial planning. So far, the planning for county administrative areas of Zhejiang officially entered a new stage of territorial spatial planning. In response to the relevant requirements of the state and the ministries and commissions, Zhejiang formulated the Technical Points of County-Level Territorial Space Planning (Trial) based on the experience of overall planning for county administrative areas and “spatial planning” pilot projects. At present, Tongxiang City and other 18 pilot counties and cities have completed the preparation of their planning outlines.

3 Current explorations: Zhejiang’s explorations and innovations in territorial spatial planning

After the across-the-board territorial spatial planning was initiated, Zhejiang has pursued the following innovative explorations based on its experience of comprehensive planning and its foundations.

3.1 Allocating land development permits scientifically and optimizing urban-rural pattern

As the land resources available for development are becoming increasingly scarce, the allocation of land development permits has become a main concern in territorial spatial planning of county/city administrative areas. In order to balance overall benefits and regional equity and optimize the urban-rural pattern, counties and cities made the following efforts in spatial planning of their administrative areas: in terms of planning system hierarchy, an exploration was conducted as to strengthen the levels of urban units subject to planning regulation and suburb units and establish the quotas according to the unit; in terms of the relationship between urban and rural areas, the counties and cities fully considered the need to develop “beautiful countryside” and explored the addition of rural land used for new forms of service and industry business to provide a platform for rural revitalization and the development of new business forms in rural areas; in terms of the allocation of newly added land used for construction, the counties and cities explored ways to rationally allocate land resources available for development in distinctive towns and small cities and leading cities based on the following comprehensive evaluation and regulation criteria: economic returns, that is, average output of the land for construction per 667 m2, level and distribution of major projects, and the regional influence of urban characteristics.

3.2 Delegating powers and improving regulation to promote efficient space control

To implement the strategy to reform the system of government administration, namely, streamlining administration and delegating powers, improving regulation, and optimizing services, exploration has been made into the content and methods of efficient planning regulation to adapt to the market economy. For example, the power for land development regulation is delegated and managed at different levels. It can be divided into rights for development permission, use change, and development intensity change. Zhejiang is exploring an innovative hierarchical management way in which the rights of granting development permits and changing land use for major public welfare projects in counties and cities are exercised at the provincial level, and the rights to change land use for other purposes and development intensity are given to the county and city governments. The content of regulation of territorial spatial planning in cities and counties is conveyed from the provincial level in a hierarchical manner. Another example is the efficient development of land. Zhejiang, which is fully drawing on the innovative experience of Deqing County in the Implementation Plan of Deqing County in Standard Land PilotFootnote 4, explores a new model of multi-sector index integration in land use planning, so as to enhance the efficiency of urban and rural development.

3.3 Paying attention to the improvement of space quality and promoting the development of green economy

Zhejiang bases its territorial spatial planning work on its superior landscape resources and rich historical and cultural heritage as well as its environmental protection plan, functional zoning and spatial layout of urban and rural land uses, and leisure and tourism plan. By guiding the improvement of urban and rural facilities and spatial landscape, the province is acting on the notion of “limpid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets” to promote the development of green economy and realize modernization and high-quality development. In urban areas, to make them more people-oriented, environment-friendly, and smart, Zhejiang explores urban renewal objectives, including attracting a high proportion of relocated households to move back to their original place of demolition, recruiting talent, and providing mixed functions, based on the practice in building future communities. The province is also working to establish more comprehensive facility support standards for nine scenarios, such as neighborhood, education, and health care. Efforts are made to develop more forward-looking layout design to highlight ecological, cultural, and technological landscapes. In rural areas, as part of its efforts to comprehensively improve rural land, Zhejiang actively explores the transfer and renewal of abandoned mines and inefficient land use for construction in villages to build beautiful villages.

