Greenways as a New Planning Strategy in the Pearl River Delta, China

The term of greenway is a derivation from greenbelt and parkway, which refer to linear green open spaces that serve for ecological, recreational, cultural, aesthetic, or other purposes compatible with the concept of sustainable land use. In the 1990s, the greenway movement in the world arose as a response, driven by basic human needs, to urbanization. In the diverse contexts, greenways have been an adaptive landscape form that have been involved in diverse fields, including landscape architecture, recreational policies, environmental protection, and ecological conservation. While the multiple benefits of greenways have been intensively investigated, greenways are receiving increasing interests in public policies, especially in those regions that are dealing with issues associated with the rapid urbanization. However, while the heterogeneity of the forms and functions of greenways increases, few researches focus on the interplay among the greenway discourse, natural-spatial conditions, institutional practices, and their influences on greenway spaces and public perceptions. 

As a new planning strategy, greenways were first adopted in a government report, Proposal of the Pearl River Delta Greenway Network drawing on foreign experiences, to the Provincial Party Secretary in 2009. With the approval of Guangdong Province Government, a three-year campaign for the Pearl River Delta Greenway Network was initiated, in which nine municipalities were involved. The campaign not only established a greenway network of 7,350 kilometers, but also transform the regional discourse of greenways into the institutional practices at local level, which led to the growth of greenways after 2012 and reached to over 150,000 kilometers in 2019. In the meantime, the PRD greenways have been seen as pilot project in China and lead to a nationwide greenway movement. According to the Ministry of Housing and Urban-rural development, 56,000 kilometers of greenways in 31 provinces were developed during 2010 and 2018. But there also has been a long-term debate on the functions and forms of the PRD greenways, in which some actors and scholars criticize the PRD greenways for lacking ecological concerns and the overlap of greenways and existing transportation infrastructures. However, few evidences were found in the existing literature that can examine these arguments, as well as can elaborate the possible causes and potential issues.  

Through in-depth empirical studies in the PRD, this research argues that the relation between planning background and planning activities play an important role in influencing the planning outcomes. The empirical findings show that, because of the scale of metropolitan region, intensively developed landscape context, and diverse issues associated with the rapid urbanization, the provincial and municipal government develop a special approach so that the greenway network could be established in short time. First, drawing on the institutional tradition of pressurized system, the provincial government initiated a centralized institutional structure to promote multi-government cooperation and to supervise the assignments that are distributed to the lower-level governments. Second, instead of land acquisition for new corridors, local governments prefer to integrate existing open spaces that are of public rights-of-way, so that rapid development of greenways could be rapidly achieved without consuming the valuable land quotas. Third, in the implementation of greenways, the original ownership and particularly the administrative jurisdictions usually remain unchanged, which also help to identify the responsible actors of finance and construction, as well as post-campaign management and maintenance. From the perspective of landscape governance, these arrangements could be seen as adaptive strategies to combine the greenways and the pressurized system as the regional discourse, and to solve the policy conflicts between the regional discourse and local practices at different stages.

In the end, transportation, recreational, social and economic benefits were found in many cases. In general, the development of the PRD greenways contributes to provide transportation route and recreational resources to both urban and rural areas. In particular, greenways are serving as compensatory public goods, such as non-motorized infrastructure, street greeneries and recreational facilities, to areas that used to lack government investment. In addition, greenways help to establish tourism economy in some villages that are struggling with issues of poverty and outflowing population.

However, the centralized institutional structure in the PRD also results in a series of new issues. First, the greenway development in the PRD has high dependency of the administrative system, while the decrease political attention could lead to insufficient investment and management of greenway at the post-campaign stage. Second, the participation of social groups is still rare in the PRD greenways, which usually play important roles in acquiring land, applying funds, management and maintenance. Third, because of the tight schedule and inadequate resources, transportation-led greenways become the primary form of greenways, which result in conflicting perception of greenways, and serious challenges to the recreational and ecological values of greenways.

Through case of Shenzhen, this research unravels the heterogeneity in the greenway network, which disparities of the corridor width, traffic impact and land use were found in Shenzhen. Corridor width, traffic impact and land use are crucial factors in determining the conservational, recreational and transportation values, which are the “three-legged stool” of greenways. However, the empirical findings in Shenzhen show that, although there are many off-road greenways have wide green corridors, the majority of greenways are developed based on the existing transportation infrastructure and street greeneries. These transportation-led greenways are result of the special approach of greenway development in the PRD. In addition, they also reflect the rising trend of so-called “new urban greenways”, which serve as alternative transportation in intensively developed cities and are widely found in the world.

The investigation of public perception also proves the recreational benefits, and transportation-led greenways as the common form of the PRD greenways. The majority of the respondents recognize positive impacts of greenways on their life of quality. The results further reveal that although greenways comprise a network of high density in the PRD, the respondents still have difficulties in accessing greenways. The primary reason is that many of the developed greenways do not have identifiable characteristics in the surrounding landscape, in contrast with those streets without greenways. Furthermore, although ecological benefits are rarely recognized, the respondents suggest that there are many demands that greenways can serve, including both hiking trails in outskirts and everyday commute routes. From this perspective, as a new planning strategy, greenways are evolving into various forms, such as South China Historical Trails and Guangdong Blueways, to serve the diverse needs.

Situating within the Chinese context, this research outline two policy implications. On the one hand, rather than diverse lowest-level government unit, professional agencies for greenway development and maintenance are required, which also need policy support for setting special funds and encouraging public participation. On the other hand, more attention should be paid to the heterogeneity of greenways and the examination of the proposed planning goals, while evidence-based planning is still commonly absent in practices and leads to issues of inconsistency between planning goals and planning outcomes.

