At the press briefing on the detailed territorial spatial planning of the Water Town Parlor in the Yangtze River Delta Integration Demonstration Zone held yesterday morning (May 24), Zhang Zhongwei, deputy director of the Executive Committee of the Yangtze River Delta Integration Demonstration Zone, introduced the Detailed Territorial Spatial Planning of the Water Town Parlor in the Yangtze River Delta Eco-Green Integrated Development Demonstration Zone (2021-2035).

Duan Jin, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and professor of Southeast University, provided insights on the Detailed Planning. Sun Ting, Member of the Standing Committee of CPC Shanghai Qingpu District Committee and deputy district chief, Wang Guorong, chief of Wujiang District, Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province, and Zhang Xifeng, chief of Jiashan County, Jiaxing City, Zhejiang Province attended the press briefing and answered questions from reporters.

The Detailed Territorial Spatial Planning of the Water Town Parlor is the first cross-provincial detailed territorial spatial in the country, which will provide a legal basis for the development and construction, use control and planning permission of the Water Town Parlor.

I. Background and preparation process for the Planning

It took more than three years for the detailed planning of the Water Town Parlor to be finalized and implemented.

In July 2019, at an internal work camp for the preparation of the master plan for territorial spatial planning of the demonstration zone, academician Duan Jin proposed the idea of building a “Jiangnan Courtyard and Water Town Parlor” at the junction of Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Shanghai. This concept was further deepened and incorporated into the Master Plan for Territorial Spatial Planning of the Demonstration Zone approved by the State Council in February, this year. The plan clearly stated that “the two provinces and a city shall work together to create the water town Parlor in the area of about 36 square kilometers at their junctions, with a focus on the practice and demonstration of the development concept on urban-water symbiosis, joint vitality and regional sharing.”

The two provinces and one city attach great importance to the construction of the Water Town Parlor, emphasizing that it is a public space created by the joint efforts of the two provinces and one city, with an aim to become a functional model that embodies the ecological and green development concept of the demonstration zone, a world-class water town civilization pioneering area and a centralized demonstration zone for the integrated high-quality development of the Yangtze River Delta.

At the first developer conference of the demonstration zone held in August 2020, Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang jointly launched the international call for urban design schemes for the Water Town Parlor. A total of 41 well-known design institutions from 12 countries signed up to participate, and finally 5 were shortlisted for the scheme competition. It took three months to form 5 international solicitation proposals, which were then integrated and deepened by the academician Duan Jin’s team to form the urban design results of the Water Town Watertown Parlor.

In April 2021, the fourth plenary meeting of the Demonstration Zone Council reviewed and approved the urban design results. At the symposium for the main leaders of the Yangtze River Delta held in May, the main leaders of Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui listened to the report on the urban design results. Subsequently, the Executive Committee of the Demonstration Zone took the lead, together with the two districts and one county, to start the compilation of detailed planning for the Water Town Parlor.

In January 2022, the detailed planning of the Water Town Parlor was reviewed and approved at the fifth plenary meeting of the Demonstration Zone Council. In February 2023, after the State Council approved the master plan for territorial spatial planning of the demonstration zone, the compilation team made revisions and improvements according to the requirements from higher authorities. After public announcement, expert review, and review by the Planning Committee of the Demonstration Zone, the plan was approved by the Executive Committee of the Demonstration Zone together with the people’s governments of the two districts and one county on May 18.

It took nearly three years from the start of the solicitation of international proposals for urban design to the approval of detailed planning, and the results were hard-won.As the country’s first cross-provincial detailed territorial spatial planning, it highlights four characteristics.

First, demonstration and leadership. Through the “international call and integration by the academician,” it reflects the organic integration of “international standards, world vision” and “Chinese style, Jiangnan characteristics,” while through the organization of expert consultation and technical evaluation, it further gathers the wisdom of all parties and enhances the scientificity and leadership of the planning.

Second, cross-regional collaboration. With the executive committee of the demonstration zone as the overall coordination platform, it fully meets the various demands of the two districts and one county, and eliminates the administrative boundary to carry out land use layout and function setting, together with joint efforts to draw a blueprint and form a joint development force.

Third, impact and penetration. It fully implements the requirements of the upper-level planning, penetratingly transmits the control indicators of the upper-level planning, and firmly holds the bottom line of development.

Fourth, feasibility and implementation. In-depth research and coordination were carried out in the preparation of the planning, and it is closely connected with recent key construction projects such as ecological improvement and infrastructure that have been planned in advance to ensure that the project plan is accurately implemented.

