Then, to make a comparison with the application of
urban planning regime in HCMC, practices of the urban planning regime in three Chinese major cities: Beijing
and Shanghai, both centrally-controlled and Shenzhen,
provincially-controlled are outlined as follows:
N e i t h e r Vi e t n a m n o r C h i n a a l l o w s l o c a l
governments to have autonomy; local governments as
a rule are a group of administrative functions instead of
the central government. In China, however, provincial
or equivalent governments have a wide range of powers
including commissions for permission or approval. For
instance, development plans at a provincial level are
formulated by approval of people’s congress at the said
level. Considering that in Vietnam development plans
and urban plans at a provincial level need the prime
minister’s approval, provincial level governments in
China have greater powers than those in Vietnam (Jin,
Baba & Tagashira, 2011). Practices of the urban planning
regime in China show that regional governments
implement the urban planning with higher flexibility so
as to resolve the aforesaid issues of the control detailed
plan according to local conditions.
Beijing prepares an original construction density
plan covering the whole CBD in order to produce an
orderly urban arrangement4 . This plan resembles the
zoning system of Japan and other western countries to
regulate building heights, FAR distribution, and other
criteria over a large area. The control detailed plan is
prepared on the basis of this construction density plan so
as to ensure coherent and rational urban planning for the
whole CBD.
To tackle increasing urbanization pressure on wide
areas, the city of Shanghai has independently set major
planning criteria for clusters comprising four to six areas
in preparation for control detailed plans. These criteria
have effectively ensured coherence, rationality, or
substitution for a control detailed plan in cases it is not
prepared on time.
Shenzhen has originally introduced a statutory plan
governing the detailed plan. The original plan shows
land use, FAR, locations of public facilities, and general
criteria. Since the original plan covers a wider area than
the control detailed plan and land use categories are
alterable, it is used as a flexible tool to ensure spatial
balance.
As the above models show, China allows cities to
devise and introduce their own urban planning systems
according to local circumstances and requirements, so that the cities can resolve institutional or operational
issues in urban development and management by
themselves. This was also the case for HCMC in
Vietnam; it adopted original solutions to ensure practical
planning, as seen in its zoning plan for the city’s
expanded CBD. It should be noted that while Vietnam
adapted to difficult situations without remarkably
deviating from the urban planning regime set by the
state, China locally adopted institutions or systems
boldly different from the state planning regime.
Moreover, China makes an effort to share useful
information with relevant experts. That is, experiences
and knowledge obtained through institutional or
operational modifications of or improvements in urban
planning and management among local governments
are shared at the national level through academic
associations or universities, to which government
specialists and experts are related5 . The solutions or
trials applied in local governments are studied in the
Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development
by the central government, and some are incorporated
into the urban planning regime of the state or they are
legislated after being deliberated in the State Council
and the National People’s Congress.