The term of greenway is a derivation from greenbelt and parkway, which refer to linear green open spaces that serve for ecological, recreational, cultural, aesthetic, or other purposes compatible with the concept of sustainable land use. In the 1990s, the greenway movement in the world arose as a response, driven by basic human needs, to urbanization. In the diverse contexts, greenways have been an adaptive landscape form that have been involved in diverse fields, including landscape architecture, recreational policies, environmental protection, and ecological conservation. While the multiple benefits of greenways have been intensively investigated, greenways are receiving increasing interests in public policies, especially in those regions that are dealing with issues associated with the rapid urbanization. However, while the heterogeneity of the forms and functions of greenways increases, few researches focus on the interplay among the greenway discourse, natural-spatial conditions, institutional practices, and their influences on greenway spaces and public perceptions. In particular, most of the existing studies have

As a new planning strategy, greenways were first adopted in a government report, Proposal of the Pearl River Delta Greenway Network drawing on foreign experiences, to the Provincial Party Secretary in 2009. With the approval of Guangdong Province Government, a three-year campaign for the Pearl River Delta Greenway Network was initiated, in which nine municipalities were involved. The campaign not only established a greenway network of 7,350 kilometers, but also transform the regional discourse of greenways into the institutional practices at local level, which led to the growth of greenways after 2012 and reached to over 150,000 kilometers in 2019. In the meantime, the PRD greenways have been seen as pilot project in China and lead to a nationwide greenway movement. According to the Ministry of Housing and Urban-rural development, 56,000 kilometers of greenways in 31 provinces were developed during 2010 and 2018. But there also has been a long-term debate on the functions and forms of the PRD greenways, in which some actors and scholars criticize the PRD greenways for lacking ecological concerns and the overlap of greenways and existing transportation infrastructures. However, few evidences were found in the existing literature that can examine these arguments, as well as can elaborate the possible causes and potential issues.  

Through in-depth empirical studies in the PRD, this research argues that the relation between planning background and planning activities play an important role in influencing the planning outcomes. The empirical findings show that, because of the scale of metropolitan region, intensively developed landscape context, and diverse issues associated with the rapid urbanization, the provincial and municipal government develop a special approach so that the greenway network could be established in short time. First, drawing on the institutional tradition of pressurized system, the provincial government initiated a centralized institutional structure to promote multi-government cooperation and to supervise the assignments that are distributed to the lower-level governments. Second, instead of land acquisition for new corridors, local governments prefer to integrate existing open spaces that are of public rights-of-way, so that rapid development of greenways could be rapidly achieved without consuming the valuable land quotas. Third, in the implementation of greenways, the original ownership and particularly the administrative jurisdictions usually remain unchanged, which also help to identify the responsible actors of finance and construction, as well as post-campaign management and maintenance. From the perspective of landscape governance, these arrangements could be seen as adaptive strategies to combine the greenways and the pressurized system as the regional discourse, and to solve the policy conflicts between the regional discourse and local practices at different stages.

In the end, transportation, recreational, social and economic benefits were found in many cases. In general, the development of the PRD greenways contributes to provide transportation route and recreational resources to both urban and rural areas. In particular, greenways are serving as compensatory public goods, such as non-motorized infrastructure, street greeneries and recreational facilities, to areas that used to lack government investment. In addition, greenways help to establish tourism economy in some villages that are struggling with issues of poverty and outflowing population.

However, the centralized institutional structure in the PRD also results in a series of new issues. First, the greenway development in the PRD has high dependency of the administrative system, while the decrease political attention could lead to insufficient investment and management of greenway at the post-campaign stage. Second, the participation of social groups is still rare in the PRD greenways, which usually play important roles in acquiring land, applying funds, management and maintenance. Third, because of the tight schedule and inadequate resources, transportation-led greenways become the primary form of greenways, which result in conflicting perception of greenways, and serious challenges to the recreational and ecological values of greenways.

Through case of Shenzhen, this research unravels the heterogeneity in the greenway network, which disparities of the corridor width, traffic impact and land use were found in Shenzhen. Corridor width, traffic impact and land use are crucial factors in determining the conservational, recreational and transportation values, which are the “three-legged stool” of greenways. However, the empirical findings in Shenzhen show that, although there are many off-road greenways have wide green corridors, the majority of greenways are developed based on the existing transportation infrastructure and street greeneries. These transportation-led greenways are result of the special approach of greenway development in the PRD. In addition, they also reflect the rising trend of so-called “new urban greenways”, which serve as alternative transportation in intensively developed cities and are widely found in the world.

The investigation of public perception also proves the recreational benefits, and transportation-led greenways as the common form of the PRD greenways. The majority of the respondents recognize positive impacts of greenways on their life of quality. The results further reveal that although greenways comprise a network of high density in the PRD, the respondents still have difficulties in accessing greenways. The primary reason is that many of the developed greenways do not have identifiable characteristics in the surrounding landscape, in contrast with those streets without greenways. Furthermore, although ecological benefits are rarely recognized, the respondents suggest that there are many demands that greenways can serve, including both hiking trails in outskirts and everyday commute routes. From this perspective, as a new planning strategy, greenways are evolving into various forms, such as South China Historical Trails and Guangdong Blueways, to serve the diverse needs.

Situating within the Chinese context, this research outline two policy implications. On the one hand, rather than diverse lowest-level government unit, professional agencies for greenway development and maintenance are required, which also need policy support for setting special funds and encouraging public participation. On the other hand, more attention should be paid to the heterogeneity of greenways and the examination of the proposed planning goals, while evidence-based planning is still commonly absent in practices and leads to issues of inconsistency between planning goals and planning outcomes.