A few days ago, the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Office of the Central Rural Work Leading Group jointly issued the "Notice on Learning and Using the Experience of the "Ten Million Project" to Improve the Quality and Effectiveness of Village Planning (hereinafter referred to as Document No. 1), which put forward the requirements of "actively cultivating local planning talents". It is necessary to establish and improve the system of rural responsible planners, improve the continuing education content of registered urban and rural planners, and explore the preparation of village plans by urban and rural planning units and planners who go to the countryside to carry out public welfare services and prepare village plans, as a plus point for the performance appraisal of units and the evaluation of planners' titles."
In 2019, the Ministry of Natural Resources' No. 35 document "Notice on Strengthening Village Planning to Promote Rural Revitalization" (hereinafter referred to as Document No. 35) also clearly stated that "encourage and guide colleges and universities and planning and design institutions to provide volunteer services in the countryside, planners to go to the countryside to squat, and establish a system of planners in villages and towns." Encourage and guide village sages and capable people who are familiar with the local situation to actively participate in the preparation of village planning. "The requirements of the two documents are in the same vein. In the context of the introduction of the overall planning of land space in various places, it is urgent to promote the preparation of detailed land space planning, and the requirements of this document are of great leading significance for accelerating the improvement of the quality of village planning and promoting the transformation of professional service methods.
On-site work, whether in the era of urban and rural planning or territorial spatial planning, is an indispensable and important link, involving not only the perception of the on-site environment, but also the direct contact with relevant personnel to understand people's preferences and real feelings. After all, "urban planning is the work of concretely serving the people", and it is obviously unthinkable to talk about the quality of planning in isolation from the specific people and places affected by it.
As far as village planning is concerned, there are many differences in the preparation of town planning. Not only are there more "non-construction" spaces in terms of objects, and the resulting obvious differences and even conflicts in the principles and objectives of planning preparation, but also obvious differences in legal principles in the preparation and implementation of the plan—although the attributes of administrative affairs in the preparation and implementation of village planning have been clarified from the legal theory, the state system has given the villagers the right to autonomy and collective land ownership. Therefore, this puts forward new requirements for the main participants in the preparation of village planning and their working methods, which is worthy of our in-depth thinking in talent training. Therefore, combined with the practical work in recent years, I will try to talk about my experience from two levels.
Who is planning talent locally
There is no doubt that both Documents 1 and 35 highlight the responsibilities of planning units (design agencies) and planners. As a statutory planning achievement and work, it should be completed by professionally trained relevant functional departments and qualified professionals in strict accordance with the norms to ensure the legality and compliance of the plan. However, it is not enough to limit local planning talent to professionals and institutions, which is determined by a number of reasons.
First, there is the huge number of villages and the obvious shortage of professionals. There are more than 500,000 administrative villages on the mainland, and the number of planners is at best in the millions, and there are even fewer registered urban and rural planners with professional qualifications. Even if all planning professionals were involved in village planning, it would be almost impossible to complete the task in a short period of time, especially when there are so many urban planning tasks to be completed. Heavy tasks, tight schedules, insufficient manpower, and heavy pressure on output value are common problems faced by almost all professional planners. Relying only on professionals, if you want to complete the preparation of village planning in a short period of time and on a large scale, it is too late to deal with it in a hurry, and it is even more difficult to complete the in-depth investigation and accompanying preparation of localization, which should also be the first document of this year to specifically put forward "timely correction of some local village planning blind pursuit of full coverage, detachment from reality, lack of practicability and other problems" and "for individual places previously made under the target, schedule and other requirements, to be rectified and corrected in a timely manner. One of the important reasons.
Second, a deep understanding of the subjectivity of the villagers and the village committees. The particularity of the objects of village planning and service determines the importance of the villagers and the two village committees. Document No. 35 proposes to "organize villagers to actively participate in the preparation of village planning in all aspects of research and interviews, program comparison, public announcements, etc., and determine the content of the plan through consultation" is a positive response to its particularity, and fully encourages villagers to play a major role in the process of planning preparation and implementation, which should become an important direction to promote the preparation of village planning.
Third, we attach great importance to the importance of the participation of returnees and institutions. With the implementation of the rural revitalization strategy, not only some villagers who have been abroad for many years or even no longer have household registration in the village have returned to their hometowns to start businesses, but also more and more outsiders and institutions have entered the countryside for a variety of reasons, and many of their activities have brought different degrees of positive effects to local development, which are supported by the policy, and many of these people are also the "village sages and capable people" mentioned in Document No. 35. However, in reality, it is also more common for these people and institutions to suffer heavy losses due to various construction activities in violation of land rules or even violations. They are also more eager to learn about planning and learn some planning knowledge.