3.4 Adapting to regional integration and promoting cross-border collaborative governance

In recent years, Zhejiang has seen its urbanization extend from cities and towns to metropolitan areas, city clusters, and even to the Greater Bay Area, showing a thematic “axis-belt” cross-regional development pattern. All counties and cities strive to break the barriers among their administrative areas and actively explore a new model of integrated regional development. The surrounding counties and cities of Hangzhou, Ningbo and Wenzhou metropolitan areas focus on the spatial integration and functional collaboration scheme and mechanism of the new areas adjacent to the metropolitan areas. The cities of Yuyao and Cixi, and Shengzhou, Xinchang County, Longgang City, Pingyang County, Cangnan County, which are close to the center of the metropolitan areas, put their focus on the cross-regional cooperation among cities and the co-construction and sharing of infrastructure. The counties and cities along the Yiwu-Ningbo-Zhoushan Open Corridor, major science and technology corridors, and the Roads of Tang Poetry focus on coordinated thematic “axis-belt” development.

3.5 To promote intelligent planning relying on the first-mover advantage of network technology

Zhejiang is a major province of the new economy driven by Internet technology. With great strengths in information technology, the territorial spatial planning authorities at provincial and city/county levels actively use big data technology to promote planning design and management. At present, cellular signaling data have been widely used in city- and county-level spatial planning for analysis of traffic flows and population distribution and mobility patterns. Together with Alibaba and other technology firms, the authorities employ cloud computing to help plan and manage smart transport and smart communities and cities, striving to fully integrate the “blueprint” and “database” and make plan preparation and management integrated and smart.

4 Trend review: trend of spatial planning from the perspective of historical evolution

The evolution of comprehensive planning in Zhejiang shows distinct stages and clear logic. In general, the spatial planning has the following four trends.

4.1 The focus of planning shifts from industrial space to space of all industries to align with the stages of economic development

The per capita GDP of Zhejiang increased from RMB11,400 in 1998 to RMB27,100 in 2005 and RMB98,600 in 2018. In 2018, the value created by the tertiary industry comprised 54% of GDP, greater than that of the secondary industry. The economy experienced three industrialization stages: initial stage, mid to late stage, and post-industrial stage (Fig. 1). The Public facilities construction, leisure tourism space development guidance, modern agriculture and the integration of secondary and tertiary industry space. The research content of spatial planning has gradually shifted from focusing on the scale and layout of urban industrial zones in the early stage to the construction of public facilities, the guidance of leisure and tourism space development, and the integrated development of spaces for modern agriculture and secondary and tertiary industries. In particular, in view of the unpredictability of innovation economy and its market entities in recent years, the planning authorities explore ways to drive the growth of new economy and new forms of business by means of spot land supply, land use compatibility, and multiple land use.

Fig. 1
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Changes of the Industrial Structure of Zhejiang in Three Periods and Comparison with the Whole Country. Source: Provided by the author

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4.2 The orientation of planning changes from scale expansion to improvement of distinctive quality to align with the urbanization process

The urbanization rate of Zhejiang increased from 48.7% in 2000 to 56.0% in 2005 and reached 68.9% in 2018. In county administrative areas, urbanization first occurred mainly in small towns and then extended to key towns and the county town and further to distinctive towns and areas close to the county town and metropolis, and finally entered the stage of integrated urban-rural development. From the perspective of development direction, urbanization experienced a rapid transition from scale expansion to quality improvement. Accordingly, the comprehensive planning gradually shifted its focus from developing small towns at the initial stage to boosting the development of small cities and distinctive towns, as well as rural revitalization and improvement of urbanization quality. For example, Zhejiang promoted the development of key towns in 2007, piloted the cultivation of small cities in 2010, initiated the campaign to build distinctive towns in 2015, took comprehensive measures to improve environments of small towns in 2016, and pushed ahead with the building of beautiful towns and future communities in 2019.

4.3 Planning changes from extensive to targeted regulation to align with the reform of government administration system

In Zhejiang Province, the government maintains positive interaction with the market, which has promoted it to transform into a “service-oriented government”. In its planning explorations, Zhejiang has gradually lifted controls on planning of commercial service facilities and other market-allocated facilities, while strengthening the allocation of public service facilities such as hospitals and schools and infrastructure such as trunk road network and municipal facilities, as well as the definition and regulation of ecological spaces and urban public spaces. The move is in line with the reform of “service-oriented government” administration system. In response to the national reform to streamline administration and delegate powers, improve regulation, and optimize services, Zhejiang launched the campaign of “getting things done without the need for a second trip”. In its second round of comprehensive planning and “multi-plan integration” planning for count/city administrative areas, the province introduced the measures of “hierarchical and classified control of compulsory planning content” and “flexible urban growth boundary”, delegating some planning powers to the local governments.

