I. Sub-regional development strategy
1. 1 subregional strategic framework
The core development strategy of Greater London planning is to seek a new integrated and multi-center path to achieve its development goals, so it is particularly emphasized to provide a sustainable planning framework for development activities at the sub-regional level. In fact, many autonomous regions have gone beyond their own administrative boundaries. They have begun to cooperate with neighboring regions in planning and cooperate with many organizations to promote implementation at the subregional level. The city government of Greater London also tries to construct such an effective mechanism, that is, in the planning of Greater London, the flexible sub-regional approach is the best way to promote strategic policies and provide the focus for the implementation of these policies. Sub-regional partners will be the most important resources to implement the plan. The main investors include authoritative institutions and organizations in the sub-region and other relevant institutions and organizations in southeast England. These institutions include regional councils, development agencies in southeast and east England, regional forums and neighboring districts and counties.
There is no strict boundary in the sub-region defined in the plan, and the City of London is included in the East London sub-region, which will help to establish a strong link between the City of London and its eastern region. Strengthening this connection is an important part of the revival plan of the times portal. But at the same time, the City of London will maintain close ties with the traditional central London sub-region. The activities of the center span the two sub-regions of London Center and East London, and the City of London is a dual member participating in the development of East London and London Center. There are many other important cross-regional links, among which the link between Wanzworth and Richmond has an important influence.
The primary task of the municipal government is to provide comprehensive strategic guidance for the overall development of London as soon as possible after a long-term vacuum in regional planning. The sub-regional development framework proposed in the plan will fully consider the relationship between sub-regions and the potential benefits of complementary and sustainable corridor regional development across the London border. They will provide guidance for the development of each sub-region, including opportunity development areas, enhanced development areas and revitalization areas, as well as urban centers, suburbs and strategic employment areas. One of the most important functions of this framework is to determine how to ensure that the population and employment growth scale proposed in the plan can be supported after evaluating the necessary relationship between land use, traffic and intensity to meet these growing demands.
The draft of the sub-regional development framework will be completed and published for consultation as soon as possible. The first opportunity will be given to the East London area. On the premise of being consistent with the policies put forward in the Greater London Plan, this framework will provide more deepening and details in terms of operability and implementation stages; And in the future, through the review and adjustment of the plan and the necessary consultation methods, any demand for policy revision will be met.
The areas where Greater London plans to determine the sub-regional development strategy include: central London, northern London, western London, southern London, eastern London and the mouth of the Thames. Taking East London and the mouth of the Thames as examples, this paper introduces the contents of the sub-regional development strategy.
1.2 east London and Thames estuary development strategy
East London is the top priority of the municipal government's strategy to promote development, revival and infrastructure improvement. There are many large-scale development sites in London in this area, as well as a large number of very poor areas. By 20 16, East London needs to plan at least 104000 new families and 249000 jobs. The newly-built transportation infrastructure and the development plan launched by the land department will have an impact on the development and environmental improvement in this area. When these influences form a virtuous circle, the development activities in the subregion will continue and continue beyond the planning period. It is expected that many additional jobs will be arranged in opportunistic growth areas close to the City of London, such as urban fringe, Dog Island and Stratford. At the same time, the development of East London and central London needs unified and coordinated planning.
The mayor, the government and the British Olympic Committee played a pioneering role in London's bid to host the 20 12 Olympic Games, and the Olympic venues were mainly concentrated in East London. The Olympic Games will provide a powerful booster for the revival of East London, especially the Xiali Valley, promote the development of resources, push the planned infrastructure investment projects to be completed on schedule, and leave an invaluable legacy for future generations.
Most opportunities in London are in East London. Some areas are closely linked and need unified planning. At the same time, there are a large number of very poor areas. The service conditions and environmental quality in many parts of the subregion need to be improved urgently, and all parties need to make concerted efforts to improve the level of education, health services, public facilities and skills training. The mouth of the Thames River urgently needs to improve the environmental quality and enhance the image of the city.
East London has the potential to develop into a gateway to the European continent. There is Stratford International Railway Station, which is conveniently connected with the city of London and Stansted Airport, the cross-harbour tunnel and London Harbour. Dog Island and Stratford will be the biggest beneficiaries of the large-scale plan to improve traffic capacity and accessibility, and they will also be able to support the rapid growth level.
