Attention should be paid to the change from quantity to quality in the development of small towns

China Economic News Network: since the reform and opening up, with the rapid growth of the national economy and the continuous deepening of rural reform, China's small towns have developed rapidly and made remarkable achievements. By the end of 2008, there were 34301 small towns in China, of which the number of established towns increased from 2173 in 1978 to 19234 now. The built-up area of small towns has a population of 172 million, accounting for 18.2% of the total population of villages and towns. Small towns are playing a more and more important role in promoting the adjustment of industrial structure, increasing farmers' income and absorbing rural surplus labor force.

But generally speaking, the number of small towns in China is large and the scale is small, and the development in the past 30 years is mainly manifested in the expansion of quantity. Compared with the "urban disease" caused by improper planning and blind expansion, there are some problems in small towns, such as generally small scale, serious environmental pollution, "one side of a thousand towns", unmatched infrastructure and public facilities, and so on. More prominent.

Promoting urbanization is a major strategic task for China to enter the 21st century, and the upcoming "Twelfth five-year Plan" is a key period for the development of urbanization and building a well-off society in an all-round way. How to give full play to the important role of small towns in urbanization and the overall development of urban and rural areas, truly implement the large strategy of small towns, and promote the healthy and orderly development of urbanization in China during the 12th five-year Plan period, there is an urgent need to pay attention to the main problems existing in the construction and development of small towns at the present stage, and strive to promote the transformation of the development mode of small towns from quantity to quality.

I. developing the economy of small towns and expanding the scale of key towns

At present, the most important problem in the development of small towns in China is that the scale is generally small and the ability to drive the surrounding rural areas is not strong. In order to fundamentally change the current situation that the scale of small towns is generally too small, during the 12th five-year Plan period, the urgent task is to develop the economy of small towns, actively cultivate leading industries with distinctive characteristics, speed up industrial agglomeration, and expand economic scale. For small towns with a good industrial foundation, we should earnestly do a good job in the planning of industrial parks, do a good job in the construction of industrial parks, highlight leading industries, vigorously develop urban industry and service industries, and introduce more labor-intensive enterprises with great development potential and less pollution. For agriculture-oriented small towns, we should improve the scientific and technological content of agricultural development and actively develop modern agriculture with great inclusiveness and long industrial chain.

Secondly, actively implement the cultivation project of key towns. The development of small towns should not be carried out in a rush, but should give prominence to key points. By comprehensively considering the location advantages and industrial foundation of small towns, we select some central towns with superior conditions, great development potential and good development foundation for key cultivation, and develop them into regional economic centers and basic public service platforms in urban and rural areas. For these key towns, in addition to increasing investment, the government should also issue targeted and effective all-round encouragement and support policies as soon as possible, with the goal of establishing a town government with clear functions, reasonable structure, capable and efficient, expand the management authority of small towns, adopt preferential policies of taxes and fees, improve the investment environment of small towns, and promote the economic development of small towns. The land management department should appropriately tilt and give priority to the index of construction land in small towns.

Secondly, governments at all levels must deepen their understanding of the development of small towns. The blind withdrawal of villages and towns and the merger of towns and towns may be a "shortcut" for small towns to "become bigger and stronger" in a short period of time, but it is definitely not a bright road to great goals. The withdrawal of townships and towns must be prudent, all factors in small towns must be comprehensively considered, the wishes of the broad masses of farmers and grass-roots cadres must be respected, and decisions must not be made on the head.

In addition, in small towns with favorable conditions, the pilot work of "two-for-two exchange" should be carried out as soon as possible to speed up the construction of new rural communities. In the economically developed areas where most of the rural labor force has been transferred to the secondary and tertiary industries, it is of great significance to carry out the pilot work of "two-part and two-exchange" to improve the living conditions of farmers, promote the agglomeration of the rural population to key towns, and promote the saving and intensive use of land in rural areas. it is of great significance to change the mode of agricultural development.

II. Earnestly strengthen the planning of small towns

Small town planning is not only the main basis for the rational distribution of spatial elements such as infrastructure in small towns, but also the main means to coordinate economic, social and environmental development. In recent years, the planning of small towns has been paid more and more attention, and most of them have worked out the overall planning. However, in terms of quality, a considerable number of them are not high-level and scientific, which is prominently manifested in that the planning is divorced from the reality of small towns, neglects the characteristics of small towns, and pursues the so-called "modernization" style. In view of this, we must strengthen the planning work of small towns: on the one hand, we should change the concept of planning, proceed from the reality of small towns and work out planning at a high level, so as to prevent small town planning from simply copying the wrong tendency of cities; on the other hand, we should actively carry out law enforcement inspection of planning and establish the authority of small town planning.

