The Flexible Urban Planning For The Middle And The Small Cities In The "Second Ladder"

A mass of constructions nowadays in China definitely show a vital era of booming urbanization. Whereas, the current planning system is too formalistic to accommodate the rapid urban development: the volatility of social and economic environment which is the basis of urban development challenge the established planning objectives; the planning indicators tended to be out-of-date under the pressure of the great changing social and economic conditions; the complex and diverse urban constructions need flexible compilation and administration procedure in urban planning. Facing such issues, there is an enhanced voice for the flexible urban planning especially for the middle and the small cities in the "second ladder".As a kind of administrative law, any break by the unapproved constructions would imperil the authority of integrated planning system. Therefore, flexible planning is required in the process of decision-making to balance the plan-led status quo with market-led transformation. To meet the established planning objectives in such broad and volatile circumstances equal to undergird the urban planning authorities.This article aims at analyzing the flexible planning methods in the "second ladder" cities, the case study is Botou City, Hebei Province. Some hindsight are analyzed and summarized from the compilation of the Master Plan of Botou City. And the experiences compared with the cities in "the first ladder" are also mentioned. This article is organized in three parts:Firstly, this article tries to explore some theories about flexible planning, study some related examples of urban plan and summarize the executions, whichaccompany with the urban development and the technique of plan compilation and administration.Secondly, after the consideration of the problem within the "second ladder", the approaches of the flexible planning will be represented from three aspects: the flexible goal of urban development,the procedure of actualization and the technique of compiling.At last, some approaches, which based on the existing planning system, will be pointed out through the case study of Baotou City. What is more, the feasibility of the flexible planning will be studied as well.