The role of community planners in urban regeneration of Beijing: from government to governance

In 2019, the community planner system was officially established in Beijing. Since then, every sub-district, town, and township is requested to employ professional planners or architects to serve urban construction at the community level, which is supported by the public funds. Through analyzing the evolution of the community planner (responsible planner) system, the presentation explores the reform of the grass-rout governance system and planner roles in Beijing, which has been changing the “elitism” and “top-down” planning tradition in China. It also discusses many related dilemmas such as value choosing and “responsibility-right” definition, with case study on several urban regeneration projects.