II. Main contents of the Planning

There are 13 chapters and 45 sections in the Detailed Territorial Spatial Planning of the Water Town Parlor, including 42 atlases and detailed drawings, focusing on the development positioning, goals and visions, spatial structure, industrial development, public services, transportation system, and ecological environment. They are mainly divided into three aspects.

1. Positioning and goalsThe first is the scope of the planning.

The Water Town Parlor is centered on the origin of the Yangtze River Delta, including parts of Jinze Town, Qingpu District, Shanghai, Lili Town, Wujiang District, Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province, Xitang Town and Yaozhuang Town, Jiashan County, Jiaxing City, Zhejiang Province, with a total area of about 35.8 square kilometers.The second is function positioning. The Water Town Parlor is a centralized demonstration zone where the achievements of the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta can be seen and reflected. It is a functional pioneering zone jointly built by two provinces and one city that embodies the ecological and green concepts of the demonstration zone. It concentrates on practicing and demonstrating the development concept on urban-water symbiosis, joint vitality, and regional sharing. It is an experimental field for institutional innovation on joint consultation, joint construction, joint governance, sharing, and win-win collaboration in the Yangtze River Delta.The third is the development goal. The total planned urban and rural construction land is 838.32 hectares. In addition, 2 hectares of mobile construction land will be reserved in each of the three places, and the development intensity is controlled within 25%. By 2025, the interconnection and integrated construction of the three places will be fully carried out, the ecosystem and traffic road framework will basically take shape, the construction of municipal infrastructure will be promoted, the construction of important functional nodes will be advanced in an orderly manner, and the blue ring water system will be formed. By 2035, a world-class Water Town Parlor that demonstrates the integrated development of industries and residences, humanities, and ecology will be fully built, serving as a demonstration window and core carrier for integrated high-quality development across administrative regions.

2. Spatial layout and planning strategies

First, in terms of spatial structure, the Water Town Parlor will feature a spatial structure of “one point, one center, three gardens, three zones, three belts, and multiple villages,” creating a new Jiangnan style with a blend of Jiangnan charm, small town flavor and modern style. The blue and green spaces will account for about 75% of the total spaces. “One point” is Fangting Water Courtyard, symbolizing the integrated development. The aim is to fully explore the unique connotation of the origin of the Yangtze River Delta, and create a symbolic functional place that can be perceived and experienced, and can foster consensus on the integrated development around this geographical mark. “One center” is close to the origin of the Yangtze River Delta. It is the core area of the Parlor, including three major clusters on Innovation Engine, the Science and Technology Innovation Park and the Exhibition Village. It will play the role of the parlor to construct a variety of innovative settlement spaces. “Three gardens” are the three themed exhibition gardens of Jiangnan polder, mulberry fishpond, and water town wetland. Based on the polder, it integrates modern green and ecological concepts and technologies with the long-standing traditional water management and wisdom culture. The aim is to create and apply technological approaches such as wetland purification, water conservation, circular agriculture, and polder regeneration, to form organically integrated blue-green spaces and ecosystem, and to develop a world-class lake area with unique features. “Three zones” refer to the three functional zones of Jinze, Fenhu, and Dashun. They are clusters of innovative settlements, and organically embed functional projects such as regional-level, iconic innovation services, culture and creativity, science, education, research and development, and ecology experience through a mixed approach on renovation and new-build projects, presenting future-oriented scenarios on production and living. “Three belts” are blue belt, green belt, and scenic belt, linking the sceneries of water towns, as well as natural sites and cultural landscapes through water-land transportation, with an aim to create a blue ring for the Water Town Parlor that features the theme of “Splendid Jiangnan, Ten-mile Gallery." “Multiple villages” refer to science popularization villages, innovation villages, and cultural and tourism villages. It promotes rural revitalization, with an aim to revitalize and optimize village construction land through strategies such as function enhancement, landscape improvement, and partial renewal, so as to create a water village that integrates ecology, life and business.

Second, in terms of industrial development, beautiful sceneries and humanities are implanted into the network of innovative production and living. As the frontier of new economic innovation in the Yangtze River Delta and the carrier of high-quality development and integration of life, ecology and business, the Water Town Parlor is set to become a core area for cross-regional integration and innovation.

Third, in terms of public services and housing security, efforts will be made under a people-centric approach to create a diversified housing security system, arrange balanced and high-quality service facilities, give play to the basic and comprehensive role of community life circles, improve the levels of public services, and enhance the people’s sense of gain, happiness and security.

