Reshaping the New Capital

Influence of The City Plan of Nanking on the Practice of Urban Planning in Modern China in 1930s

Abstract

The City Plan of Nanking announced by the National Government of the Republic of China in 1929 was an epochal urban planning practice, whether in terms of planning content, structure or expression. It demonstrated a new goal-oriented, design-driven planning thought. The plan played an important role in the exploration of modern urban planning practice in China. The City Plan of Nanking as a construction standard was learnt and imitated by municipal governments all over the country, which greatly changed the direction of the preparation and development of urban planning in China. The provisions of relevant systems and laws in the planning content laid the foundation of the urban planning system and regime. The compilation and implementation of the capital plan in 1929 was the beginning of the road towards "scientific rationality" in modern Chinese urban planning practice. The concept of urban spatial planning, which combines nationalism, scientific rationality and the integration of China and the West, constructed in the plan, was the best expression of the spatial concept and planning technology of the times.