The Development Control Plan for Beijing's sub-center (DCP) was approved by the CPC Central Committee and the State Council at the beginning of 2019. It serves as an important guidance and a starting point for the construction of the sub-center. Building such a sub-center was a major decision made by the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core and a major program with national importance and lasting impact. It is a key project for relieving Beijing of functions non-essential to its role as the capital, optimizing the functions of Beijing's central area, and deepening coordinated development in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) area. The formulation of the DCP was a process of meeting the requirements of the top leadership for the sub-center under the guidelines provided by Xi Jinping in his important speeches on Beijing.
The DCP is the first such plan in the country approved by the CPC Central Committee and the State Council. As the approval acknowledged the many innovations in the DCP, let's take a look at the formulating process and see how this innovative and exemplary control plan came into being.
Three Stages in Five Years
The development of the DCP started in 2014 and was completed in 2019 after going through three stages.
The first stage began when General-Secretary Xi Jinping made an inspection tour of Beijing on February 25 and 26, 2014. He called for the building of a sub-center, which will host transferred functions and have its own strong core industrial area and centers providing good public services, so that the central area and the sub-center will each have clear and differentiated functions that complement each other.
His remarks set in motion the planning for the construction of the sub-center, as an important milestone in the capital's development, which well explained the significance of building a sub-center for Beijing. In accordance with the guidelines provided by General-Secretary Xi Jinping and in tandem with formulating the Beijing Municipal Master Plan and the BTH Coordinated Development Program, we began preliminary studies and worked out the framework of the sub-center plan. On April 30, 2015, the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee adopted the BTH Coordinated Development Program, which further defined the positioning of the sub-center.
On March 24, 2016, General-Secretary Xi chaired a meeting of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, and gave important instructions on the sub-center: Beijing is facing a historic choice: instead of following its current pattern of development that sprawls in all directions, it needs to build a sub-center outside the central area that takes some of the pressure off Beijing for urban functions and services; this sub-center and the Xiong'an New Area will form the two “wings” of Beijing.
The second stage began on May 27, 2016 when General-Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out at a meeting of the CPC Central Committee Political Bureau that we must make good plans for the functions of the city and for every inch of the land before starting construction.
Following the guidelines General-Secretary Xi set in his remarks, we started a planning process that followed high standards. It covered the overall urban planning and control plans at different levels. In 2016, we issued a call for designs of the sub-center from designers in different countries and invited 12 leading international design teams to participate. We had held workshops, which reviewed advanced concepts, commonalities and highlights of the designs and came up with 18 recommendations in a consolidated proposal. On this basis, we formulated the DCP. At the same time, we had also developed the Tongzhou district master plan, the coordinated development plan of Tongzhou district and the three counties of Langfang city in Hebei Province (LBS), as well as more than 70 topical studies and plans and design guidelines, all of which were fully aligned with the DCP.
On February 24, 2017, General-Secretary Xi visited the construction site of the sub-center's administrative office area. After he heard reports on the overall urban design of the sub-center, he expressed his agreement with the general framework for the planning and construction, and pointed to the direction and focus of the next stage.
The third stage began on September 13, 2017 when the CPC Central Committee and the State Council formally approved The Beijing Municipal Master Plan (2016-2035), which provides, in clear terms, that high standards must be maintained in the planning and construction of Beijing's sub-center. It should be done following advanced international standards, with a global perspective and Chinese characteristics. It should be done in the way that history is being made and art is being created. It must be an advanced sub-center built by the highest standards and with the best quality so that it is in a position to accommodate the relocation as non-essential functions and some of the population move out of the central area.
We carefully studied The Beijing Municipal Master Plan and made sure the drafting of the DCP was in full compliance with it. Our goal was to make the DCP a good model and we constantly improved it by measuring the sub-center against the Xiong'an New Area of Hebei province and focusing on coordinated development with the LBS. For nearly a year, we extensively solicited comments and suggestions from ministries and commissions, experts and scholars, NPC deputies and CPPCC members, municipal departments at all levels, and from members of the public, including people from all walks of life. The Municipal CPC Committee and Government of Beijing held many meetings to discuss the draft plan. Municipal leaders were also personally involved in the process, leading efforts to revise or polish the draft based on the feedback from all channels. More than 100 working meetings were held, and edits made of nearly 30,000 words, with nine drafts produced.
On October 29, 2018, General-Secretary Xi convened a session of the Standing Committee of the CPC Central Committee Political Bureau to discuss the sub-center control plan. On December 27, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council officially approved The Development Control Plan for Beijing's Sub-center (2016-2035), marking the beginning of a new phase in the planning and construction of the sub-center.
A planning process led by experts, with inter-departmental cooperation, regional coordination, public participation, reform and innovation, and methodical decision-making
The DCP was drawn up after five long years of hard work by people holding themselves to high standards, through a process featuring expert leadership, inter-departmental cooperation, regional coordination, public participation, reform and innovation, and methodical decision-making. It has met the requirements of planning for a sub-center to be built with a global perspective, Chinese characteristics and by advanced international standards.
