Ministry of Natural Resources Introduces New Regulations: Strengthening Urban Development Boundary Management and Defining the Scale of New Construction Land

This article is from Times Weekly, author: Li Hang

On February 28, the Ministry of Natural Resources held its February routine press conference, releasing and interpreting the “Town Development Boundary Management Measures (Trial)” (hereinafter referred to as the “Measures”).

Natural Resources Ministry February Routine Press Conference Photo Source: Times Weekly Li Hang / Photo

The town development boundary refers to the area boundary within which, over a certain period, urban development and construction can be concentrated based on urban functions, involving cities, towns, and various development zones.

According to Times Weekly, as the fundamental institutional document for managing town development boundaries, the “Measures” focus on optimizing the entire process of delineation, implementation, adjustment, and maintenance, divided into 19 articles.

Among them, the “Measures” clearly emphasize strengthening management of urban construction land scale, structure, layout, and sequencing, improving urban functions, enhancing spatial quality, and coordinating the improvement of public service facilities and ecological spaces. Multiple measures precisely respond to the daily needs of residents.

Shifting to Activate Stock Space

In 2023, the Ministry of Natural Resources issued the “Notice on Doing a Good Job in Town Development Boundary Management (Trial)” (hereinafter referred to as the “Notice (Trial)”), initially addressing the shift from “how to delineate” to “how to manage” town development boundaries, guiding towns toward intensive and compact development, effectively curbing unchecked urban sprawl.

According to Xie Haixia, Director of the Land and Space Planning Bureau of the Ministry, the “Measures” were developed based on the implementation of the above “Notice (Trial)”, through active tracking of local implementation results and issues, especially addressing local demands in the “big provinces taking the lead” service model, and after extensive consultation and summarizing experience, mature practices were elevated into normative documents.

“The ‘Measures’ clarify the full process rules of ‘delineation, management, utilization, adjustment, and supervision’ of town development boundaries, continuing effective policies and combining the high-quality development needs of the ‘14th Five-Year Plan’ with innovative measures,” said Xie Haixia.

The “Measures” emphasize that the delineation of town development boundaries must safeguard resource security, avoid encroaching on contiguous high-quality arable land and natural ecological spaces, and shift urban development from “reliance on new land” to “activating stock space,” from “outward expansion” to “quality improvement,” promoting a path of intensive urban development.

The “Measures” also specify that the scale of new construction land within the town development boundary should be constrained and used as a binding indicator in the overall land space planning, strictly controlling the occupation of cultivated land, forests, wetlands, and other land types, promoting a path of intensive urban development.

Xie Haixia stated that all types of urban development activities should “clarify the bottom line and draw boundaries” to prevent disorderly expansion like “pancake” urban sprawl, protect green waters and lush mountains, and preserve better ecological environments and leisure spaces for residents. Urban compact layout and functional clustering should be guided, promoting more balanced and efficient allocation of public services such as education, healthcare, elderly care, and transportation.

The “Measures” also clearly call for strengthening management of the scale, structure, layout, and timing of urban construction land, improving urban functions, and enhancing spatial quality.

Within the town development boundary, detailed planning requirements for land use zoning and layout should be refined, coordinating the optimization of urban production, living, and ecological spaces, addressing public service facility shortfalls according to local conditions, and meeting residents’ needs for shopping, medical care, school drop-offs, and exercise nearby. It also aims to increase urban green spaces and scenic recreational areas, leaving room for urban development.

Outside the town development boundary, there should be strengthened management of the positive and negative lists in land and space planning, strictly controlling new town construction, allowing only a small amount of land for special purposes.

Meanwhile, the “Measures” specify that, under the premise of not exceeding the constraints set by the overall land space plan and maintaining overall stability of urban spatial layout, the boundary can be positively optimized in seven scenarios, including major national and provincial strategic implementations, major project constructions, disaster prevention, emergency rescue, post-disaster recovery, and resettlement.

Additionally, the “Measures” propose implementing full lifecycle management of town development boundaries based on the “one map” of land and space planning, strengthening supervision and inspection.

Xie Haixia said that the next step, the Ministry of Natural Resources will guide provincial departments to develop implementation rules, standardize the management of “three zones and three lines,” strengthen land approval and management according to plans, support major projects, and provide space and element guarantees for a good start to the “14th Five-Year Plan.”

Incremental Space Follows Industry Demand

At the press conference, officials from Ningxia, Shanghai, and Yulin in Shaanxi shared typical experiences of town development boundary management based on local realities, providing practical references for local implementation of the “Measures.”

“The ‘Measures’ open a policy channel for land resources to gather in advantageous areas, which is significant for improving the allocation level of incremental land,” said Ma Haijun, Deputy Director of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region Department of Natural Resources. To address issues such as uneven development among cities and counties and the imbalance between incremental land supply and industrial development needs, Ningxia established a provincial coordination mechanism for incremental land within the town development boundary.

Ningxia comprehensively manages the “used, unused, and reserved” categories of incremental land, consolidating all unused incremental land into a unified regional pool, guiding land resources toward higher-efficiency and more urgent-demand areas and industries, achieving “space for growth following industry needs.”

So far, Ningxia has allocated 18,000 acres to the Ningdong Energy and Chemical Base and 6,700 acres to the Zhongwei Big Data Center, supporting major projects and ensuring efficient resource use.

As a mega city, Shanghai’s management experience was also shared at the meeting.

“Shanghai is a super-large city with highly concentrated population and industries, facing resource and environmental constraints. Through delineating and managing the town development boundary, we optimize urban-rural spatial patterns, improve land use efficiency, and promote transformation of the mega city,” said Pan Haixia, Director of the General Planning Department of Shanghai Planning and Natural Resources Bureau.

She explained that Shanghai, aiming to build “five centers” and a globally influential socialist modern international metropolis, constructs a “networked, multi-centered, cluster-style, intensive” spatial pattern by delineating the town development boundary, preventing disorderly urban expansion. During the implementation of the “Shanghai 2035 Master Plan,” the total scale of the boundary was strictly maintained at 2,800 square kilometers, guiding development activities within the boundary and orderly reducing land use outside it.

Yulin City in Shaanxi focused on safeguarding energy and chemical industry land during boundary delineation, prioritizing the layout of new urban construction indicators toward energy and chemical parks.

Hefengfei, Deputy Director of the Yulin Natural Resources and Planning Bureau, said, “During the 14th Five-Year Plan, Yulin used 79,600 acres of new urban construction land, effectively supporting key energy and chemical projects like China Energy’s coal utilization and Shaanxi Coal’s coal quality utilization.”

“Next, our city will fully utilize this policy, ensuring space for energy and chemical projects, refining industrial land planning and standards during implementation, and laying a solid foundation for building a national energy and chemical base and creating an energy revolution innovation demonstration zone,” Hefengfei added.