In addition to the above areas, there are many other areas with growth opportunities, such as Leigh Valley, Royal Pier, London Riverside, Parkridge, Depford Creek, Becton and Greenwich Peninsula. Kidbrook, woolwich and Royal Arsenal will provide opportunities for more compact and concentrated development, create new employment opportunities and attract people.
2. The special development strategy proposed in this plan.
2. 1 housing development strategy
Providing adequate housing supply is the most basic task of urban housing development strategy, but it is only a part of London housing development strategy. At the same time, London's housing development strategy will also ensure that people of all types and levels can enjoy important public services and local community facilities in their vibrant and balanced communities, thus reducing social isolation and differentiation. The location of future residential development needs to be conducive to more utilization of abandoned land and energy conservation, and ensure the accessibility of employment, schools, shops and public transportation. The supply of new housing will also contribute to economic growth and provide new owners with a wider range of choices, including affordable housing for social rental and middle-class needs.
Based on the forecast of London's population growth scale, it means that in the next 15 years, an additional 22,000 houses will be needed every year. In addition, the London Housing Committee predicts that if the policy goal of eradicating low-standard families in the next 10 year is to be achieved, it is necessary to increase 1 1 0,000 new houses. The Greater London Plan has established a policy framework for the allocation of housing capacity among autonomous regions and the implementation of development and monitoring. This policy will help to make better use of existing houses, because there are still a large number of vacant houses, especially in the private sector, and many houses may be repurchased for more active and effective use. At the same time, this policy is also conducive to new housing development, improving the housing selectivity, and fully reflecting the different needs arising from lifestyle changes.
Adequate supply of affordable housing is of great significance to achieve two goals: for those families who can't afford decent and suitable housing in their region, they can meet their own living needs; For the whole city, it is helpful to improve the quality of mixed communities and reverse the increasingly serious trend of isolation in housing selection and opportunity acquisition. At present, the shortage of affordable housing has caused more and more residents to live in temporary houses with narrow and crowded facilities and poor supply conditions for a long time; Besides, many people find it difficult to live in London because they have no place to live. Their choice is either to stay away from the city and travel long distances to work in London every day. Or leave the city completely.
In this plan, these problems have been highly valued: in the strategic goal of housing development set by the mayor, more than half of the newly built houses should be affordable housing, and a bill is being proposed to increase housing investment to ensure the realization of this goal. In addition, all new houses will be built according to the standard of "lifelong residence" to ensure that there are suitable, convenient and flexible houses to meet the changing needs of these families. To achieve this goal, the close cooperation and participation of all parties is a necessary prerequisite: the housing and planning departments of all districts need to cooperate more closely; Residents, district governments and developers need to participate more actively in this process. Among them, the disabled, ethnic minorities and other vulnerable groups have special needs not only for housing, but also for community services, medical care and education, which must be seriously considered and met. In order to meet the needs of the growing population, the planning of community services, health care and education is as important as housing planning.
2.2 Employment development strategy
The Greater London Plan proposes that there will be 636,000 jobs in London between now and 20 16. This means that to meet the needs of different fields and markets in London's economic development, the basic premise is to provide a large number of facilities with rich forms, scales and consumption standards and the support of supporting spatial development policies.
To maintain the employment advantage in the field of office business, it is a very critical issue to provide suitable office facilities. In 2002, the total office space in London reached 274 million square meters; The plan predicts that by 20 16, 7-9 million square meters of office space will be needed. But at the same time, traffic research shows that if the traffic capacity of these office facilities is not improved obviously, the existing traffic capacity can not support the normal operation of these office facilities. Therefore, in the long run, the adjustment and balance of this supply and demand relationship is particularly difficult; We need to adopt multi-pronged strategies and measures: actively encourage the development of mixed uses, strengthen the management of traffic improvement and development permits, ensure the supply of office and residential facilities, and promote the renewal and recycling of existing idle office space.
