Nanjing introduces new rules to protect skyline of the old city

The reporter learned on February 23 that in order to better protect the old city's landscape, Nanjing recently released the "Management Regulations for Strictly Controlling the Building Height Planning in the Old City to Further Strengthen the Control of the Old City's Landscape" (hereinafter referred to as the Management Regulations) to encourage the implementation of organic renewal in the old city and the formation of an old city skyline with Nanjing's characteristics. The regulations will come into effect on March 22, 2023 and will be valid for five years.

The Old city of Nanjing is an area of about 50 square kilometers within the city wall and across the moat.Since 2000, Nanjing's urban development has embarked on the road of "shrinking the old city and increasing the new city"; in 2011, Nanjing issued the "Opinions on Further Strengthening Urban and Rural Planning", which clearly requires residential development in the old city to "do subtraction". The "subtraction" in the old city is reflected in the height and density control of buildings and quality improvement.

On February 19, Nanjing Jiangbei New District and nine famous schools cooperation school project officially started, including Nanjing Foreign Language School, Jinling Middle School, Langya Road Primary School, etc.; triggering social concern. When the management regulations were released this time, Nanjing also issued simultaneous guidance regulations on the planning, construction and renovation of schools, hospitals and research institutes in the old city, and also put forward corresponding requirements. In the case of primary and secondary schools, for example, the number of classes and class sizes in primary and secondary schools within the old city, especially in hot spot schools, will be strictly controlled.

Compared to the previous regulations, this management regulation puts forward more detailed standard requirements on building heights in the Old City. In principle, all kinds of construction projects shall not break through the new building heights determined by the approved detailed control plans, and the building heights in the direction of the important landscape view corridors and major landscape nodes of the city determined in the protection plan of Nanjing's historic and cultural city shall be strictly controlled. In 2017, Nanjing issued the "Regulations on Planning and Management of Building Heights in the Old City of Nanjing", which proposed that the Old City should maintain a general spatial pattern of "low near the walls and high at the far walls; high in the centre and low at the periphery; low in the south and high in the north".

The regulations set out requirements for the accessibility of buildings in the Old City, so that people can enter the historic buildings and experience the features of the historic and cultural city. In order to further highlight the characteristics of the Old City, all types of construction projects must, in principle, not reduce the area of open space and must not destroy important historical spatial relationships. The existing sports grounds, squares, parks and other open spaces within the Old City are theoretically not to be occupied, and all units are encouraged to open their open spaces to the community.

Pan Jingwei, a "post-90s" hiking enthusiast with five years of experience in urban hiking, told reporters that the historic buildings in the old city are becoming more and more relatable, and that closed spaces are being reduced, such as the eleven blocks of Yihe Road that opened in December last year, allowing people to get a closer look at the architecture. The Nanjing Territorial Spatial Master Plan （2021-2035）， which was implemented on New Year's Day this year, added the East Beijing Road Historical and Cultural District. Wang Zhaozhao, director of the Famous Cities Division of the Nanjing Municipal Planning and Natural Resources Bureau, introduced that within the city, it will be combined with the opening and display of some of the units using historical and cultural resources, scientific and reasonable protection of heritage, increased openness of the historic city district, and the formation of a multi-cultural exhibition, tourism and leisure features area with the theme of modern scientific history.

In terms of the quality of the old city, the management regulations encourage the implementation of organic renewal in the old city, and old districts with mainly complete sets of multi-storey residential buildings shall generally not be redeveloped after large-scale demolition. The organic renewal of the old city should be in line with urban planning requirements, and the economic in-situ balance shall not be used as a reason to break through the old city building height control requirements. Xue Bing, a writer and executive director of the Jiangsu Institute of Local History, admits that in the past, the pursuit of economic balance in situ has led to the building of too tall and too dense in Nanjing, damaging the overall appearance of the old city.

To better handle the relationship between the present and the future, Nanjing is exploring a small-scale, progressive renewal model that highlights the city's people-oriented development philosophy. In November last year, the Xiao Xihu urban regeneration project in Nanjing won the 2022 Asia-Pacific Heritage Conservation Award, the first award in Jiangsu Province since the award was established by UNESCO in 2000. Li Jianbo, Director of the Qinhuai Branch of the Nanjing Municipal Planning and Natural Resources Bureau and Executive Deputy Director of the Qinhuai District Urban Renewal Office, said that overall, the proportion of Little West Lake being negotiated but not yet renewed is about 2/5, almost all of which are residential buildings. Urban renewal with temperature brings new momentum to Qinhuai District. Last year, Qinhuai District is expected to rank first in Nanjing in terms of growth in regional GDP, general public budget revenue and fixed asset investment.

"After more than 2,500 years of historical precipitation, Nanjing's old city has a rich cultural heritage and public resources." Xue Bing said that in the past 20 years, Nanjing has integrated broken natural and human resources in urban construction, and the beautiful ancient capital style is gradually returning.

Source:<//www.stufic.com/news/view?id=13622&cid=12>

Translated by Gong Ye