Major Function Oriented Zone: New method of spatial regulation for reshaping regional development pattern in China

Newest planning methods implemented by Chinese government are promoting a coordinated regional development and shaping an orderly spatial structure by applying the regulation of territorial function. This article analyzes the problems of spatial planning and regional strategy caused by the wrongly-set primary goal of economic development; it states that the three-fold objective of competitiveness, sustainability, and welfare fairness shall be the principal for China to implement the spatial regulation in the new era; it discusses about theoretical thoughts and technology framework of conducting the ‘Major Function Oriented Zone’ based on their different major functions that each region plays in urbanization and industrialization, ecological constructions, grain productions, and protection of natural and cultural heritages; it introduces the new concept of ‘Major Function Oriented Zone’ that include the major functions category, the stereo regional equilibrium mode, the two-level zoning specification, and the territorial development intensity; it offers a zoning scheme that defines development-optimized and development-prioritized zones as regions with massive urbanization and industrialization, development-restricted zones as ecological constructing or grain producing regions, development-prohibited zones as natural and cultural heritage protecting regions; and finally it addresses the main obstacle for implementing ‘Major Function Oriented Zone’, which is the institutional arrangement of the supreme goal of high GDP growth rate that is currently being implemented.