China's Natural Resources Ministry: Shifting development momentum from land finance to spatiotemporal economy

On September 22, the State Council Information Office held a press conference under the series theme "A Strong Start to the 15th Five-Year Plan," detailing efforts to promote the safe, efficient, and sustainable use of natural resources.

New Planning Policies to Support Urban Renewal and Rural Revitalization

Zhuang Shaoqin, Vice Minister of Natural Resources, stated that the Ministry is currently deepening the reform of "multi-plan integration," particularly by strengthening the integration and innovation of planning and resource asset management reforms. A series of new planning policies and standards have been introduced to support urban renewal, rural revitalization, and industrial development.

These policies aim to expand value space from multiple dimensions, including:

• Safe development
• Coordinated development
• Intensive development
• Distinctive development
• Shared development

The goal is to guide local governments in tapping distinctive resources, revitalizing existing assets, and optimizing functional structures. This will help create more dynamic, innovative industrial communities, business communities, and high-quality community living circles, shifting the development driver from the traditional "land finance" model toward a "spatiotemporal economy."

Making Spatial Governance More Standardized and Orderly

Regarding how territorial spatial planning will support high-quality development during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, Zhuang Shaoqin emphasized that "development" is the key word for implementing territorial spatial planning in this period. The Ministry will focus on three key tasks:

1. Spatial Coordination

The Ministry will promote synergy between spatial planning and national development planning. Based on assessments of the National Territorial Spatial Planning Outline implementation, the supply of new construction land and other resources during the 15th Five-Year Plan period will be sufficient. The key lies in how to allocate and utilize these resources effectively.

Two approaches will be taken:

• Strengthening national strategic spatial coordination by formulating an optimized implementation plan for main functional zones, enhancing the overlapping effects of major strategic spaces, and reinforcing the guiding and constraining role of territorial spatial planning over specialized plans.
• Establishing a sound spatial access mechanism following the principle of "projects follow the plan, and factors follow the projects." Major projects included in the "one map" of territorial spatial planning will be granted a "green channel" to simplify approvals and accelerate early commencement and implementation.

2. Institutional Innovation

As urban and rural development enters a phase dominated by existing stock, many policies formed during the period of incremental expansion are no longer suitable for new development requirements. Territorial spatial planning, as a new planning framework emerging from the central ecological civilization system reform, aims to promote intensive, green, and high-quality development.

In the stock era, the responsibility of territorial spatial planning is to open up new development spaces and shape new development drivers, which also represents an advantage of the reform.

3. Implementation Supervision

Starting this year, the Ministry has established an annual health check and dynamic maintenance mechanism for planning implementation. This approach combines rigidity and flexibility—strengthening the seriousness and authority of planning while improving its adaptability.

Key measures include:

• Establishing a monitoring network for planning implementation based on the "one map"
• Implementing full-element, full-lifecycle management across all areas
• Strengthening planning inspection and law enforcement to resolutely curb violations that breach safety底线

The Territorial Spatial Planning Law has been included in the first category of the National People's Congress legislative plan, and the Ministry is accelerating related work.

Reducing Upfront Land Acquisition Costs

When asked how the Ministry will support urban renewal by increasing the revitalization of existing land stock during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, Vice Minister Zhang Wentong outlined the following approach:

During this period, the Ministry will further adapt to new urban development trends. As the focus shifts from large-scale incremental expansion to a new phase of improving quality and efficiency from existing stock, resource utilization will also change:

• From excessive reliance on incremental land to revitalizing existing land stock
• From resource transfer to resource operation
• From pursuing immediate land transfer revenue to combining the current realization of land resource value with long-term operational value

In this process, the synergy between planning and land policies will be further enhanced to promote the full integration of an effective government and an efficient market.

1. Planning Coordination

The leading role of planning will be upheld to control urban basic control lines while safeguarding urban public interests. Regional coordination will be emphasized, with further optimization of planning for specific existing land parcels, increased land-use compatibility, and better alignment with public demands and market needs to create more "land products."

2. Land Policies

Through continuous optimization of land policies, the upfront cost of land acquisition will be reduced, including:

• Adjusting the pace of land price payments
• Implementing land-use transition policies
• Introducing temporary land-use policies

These measures aim to control upfront land investment costs. Additionally, special supportive policies will be introduced, such as those supporting the service industry and new business forms and industries, making land acquisition more convenient while effectively managing costs.

3. Resource Allocation

The Ministry will further improve the tangible land market, promote tiered rights allocation, and advance combined supply mechanisms to enhance land value more effectively. The land reserve system will also be improved, following the principle of "reserving based on demand, supplying based on demand," shifting from current-period revenue to a combination of "current-period revenue + expected operational revenue."