While the Chinese planning system is vitally important to the rapid development which has been taking place over the past three decades, this is the first text to provide a comprehensive examination and critical evaluation of this system.

Contents: China: an introduction; Evolution of the Chinese city and regional planning system; The government system and administrative framework for planning and development; Regional planning and regional governance innovation; Statutory city comprehensive plan; Statutory regulatory detailed plan and planning norms; Non-statutory plan: urban development strategic plan; Land use system, its reform and planning management; Performance of Chinese city and regional planning system; Bibliography; Index.

’Li Yu provides a magisterial overview and analysis of the complex and contested nature of city and regional planning in China. He traces the development of modern China and outlines the evolution of planning though history to its present role in a burgeoning market economy. Li Yu maps the institutional and organisational arrangements for planning and considers the catalogue of strategic and local issues in the country. There are wonderful insights into understanding the changing state-market-civil relations in the modern world and sobering lessons for the spirit and purpose of planning.’ Greg Lloyd, University of Ulster, UK ’If you want to learn more about the tremendous changes that have taken place in Chinese cities during the last 60 years, as well as the role urban planning has played in such a fascinating process, this is the one book you have to read. Unfolding in a panoramic perspective, Li Yu sets out a critical and enlightening study on the responsive mechanism and practice of urban planning through the rapid urbanization process, in respect of social change, history and the political system. It also offers the reader the main motivations behind the achievements and failures in nearly 30 years of Chinese urban development. Yu takes the reader on an enthralling journey through the history of urban planning in contemporary China.’ Kai Wang, China Academy of Urban Planning and Design, China