In this way, "cultivating local planning talents" refers more to the question of "how professional planners can better train villagers, village committees, and other village personnel and institutions to master basic planning knowledge and skills, and then drive them to participate in planning and construction". In the exploration of practical work, we have also deeply realized that when the village committee, villagers and relevant parties truly realize that the plan is closely related to them, they will attach importance to the plan and even consciously participate in the preparation and implementation supervision of the plan.
Of course, it is also of great significance for teachers and students majoring in planning in colleges and universities to actively go to the countryside to carry out volunteer services within their capacity and take on the role of local planning talents. The knowledge and skills that you can exercise and learn in a real on-site environment are far more important than just reading a few books, not to mention that only in the real on-site environment can you feel people's expectations more directly and deeply, and experience the professional happiness of serving the needs of society with professional knowledge.
What to do and how to do it on the ground
The expansion of the local planning talent team also determines the transformation of the role of professional planners and the adjustment of specific planning methods. For professional institutions and planners, the preparation of village planning is no longer simply using their professional skills to quickly complete an elite planning result, but deeply understanding that "teaching people to fish is better than teaching people to fish", and to assume more responsibilities such as listeners, suggesters, advocates, facilitators, coaches, etc. Naturally, the formulation of the plan can better reflect the wishes of the villagers and village collectives, and the implementation and supervision of the plan will be more likely to be supported by the majority of villagers and village cadres. As a result, professional planners are able to have a deeper understanding of the village, and understand that in addition to the rigidity of the legal bottom line content must be respected, the flexibility and process of mobilizing and mobilizing everyone are even more important than the results. To this end, in terms of specific working methods, it is recommended to highlight the following aspects:
First, be a good propagandist of the planning concept. On the basis of strengthening their own learning, planning professionals should start from town and village leaders and capable people according to the actual situation, and strengthen the publicity of planning concepts, including planning first and then construction, all kinds of planning and control red lines before regulation, and normal processes for regulation and construction, etc., through repeated preaching to achieve the effect of gradually entering the hearts of the people, such as "basic farmland can not be touched, and 5 acres of squatting class houses are destroyed". On this basis, these village cadres and capable people are mobilized to take on the role of concept propagandists, and their preaching in the local popular language and manner is much greater than the preaching of professional planners who temporarily enter the village.
Meilin Village, Changzhou: The resident planner introduced the policy requirements and solicited planning opinions for the villager representatives
Second, do a good job in teaching basic professional skills. It includes the identification of common and important land types, the rules for the control of land and space use, the planning layout, and the judgment of the basic profit and loss consequences brought about by the planning. In particular, the basic map reading skills that are closely related to it play an important basic role in the conscious compliance and implementation of the plan by the two village committees, villagers and capable people.
Xinnan Village, Shanghai: Professionals and villager representatives discuss the plan
Third, expand the scope of personnel involved in the establishment within the limits of our capabilities. Let the two village committees, villagers and capable people have more access to the preparation and construction of village planning, so that everyone can not only truly feel the status of the master and benefit from it, but also pay more attention to the sustainability of planning and construction results, consciously assume the role of defenders, and even become an important opportunity to promote unity and increase village cohesion.
Xinnan Village, Shanghai: Villager representatives make their own village layout plans
Meilin Village, Changzhou: Mobilize villagers to manage their own small vegetable gardens
Kashgar: The village collective point system guides villagers to work and help each other build houses
Guizhou Bibian Village: A farmhouse under the self-management and supervision of villagers
Fourth, we will continue to train new professionals through local activities. For professional planners, as well as teachers and students of colleges and universities, it is necessary to strengthen the ability to study and exercise the ability of direct communication and consultation with the two village committees and capable people, especially the villagers, as well as the ability to make use of professional knowledge, and use the simplest words that everyone can understand to explain the various intentions of the plan, instead of using various terms to build communication barriers. In this way, more information can be obtained and more effective, and the active participation of stakeholders can be more fully mobilized.
Organize teachers and students to carry out village surveys through college student competitions, and learn about village planning in the field (Author: Luan Feng, Professor of School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tongji University, Chief Planner and Dean of Rural Planning and Construction Research Institute of Shanghai Tongji Urban Planning and Design Institute Co., Ltd., Secretary-General of Rural Planning and Construction Branch of China Urban Planning Society)
The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author
Guidance: Department of Territorial and Spatial Planning, Ministry of Natural Resources
New Media Editor: Zhao Zhikun