The plan predicts that in the future, the employment opportunities in London's manufacturing industry will be further reduced by about 80,000. At the same time, however, employment opportunities in the field of wholesale services will greatly increase. Generally speaking, from now until 20 16, there will still be a large number of various types of industries in London, especially high value-added design industries, which will play an extremely important role in the future knowledge economy. These employment opportunities mainly come from engineering, biotechnology, medical equipment, drug separation technology and other fields, and are carried out by universities, medical research institutions and the National Health Service (NHS) in London. Therefore, the planning and design of strategic employment areas is particularly important, and it is necessary to comprehensively consider the requirements of enterprise agglomeration, capacity, environment, accessibility and cost. The planning of commercial industrial parks of large companies needs to provide high-quality environmental conditions; In areas where industrial development is given priority, the main consideration is to meet the needs of companies that require less environmental quality.
A large number of new and dynamic employment fields can further consolidate London's economic foundation and expand the scope of growth. These areas include e-commerce activities, creative industries and environmental protection industries. Tourism will also develop into an important high-speed growth industry. Prior to this, the government has taken a series of actions to revive the competitiveness of London's tourism industry.
To ensure that London residents can fully grasp the opportunities of employment growth, the most important thing is to provide them with the right and opportunity to continue their studies, help them improve their skills and overcome employment barriers, especially for ethnic minority groups, the disabled and women. The goal of the government's employment policy is not only to improve the balance between population and employment in London, but more importantly, to promote the realization of the goal of social sustainable development.
2.3 traffic development strategy
The goal of formulating London's transportation development strategy is not only to ensure the smooth flow of people and goods, but also to provide strong support for the capital to move towards a world city with sustainable development demonstration significance. To achieve this goal, transportation planning and spatial development planning must be highly integrated. Strengthening the accessibility of public transport, constantly improving and perfecting various modes of travel such as walking, cycling and public transport, and reducing dependence on private cars are necessary conditions for sustainable development. On the one hand, it is necessary to provide adequate public transportation for those areas with the most intensive public activities; On the other hand, those development activities that may generate huge traffic demand must also be concentrated in those areas that already exist or have planned sufficient public transport capacity.
As the capital and international metropolis, the traffic demand generated by London is not local, but has national and international characteristics. In order to promote the development of London and ensure its leading position in the world economic structure, it is necessary to further improve the accessibility of airports, international stations and the English Channel Tunnel. But at the same time, the construction of these strategic transportation facilities, such as the new airport terminal and runway, port expansion, new urban roads and light rail lines, will also have an important impact on the urban environment. Therefore, traffic development must be closely combined with the protection of the quality of living environment in London. In this Greater London Plan, the sustained and coordinated growth of airport scale and the development of new railway lines will be strongly supported, because this will also play an important role in the revival of the gateway area of the times.
Public transport plays a very important role in London's transportation system. The traffic development strategy formulated by the municipal government puts forward the future public transportation development plan 15, covering the planning of railways, subways and light rails in the dock area, public transportation and electricity, and the planning of crossing the Thames. This Greater London Plan integrates all these contents into the spatial development strategy. The improvement of public transport will also play a very important role in reducing traffic congestion and making better use of street space in London.
The significance of reducing traffic congestion in central London is not only to reduce congestion, but also to help London's street space become healthier and more orderly, providing better accessibility for users with diverse needs; It makes walking and cycling more pleasant and comfortable, thus gradually replacing private cars. The main new development activities proposed in the plan should provide high-quality, independent pedestrian systems and bicycle lanes, as well as convenient access to bus stations, railway stations and public transport facilities to reduce dependence on private cars. In the past, due to the use of a large number of cars, many valuable urban land had to be used as parking lots, which was inefficient. Reducing the use of private cars means that the use efficiency of these lands can be improved and the vitality and vitality of urban space can be enhanced. In addition, the efficient distribution of logistics is also very important to London's economic development, which needs to be actively and effectively organized and managed to reduce traffic congestion and avoid environmental damage.
2.4 Service Industry Development Strategy
A sustainable and inclusive spatial development strategy should provide the best barrier-free environment for shopping and leisure activities for most people, including those who rarely enjoy these activities at present. In order to achieve this goal, the Greater London Plan puts forward the policy of "structured choice", that is, those retail, leisure and entertainment facilities and other service facilities are arranged in the most accessible places, and these facilities are arranged in a balanced way between the central area of London, the town center and areas like the Gate of the Times. With the increasing diversification of functions, the vitality and adaptability of these town centers will be improved. The mixed-function town center will become the most attractive place in the surrounding communities, and its commercial development activities are more sustainable than other regions. Because of the development outside the town center, there will be huge traffic flow, but for many people, accessibility is poor. There are many successful urban centers in London, and the formation of this pattern will lay a spatial foundation for a balanced multi-center development strategy.
