Socialist urban planning in transition - The case of Guangzhou, China

Changes in the Chinese political economy have necessitated changes in the urban planning system. The traditional system cannot cope with the consequences of decentralisation from the central government to the municipal governments. In Guangzhou decentralisation has promoted the development of more specific planning goals, so the blueprint approach to making plans can hardly guide the rapid development of this provincial capital. As the municipality has to generate funds to implement its plans, and as some land developers are obsessed with profit, they pay scant attention to planning requirements. So development control has become very difficult, if not impossible.