China Plans Green, Low-Carbon Development for Counties

Aerial photo taken on March 18, 2021 shows a view of Lucun Village of Yixian County in east China's Anhui Province, March 18, 2021. (Photo by Zhao Xuefeng/Xinhua)

Chinese authorities have introduced specific requirements on green and low-carbon construction for counties across the country to avoid blind, intensive development as well as unregulated expansion. The guideline was issued by 15 government departments, including the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development.

The guideline indicates that counties are the core of the county-wide social and economic development, the crucial node of urban-rural integrated development, as well as the important carrier for the urban-rural green development. County as the carrier of urbanization is the distinguishing feature of China’s localized urbanization. The demand for rural population and returning migrant workers to land locally has been constantly increasing. Improving the quality of built environment and service capabilities is essential to the people-centred approach to urbanization and rural revitalization.

Since Reform and Opening, China’s counties’ construction achieved notable success and the built environment of counties have significantly changed. However, problems and shortcomings still exist in the counties’ scale, land use, population and development density, infrastructure, public service and the living environment. It is urgent for counties to shift away from simply develop as cities, to strengthen low-carbon construction, to improve construction quality and efficiency, to improve capacity and public service, to improve comprehensive service capabilities, to meet the people’s growing expectation for a better life, to push for an environmental-friendly way of production and lifestyle, and to reach the goals of carbon peak and carbon neutral.

The guide pointed out low-carbon development for counties in 10 different perspectives.

1.Strictly obey the development baseline of safety. Building counties should clarify the safety baseline and coordinate development with safety. Newly built buildings should select areas that are safe and proper, avoiding areas prone to natural disasters such as floods, earthquakes, and landslides.

2.Control the development density and strength. The construction of new buildings in counties should avoid blind, intensive development as well as unregulated expansion. The built-up area population density should be controlled. The proportion between the gross floor area and the acreage of construction land in the built-up areas should be kept between 0.6 and 0.8.

3.Limit the height of civil buildings in counties. The height of civil buildings in counties should be restricted and match with local fire rescue capabilities. New residential buildings should be mainly six stories and, in principle, no higher than 18 stories. It is also encouraged to install elevators for multi-story residential buildings. If needed, residential buildings above 18 stories should be argued and discussed, and ensure the emergency fire rescue capabilities and urban infrastructure matches the building capacity. Improve fire safety management for public buildings over 50-metre in height.

4.The development of counties should align with natural environment. The development of counties should be coordinated with the nature and align with original terrain. Do not dig into mountains, infill rivers and lakes, and destruct the original environment. The topology should be kept. Preserve and recover rivers and lakes’ buffer zones and natural curves. Achieve organic coordination among the counties’ natural style, the natural ecological system and agricultural landscape.

5.Develop green and energy-saving buildings. New buildings should follow the basic green building standards, and encourage the implementation of star-rated green building standards. Push for the use of green building and architectural water-saving standards, improve design, construction, and operation management. Continue to increase the ratio of green buildings in newly constructed buildings. Popularize the adoption of green building materials, prefabricated steel building structure and other new construction techniques, and push for green construction. Increase the energy efficiency for counties, and develop reusable energy suitable for local resources and demand.

6.Construct green infrastructure. Infrastructure development should adapt to local features, and focus on adopt small-scale, dispersed, and ecological infrastructure, to lower the construction and maintenance cost. Advocate for a large-scale dispersed and small-scale concentrated infrastructure allocation method, to decrease the cost of installing and operating pipelines and cables. Also, coordinate with the natural ecological environment. Construct county-level green and low-carbon infrastructure system.

7.Preserve the cultural heritage of counties. Stressing efforts to preserve the historic and cultural landscape of towns by protecting historic buildings, districts as well as old and rare trees. Recognize historic towns, buildings, and hydraulic works. Certify, map, and document historic sites to ensure effective preservation and proper use. Increase the efforts to repair and preserve the cultural relics, and advocate for the relics to be open for proper use.

8.Develop green low-carbon transportation system. Create a walkable transportation system. Build connected pedestrian networks, and ensure the safety of pedestrian paths. Encourage the counties to construct connected bicycle lanes. Prioritize the development of public transit.

9.Build human-centred public spaces. Restrict the scale of town squares, and encourage to build more convenient and adjacent public spaces for residents. Restrict the width of county roads, and implement noise protecting measures. Push for narrower roads, denser street network, and smaller blocks, to build a more livable scale for counties.

10.Push to integrate development at block level. Properly determine the scale of residential areas in counties, and explore using blocks as units to integrate the development of public services, commercial services, and cultural and sports facilities. Enhance the construction of public spaces, and build livable and complete neighbourhood blocks.

The guideline emphasizes that the implementation should suit the local measures and need to consider the population, geographical location, natural conditions, and county’s functional position. Firstly, the guideline requires provincial (district, city) government to clarify the scope of the guideline based on local conditions, especially for the counties within ecological protection area or agricultural protection areas, to strictly follow the green and low-carbon construction. Secondly, the guideline requires local governments to increase supervision and guidance, to ensure the leading role of science and technology innovation, to establish incentives, and strengthen policy support. Lastly, the guideline encourages to implement pilot projects in selected representative counties, and explore to promote replicable measures.

Original Chinese Post: <https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/1Dui_CBUVXixjtysy1nXfQ>

Reference English News Post: <http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2021-06/25/c_1310027964.htm>

Translated by Fan Junyi