From Land Use Planning to Spatial Planning: The Evolution of Planning System in the UK

As the origin of modern urban planning, planning system evolution in the UK keeps in close touch with decentralization reform in the unitary system. Accompanied by the game among government, market and society, planning which originated from solving workers’ housing and environmental problems and focused on land use control, is expanding its connotation and extension. The range of planning contains local, regional and national level, and its content covers spatial, social, economic, cultural and environmental elements. It can be seen from the development of planning in the UK that the planning has been upgraded from a governmental tool of land use control to the spatial governance regime, which shows the institutional innovation of the UK government when facing economic globalization and sustainable development. The alternative reforms of centralization and decentralization reflect the diverse social demands under different backgrounds, which illustrate the multidirectional and nonlinear developmental characteristics of planning regime. Given the characteristics, the developments of planning are closely related with the state system, historical background, social culture and etc., which means there is no common models or paradigms of planning, and the planning evolution acts as a successive correction process motivated by social changes. Realizing the nature of planning evolution brings enlightenment for China’s spatial planning reform under the socialist market economic system. 关键词:英国 ;规划体系 ;土地利用规划 ;空间规划