Development control in post-reform China: The case of Liuhua Lake Park, Guangzhou

Abstract

The initiation of administrative and economic reforms in China has not only led to the introduction of market mechanisms in allocating urban land resources, these reforms have also created new socio-economic demands, which have to be satisfied through spatial restructuring. To offer effective guidance over land use changes and development, formal development control mechanisms are established. However, land use planners in China continue to face an uphill battle in controlling development within a society with little respect for rules and regulations. Development control mechanisms are not effective because of the absence of well-established planning-related institutions with clearly defined duties. Planners' role in monitoring spatial change is constantly challenged by the arbitrary intervention of high-level government officials on one hand, and widespread illegal land transactions and land use developments on the other. This paper discusses these issues with reference to an "illegal" restaurant development in the Liuhua Lake Park in Guangzhou. © 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.