Fourth, in terms of transportation system and municipal facilities, efforts will be made to prioritize public transportation, comprehensively plan various transportation facilities, foster cross-regional interconnection, and integrate the road network between the Water Town Parlor and the external backbone road. The aim is to realize the smooth conversion and seamless connection of multiple modes of transportation, and build a convenient, safe, green, low-carbon, intelligent and economical modern transportation system. Efforts will be made to promote green, intelligent, low-carbon lifestyles, develop innovative infrastructure construction and operation models, and build a green and intelligent municipal facility system.

Fifth, in terms of ecological environment and safety and disaster prevention, the Water Town Parlor will be guided by the concept on “prioritizing ecology and green development,” accelerate the promotion of ecological, green, low-carbon development models, and take the lead in exploring the construction of a centralized leading zone for the substantive implementation of the “Dual Carbon” strategy. It will strive to bolster emissions reduction, capacity increase and quality improvement, with an aim to jointly build a coordinated and symbiotic ecosystem, create a green and innovative development system, establish a coordinated environmental system, improve an integrated environmental management system, and form a modern and resilient security system.

III. Support on planning implementation

First, we will strengthen cross-provincial overall coordination, leveraging the executive committee of the demonstration zone and the development and construction office for the Water Town Parlor jointly established by the two districts and one county as platforms to study and address major issues related to development and construction.

Second, we will strengthen the supervision of implementation, and incorporate detailed planning results into the “one-map” implementation supervision information system of territorial spatial planning. We will implement whole-process “one-map” management, and ensure that “planning, construction and management follow the same roadmap.”

Third, we will promote dynamic maintenance of the planning, effectively ensure the seriousness and authority of the planning, and improve the implementation of the planning. Based on the development needs, the planning will be dynamically maintained in strict accordance with the relevant procedures.

IV. Five major innovations of the planning

As the first cross-provincial detailed territorial spatial planning, it innovatively puts forward the technical paths for the planning focused on “five-in-one with both integration and differences.” “Five-in-one” refers to the integration in five aspects, namely digital platforms, spatial convergence, factor coverage, project connection, and achievement demonstration. With a focus on both integration and differences, it means that we need to consider, in the process of preparation for the planning, the differences and different needs of local governments, fully combining them to form common but differentiated new paths for spatial development across the regions.

1. Integration of digital platforms. In the daily planning and construction management in the three places, the local geographic coordinate systems are used, making it difficult to stitch the underlying data in the three places to form a fundamental map. In the process of preparation for the planning, the China Geodetic Coordinate System 2000 was uniformly used as the geographic information reference for integrated digital platforms, so as to realize the synchronous conversion and seamless connection of the planning data from the three places. The Executive Committee led the two provinces and one city to specially develop the Shanghai-Jiangsu-Zhejiang coordinate conversion platform to realize the seamless transformation of geographical data in the demonstration zone and meet the different needs of integrated planning and territorial management.

2. Integration of spatial convergence. A new boundless realm is designed in the planning of the Water Town Parlor. The administrative boundaries will be pushed to see the origin of the Yangtze River Delta and its surrounding areas as a whole, jointly create a spatial structure of “one point, one center, three gardens, three zones, three belts, and multiple villages,” and develop a cross-provincial spatial system in an integrated manner.

3. Integration of factor coverage. This planning fully responds to the new requirements on the development of the territorial spatial planning system in the new era, fully implements the overall territorial spatial planning and urban design results in the demonstration zone, and fully absorbs the innovative practical achievements carried out in rural planning and rural unit planning in various places. It eliminates the administrative limitations with traditional detailed planning focusing on the internal boundaries of urban development, and follows the spatial layout on all urban and rural areas, all factors and full coverage, so as to realize the composite penetration of spaces and the integration of ecology and functions.

4. Integration of project connection. In the process of preparation for the planning, the requirements on high-level planning, high-standard construction, and high-quality development are followed. Efforts are made to coordinate the rational layout of cross-regional public services and supporting infrastructure in the three places, fully connect the key projects in the demonstration zone, support the accurate implementation of the projects, and effectively ensure and improve the display and demonstration effectiveness on the construction of the Water Town Parlor.

5. Integration of achievement demonstration. A “1+3” format is formed in the process of compiling detailed planning results, in accordance with the requirements on breaking administrative boundaries rather than administrative subordination. “1” is a set of integrated control and regulation results. On the basis of national requirements, experience from the three places was absorbed to ensure that the basic items are established, core elements are distinctive, and data indicators can be implementable. “3” refers to three sets of technical achievements translated according to local technical standards, which are respectively embedded into the “one-map” management system of the three places to ensure the implementation of the planning.