As an international metropolis, London benefits from the support of a large number of cultural organizations with international influence and importance, which is the most attractive place for most London tourists. Local theaters, libraries and other cultural facilities are very important to the town center and central London. But in some parts of the suburbs of London, especially in the east, these facilities are quite scarce. The plan proposes that new cultural facilities will be developed in the city center and the Thames estuary, which is of great significance to local towns and sub-regions. These facilities can not only meet the needs of local residents, but also create new tourist attractions outside central London. The development activities of these cultural facilities will be closely combined with the renewal plan of the city center, especially with the development plan of reviving the suburban center. It is very important for London's economic development to keep the vitality of nightlife in the capital while reducing its negative impact. The goal of the government's tourism development strategy is to make London a global tourist destination and tourist service base.
London's colorful public open space is an important factor to form its urban characteristics and openness. For local communities, public open space is the most precious public resource and the most attractive place, which helps to enhance local vitality, promote the formation of regional intentions, and has a positive impact on attracting foreign investment. Public open space not only provides a buffer for the built environment, but also provides opportunities for leisure activities, which is of great significance to the health, welfare and quality of life of community residents. In the future, it will be possible for London to develop in a more compact mode, so it will be extremely important to maintain and improve the quality of open space. Land that plays an extremely important role in maintaining biodiversity should be strictly protected. In all newly developed places, development activities must include one of the following contents: new or increased natural habitats for animals and plants, or landscape design that helps to enhance biodiversity, or facilities for ecological environment management.
2.5 Resource utilization and environmental protection strategies
The sustainable development of London requires more effective use of natural resources, improving the level of resource recycling, reducing waste emissions and avoiding environmental degradation. The rapid growth of urban demand in the future makes these goals even more important, requiring London to become a more self-sufficient city and a better neighbor in the surrounding areas.
London produces a large number of commercial and polluting wastes that can only be treated internally every day. But now less than half of these wastes are recycled, and this level needs to be greatly improved. The garbage disposal policy proposed in this Greater London Plan includes three aspects: reducing garbage discharge, strengthening garbage recycling, and reducing garbage disposal through incineration and recycling. The development and reuse of "brown zone" will provide new opportunities for dealing with the pollution problems formed in the past and reducing the impact on the environment.
The plan is closely integrated with the energy development strategy formulated by the government. The proposed strategies are: improving energy utilization efficiency and strengthening resource recycling; The design and construction with sustainable concepts and methods will help reduce energy demand and promote local power generation and heating; The organic combination of heat, electricity and community heating plan can effectively improve energy efficiency; We should actively encourage the use of new technologies such as photoelectric technology and solar energy, and incorporate them into large-scale development plans as far as possible; In the face of the increasingly significant environmental impact brought by global climate change, London should play an important role in reducing carbon dioxide emissions; We should attach great importance to urban safety and provide flood control facilities where necessary.
The sustainable development of London must be based on reliable and clean water supply. However, the construction of water supply facilities is not only very expensive, but also takes a long time. Therefore, we cannot simply absorb more water from the existing water sources to maintain our rapid growth, but we must attach great importance to taking water-saving measures. The existing pipelines need to be maintained continuously, and the standards of newly laid pipelines should be improved to reduce the loss of water resources caused by pipeline leakage. Large-scale construction and development activities in London need sufficient supply of building materials, but long-distance transportation of these huge materials is not only a great waste of resource utilization, but also very prone to pollution. The recycling of waste and building materials will help to reduce the negative impact of future development activities on society.
The air quality control and improvement strategy put forward by the government is to reduce the emission of major pollutants, reduce their emission concentration, and control them at a level that will not adversely affect human health; Through the adjustment and optimization of urban spatial layout, traffic trips can be reduced and air pollution caused by traffic can be alleviated; By improving the design level, energy efficiency can be improved and pollution emissions can be reduced. Therefore, air quality impact assessment needs to be included in all planning processes. In the future, with the increase of urban development density, more active and powerful measures should be taken to control the adverse effects of noise on surrounding areas.