4.4 Relying on the progress of information technology, planning changes from low-precision processing of data on core factors to high-precision processing of data on all factors

In recent years, modern information technology has made great progress. The single-server processing power for planning data increased from only a few tens of MBs in the late 1990s to several GBs in the Internet era in the mid-2000s. Now in the era of big data and cloud computing, the processing power per server has reached hundreds of GBs. Benefiting from the technological leaps, the planning of county/city administrative areas in Zhejiang has gradually shifted from low-precision processing of data on population, available land resources, industrial space, urban space and other key factors to high-precision processing of data on all factors. Take the precision of topographic map as an example, Zhejiang uses a 1:50,000-scale topographic map for the urban system planning of county/city administrative areas and a 1:10,000-scale map for the comprehensive planning of county/ city administrative areas, and requires using a 1:2000-scale map for spatial planning. And on this basis, multivariate data are combined to comprehensively and carefully examine land resource classification, ecological resources, demographic segmentation and law of behavior, industry segmentation of the whole industry chain, traffic performance, historical and cultural resources, rural space, etc.

5 Conclusion

The evolution of comprehensive planning in Zhejiang Province shows distinct Zhejiang’s characteristics. As the socialist market economy continues to develop and improve, the evolution reflects the laws of the development of spatial planning in China. It is consistent with the Agenda for Sustainable Development adopted by the United Nations and the New Urban Agenda proposed at the Habitat III Conference, which advocate social inclusion, environmental sustainability, and economic development. Currently, the building of China’s spatial planning system is mostly completed. Against the backdrop of the central government calling to “allow the market to play the decisive role in resource allocation”, this paper reviews and summarizes the evolution of comprehensive planning and exploration of spatial planning in Zhejiang, hoping that the following relevant practices can provide insights and reference for spatial planning and its management in other parts of the country.

5.1 Acting in light of the local development conditions and level and focusing on key areas

At present, a unified huge-system planning framework meeting the needs for full coverage, all factors, and high precision has been established for spatial planning. The framework lays a solid foundation for planning development in the future. China has a vast territory, and its natural resources and economic and social conditions vary greatly among regions. Each region has established their own specific development goals and planning priorities. Planning authorities can learn from the practices of Zhejiang in dealing with key issues in the comprehensive planning of county/city administrative areas at different stages of development and determine appropriate planning objectives, paths and strategies in light of their foundations, with the focus on key industries, spaces and facilities and solutions to major problems.

5.2 Reserving sufficient planning flexibility to adapt to the uncertainties of market economy

In recent years, new technological means and platforms represented by information technology have made great strides, with the government’s space control capacity increasing considerably. However, this development has never changed the uncertainty of market economy. As a first mover with strong performance in the market economy in China, Zhejiang has been strictly protecting ecological and farmland resources, while reserving sufficient flexibility in the land use planning, as evidenced by allowing for flexible urban growth boundary and mixed land use. The aim is to adapt to the uncertainties of the market economy and enable the market to play the leading role in resource allocation (Pickvance et al., 1987). The practice has achieved good success in the implementation of plans and is exemplary in spatial planning.

5.3 Improving and lifting planning control in response to the reform of government functions

In the evolution of comprehensive planning of city/county administrative areas, Zhejiang has gradually strengthened the definition and regulation of ecological and agricultural spaces, public welfare facilities, infrastructure and public spaces, while rationally lifting controls on the planning of market-allocated facilities. This move helps streamline administration, delegate powers, improve regulation, and strengthen services in a coordinated manner. It not only strengthens the public policy role and coordination capacity of comprehensive planning, but also to a great extent eases planning control in a targeted manner. As spatial planning moves towards “multi-plan integration” planning and all-factor control, the practice of Zhejiang is particularly worth further discussion for continuous improvement of planning implementation management.