After being neglected for two decades, rural areas in China are experiencing another wave of reform. There has been increasing attention from central government on rural issues and a series of rural resurgence policies were published with a central idea of ‘urban-rural integration and New Socialist Rural Construction Programme’ (State Council, 2010b). Planning as a policy tool to guide development has just began to cover rural areas in China. There is a need to develop a framework, both theoretically robust and deliverable, to guide rural planning in China. ‘Spatial planning’ has been widely adopted as a planning approach in Western Europe, including the UK, to achieve sustainable development. Hence, the research aims to use the concept of ‘spatial planning’ to identify potential ways to integrate rural areas into the complex planning system that currently exists in China. The research was carried out through a case study approach in three municipal cities in Jiangsu province, China. The newly developed rural planning system in Jiangsu province mainly focuses on the development control of towns and villages, physical landuse regulation and the renovation of settlements through town and village distribution planning and village planning. There is a lack of development planning for rural areas. The findings also show that the new urban and rural planning system generally fails to integrate urban and rural development, though in some developed areas more attention has been put on urban-rural integration planning. Moreover, it is found that, in many areas, the new urban and rural planning framework tends to be urban-centre-led and economically driven, which has led to the loss of rural landscape and characteristics. The research also identifies the weakness of planning at the local scale in coordinating policies and projects of different sectors. In addition, local government plays a leading role in the making and delivery of rural planning in China and, in some areas, local government activities in rural development and planning are much more a political response to the national and provincial government’s policy rather than the local demands. Based on these findings, the research provides some policy recommendations for modifying the current rural planning framework in China to overcome these problems in the short and long term by making reference to some of the key ideas of the spatial planning approach.

Strategies of rural development in China experienced sharp changes in the policies for rural economic reform which began in the late 1970s. Contrary to the previous model of a "pure" socialist way of development, which argued for a single developmental path, the reform policies encouraged diversification. Peasant adaptation to the new situation is examined through the co-existence of three kinds of households, namely subsistence cropping households, cash cropping households and partial agricultural households. The thesis attempts to determine the characteristics associated with the different kinds of households by analyzing survey data collected from five townships in the Pearl River Delta of south China. It also attempts to bring out some theoretical implications of the Chinese experiences of rural development in the past forty years. / Arts, Faculty of / Anthropology, Department of / Graduate

published_or_final_version / Urban Planning / Master / Master of Science in Urban Planning

published_or_final_version / Urban Planning / Master / Master of Science in Urban Planning

published_or_final_version / Urban Planning / Master / Master of Science in Urban Planning

The central government has attached great importance to the development of rural enterprises in China. As a result, rural enterprises have developed rapidly and become an important part of the national economy. The primary aim of this study was to examine how public policy has influenced the development of rural enterprises. The changes in public policy since 1978 did play a positive role in developing rural enterprises. These positive roles have been manifested in the ideological base of policy, financial and tax policies, improving management and technological strategy.

The central government has attached great importance to the development of rural enterprises in China. As a result, rural enterprises have developed rapidly and become an important part of the national economy. The primary aim of this study was to examine how public policy has influenced the development of rural enterprises. The changes in public policy since 1978 did play a positive role in developing rural enterprises. These positive roles have been manifested in the ideological base of policy, financial and tax policies, improving management and technological strategy.

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / China Area Studies / Master / Master of Arts

published_or_final_version / Urban Planning / Master / Master of Science in Urban Planning

published_or_final_version / Urban Planning / Master / Master of Science in Urban Planning