The Thinking on Spatial Management and Control of “Urban Growth Boundaries” from the Perspective of Natural Resources

With China's reform and opening up entering the deep-water zone, the development of ecological civilization has become the founding concept, and the development of urbanization has changed from extensive expansion model to smart growth model. “Integration of multiple regulations” and “Three lines and three districts” are the main targets and the grasp of Chinese government on the spatial planning. However, in practice, multi-party interests and conflicts occur on how to define the “Urban Growth Boundaries”, which has become one of the difficulties not only in the spatial planning, but also the transformation and development of China’s economy. This paper tries to discuss the understanding to the concept of “Urban Growth Boundaries” and technical guidance from successful cases of mode at home and abroad, there are the two-way mode of the spatial management and control between government and civil society to develop the Boundaries, and the cross compound utilization mode of “three areas, four lines”, “the combination of rigidity and flexibility” - The spatial management and control mode of “Urban Growth Boundaries”, and change the thinking of managing the spatial control of “Urban Growth Boundaries”, guarantee the quantity and quality of agricultural and ecological land, at what level and scope do we define the “Urban Growth Boundaries” which needs to answer three questions basing on the cases. This paper takes Portland in the United States, Shanghai and Xiamen in China for example. It intends to explain the features of each model represented by three cities and summaries the mechanism of the management and control to the city’s spatial. Later, the paper answers 3 frequently asked questions and tries to use the model discussed in the paper on how to change the thinking of the spatial management and control of the urban growth Boundaries, whether the urban growth Boundaries guarantee the quantity and quality of agricultural land and ecological land and At what level and scope we define the urban growth Boundaries. The “Urban Growth Boundaries” is a spatial instead of a simple line, and can be a system, a goal, a platform, a process, and also a result from the percept of observation. The spatial management and control of the “Urban Growth Boundaries” should make regular adjustment basing on local conditions. Hopefully, the paper can help the readers gain more confidence to deal with the difficulties encountered in the urban planning and may inspire the readers to find more innovative ideas to solve the problems.