The influence of regional planning administration on local development

Abstract

This chapter analyzes the Pearl River Delta as a regional network of municipalities that has to coordinate its planning and development activities. For that purpose, various activities at the provincial level have unfolded. They concern the provision of major transportation infrastructure and the preservation of green corridors and the like to enhance the competitiveness of the region to maintain its status as an economically leading region in China. The chapter looks at the origin, organization, policies, and purpose of those activities, and especially at regional planning, with a special focus on the changing relationships between the province of Guangdong and municipalities in the inner PRD in the context of a maturing mega-urban region. The influences of inter-municipal coordination and regional planning on economic and spatial upgrading are analyzed.