Abstract
Since the founding of the new republic, China has always recognized its rural roots and attached great importance to the development of its rural areas. However, rural areas have experienced constant decline due to large-scale migration of rural residents to cities amidst the rapid development of the country in the past 70 years especially in the 40 years since its reform and opening up in 1978. The main reasons of the problem can the attributed to the constraints of its so-called urban-rural dual economic structure and the subsequently widening income gap between the rural and urban areas. In awareness of the problem, China has specified and emphasized the “three agro elements”, namely agriculture, the rural area and the farmers in its policy making and planning practices. In 2017, the government put forward the "Rural Revitalization Strategy" which calls for the integration of urban and rural development and the promotion of agricultural and rural modernization. From a planning perspective, the long-standing urban-rural dual structure of China has led to complicated and deeply rooted problems in the rural area over the past decades, as exemplified not only by the stagnant development and enduring impoverishment, but also the fading of traditional rural culture and spatial image, as well as disordered governance and ecological deterioration. Thus, the focus of rural planning practice has shifted from construction-based incremental planning to quality-oriented improvement planning. In this context, taking Taiqian County as a case study, the paper proposes the Urban-Rural Integration Unit (URIU) as the basic spatial unit in planning, and an instrument for implementing the rural revitalization strategy in rural areas. Starting from analyzing the current situation and problems of rural development in Taiqian, this paper explores the development path and ideas of the URIU under the background of rural revitalization. By attempting to integrate the spatial, industrial, administrative, ecological, and cultural factors through the URIU planning in the case county, the study aims to propose a planning framework of specific guidelines and practices, so as to promote the integration of urban and rural areas in the region and provide reference for the development of rural areas in China and other developing countries facing similar problems.
