Integrated land use and transport in China: Problems and prospects

This paper examines the problems, their causes and solutions to disintegration in land use and transport in China, benchmarked in an international context. Data are collected from in-depth key informant interviews that involve various stakeholders in policy-making, planning, and management associated with land use and transport at four levels: inter-city, intra-city (rural-urban), city proper and project. The findings reveal that land use and transport disintegration widely occur at all levels as a result of poor coordination and planning. Main causes for the latter are institutional deficiencies, such as poor division of responsibilities, strong sectoral silos, outdated policies and planning standards, and the vaguely defined road right. A current institutional reform has been introduced by the central government to tackle some of the causes, but a broader range of change need to be considered in order to integrate land use and transport. These findings contribute to the emerging research on the institutional dimension that is critical to integration of land use and transport.