Expert Leadership
We pooled the best wisdom from home and abroad to ensure a scientific and sound DCP. During the call for designs, teams were led by accomplished urban planners, architects or professors, including two Pritzker Architecture Prize winners and two academicians of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. As the planning process moved to a more advanced stage, we engaged six top-notch design institutes, i.e. the Beijing Municipal Institute of City Planning and Design, the Beijing Tsinghua Urban Planning & Design Institute, the Shanghai Tongji Urban Planning and Design Institute, the China Architecture Design and Research Group, AECOM, and Southeast University, and enlisted top experts from related fields and more than 30 major institutions from home and abroad for consulting and technical support. During the drafting, more than 30 seminars were held, with participation by academicians and top experts like Wu Liangyong, Yang Weimin, Li Xiaojiang, Wang Hao, Cui Kai, Wu Zhiqiang, Mao Qizhi, and Huang Wenliang, and nearly 200 other experts and scholars, who offered valuable recommendations and insights on the DCP. The wisdom of all the participating experts and design teams has made possible a high-quality blueprint for the sub-center.
Inter-departmental Cooperation
The drafting started with multiple area specific plans to be completed by multiple departments. There were 17 such plans and 15 topical studies, supplemented later by another 10 topical studies. There was a lot of coordination between the municipal government and the districts, and also among municipal departments. The Beijing Municipal Commission of Planning and Natural Resources, as the lead department, worked with 23 commissions, offices, and administrations and the Tongzhou District People's Government, to develop plans and conduct studies within their own areas of responsibility. They were all actively involved in the drafting, in a joint effort to ensure that the blueprint will eventually become a reality. Their coordination and cooperation were key to the successful completion of the drafting. The effective organization in this process has given us the confidence as we advanced the drafting process and now work to achieve the goal for the effective implementation of the DCP.
Regional Coordination
The sub-center was designed within the broad context of BTH. The sub-center must work together with Xiong'an as each will have differentiated functions and development plans and together they will form the two “wings” of Beijing. It must also coordinate with the LBS, for the purpose of an integrated and balanced regional development. We have had more than 80 meetings with Hebei province and discussed issues concerning planning, construction and management of the border areas, to make sure that the DCP is aligned with the consolidated development plan for Tongzhou District and the LBS. We devoted a separate chapter in the DCP to coordinated development between the sub-center and the LBS, the objective of which is for the sub-center to play a leading role in driving development in this area, under unified planning, policies, standards and control, and become a model for BTH coordinated development.
Public Participation
We solicited public opinions through a variety of channels and using multiple means so that we could focus attention on issues of the greatest concern to people and improve the draft. For 30 days from June 21 through July 20, 2018, the draft DCP was exhibited in two places and also posted online for public comment via visits, online messages, emails or letters. Statistics indicate that there were 15,076 visits to the exhibitions and about 1,900 comments received during that period. The longest comment was 3,455 words long, a perfect example of people's keen interest in the sub-center; the oldest visitor was a 90-year old man, who marveled at the new appearance of Tongzhou after 40 years of reform and opening up, and who expressed the hope that Tongzhou would become more prosperous and beautiful in the coming decades; the youngest visitor was only 9 years old and hoped that there wouldn't be too many buildings, because fewer buildings would mean less air pollution. One visitor left a beautiful poem to describe the beautiful prospect that he would like to see for the new city. In various ways and through different channels, residents expressed their expectations and good wishes for the sub-center.
Reform and Innovation
Urban design was from the beginning part of the drafting process as design requirements were already incorporated in the plan. All the area specific plans were then put together under the DCP to make it a comprehensive plan with consistent control and regulations at different levels. Proper planning was done in advance for the implementation of the DCP and for an urban governance model. We paid special attention to balancing the role of the government control plan and the role of the market, with emphasis on policy consistency and innovation. Under more efficient structures, we worked to establish and improve the evaluation mechanism for the DCP's implementation and for the “check-up” of the city, with the aim of raising the level of urban planning, construction and management.
Methodical Decision-making
During the drafting, with support and guidance from central government agencies, the whole city came together in a way that ensured a sound decision-making process. First, the plenary session of the Beijing Municipal Commission of Planning and Natural Resources and the BTH Coordinated Development Leading Group Meeting commissioned topical studies which served as effective guidance for the DCP. Second, the Municipal CPC Committee and Government led, organized and advanced the drafting, and listened many times to reports on topical studies or their key contents; key municipal officials were personally involved in the review and editing of the draft. Third, the Standing Committee of the Beijing Municipal People's Congress and the Beijing Municipal Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference closely followed the drafting process as they visited the drafting team, participated in discussions on the draft, and forwarded valuable comments and suggestions collected from people's deputies and CPPCC members, in a guiding role that proved to be important for the development of the DCP.
翻译：北京第二外国语学院 鲍川运 张颖 雷宁