At present, the overall planning of the town has been basically popularized. While further improving the quality of the overall planning, the planning of the established town should also develop towards two ends. First, develop to weak urban system planning and formulate county (city) urban system planning. The second is to develop towards detailed planning. The history of the overall planning of key towns directly guiding the construction of small towns should come to an end. In addition, it is suggested that governments at all levels and construction administrative departments should, within their respective authority, establish planning assistance centers for villages and towns, and through this form, integrate planning human resources with serious uneven distribution in the region. In this way, it can not only overcome the waste of resources caused by the lack of production tasks in some planning and design units, but also make up for the urgent demand for planning talents in villages and towns, so as to achieve the purpose of serving the planning of small towns.

Third, increase government investment to change the shortage of infrastructure and public facilities in small towns

Infrastructure and public service facilities, as the hardware support system for the development of small towns, are not only related to the operational efficiency of small towns, but also have an important impact on the economies of scale of small towns. Although the infrastructure and public facilities of small towns in China have been significantly improved after years of construction and development, the shortage and backwardness of facilities is still a bottleneck restricting the development of small towns. To investigate the reason, the long-term neglect of public finance investment in small towns is the most important factor leading to the shortage of facilities. In 2008, the total investment in municipal utilities in cities was 736.8 billion yuan, and the average investment density per unit urban built-up area was 22.54 million yuan per square kilometer, while that of the established town was 72.6 billion yuan, with an average investment density of 2.4 million yuan per square kilometer, which was less than that of the city, while that of the township was 9.95 billion yuan, with an average investment density of 1.23 million yuan per square kilometer, which was only one square kilometer of the city.

The single capital channel and the imperfect investment and financing system are another reason for the shortage of infrastructure and public service facilities in small towns. In many places, government investment is still the only source of funding for infrastructure and public service construction. Small towns lack an effective mechanism to attract social capital and mobilize social idle funds to invest in the construction of small towns.

The unreasonable financial distribution system is the institutional defect that leads to the shortage of infrastructure and public service facilities in small towns. Most small town governments have no independent financial power, and in order to increase financial revenue, they tend to obtain construction funds through land auction. In the small towns in the central and western regions, due to the lack of channels for self-financing, and the "food finance" in the budget will also crowd out the construction funds, the shortage of funds for the construction of small towns is further aggravated.

During the Twelfth five-year Plan period, governments at all levels must change the traditional concept of valuing cities over towns, make equalization of basic public services in urban and rural areas the primary goal of overall urban and rural development, and earnestly increase investment in infrastructure and public service facilities in small towns, especially in key towns with great potential, good foundation and outstanding geographical advantages. It is necessary to reform the current unreasonable financial distribution system and give the governments of small towns greater financial autonomy in accordance with the principle of unity of responsibilities, powers, and interests. It is necessary to establish a diversified investment and financing system and increase financial support for the infrastructure construction of small towns. It is necessary to adhere to the direction of marketization, and encourage social capital input in accordance with the principle of "who invests, who owns, and who benefits" construction projects such as water supply and gas supply in small towns that are to a certain extent responsible for their own profits and losses, and support enterprises and individuals to participate in construction, operation and management. For small towns with obvious geographical advantages and great potential for land appreciation, land use rights can be bundled with specific infrastructure construction projects to raise construction funds.

IV. carry out environmental renovation in small towns and improve the living environment of small towns

In history, it is not uncommon for a city or even a town to perish because of environmental degradation. Today, with the development of economy and construction of small towns, the problem of environmental pollution in small towns is becoming increasingly prominent. It can be said that environmental pollution in small towns can be seen everywhere, and the phenomenon of "modernization inside the house and dirty mess outside" is very common. In the process of building a new socialist countryside, great changes have taken place in the appearance of some villages after renovation. In contrast, some small towns are not as clean and tidy as some villages, forming a unique phenomenon of "hot at both ends of urban village construction and cold in the middle of small town renovation".

During the 12th five-year Plan period, on the basis of learning from the experience of village renovation, the government should promptly carry out and strengthen the renovation of small towns, and put the environmental governance of small towns at its due height. we will earnestly strengthen the investment in the environmental infrastructure of small towns, which is the weakest link. All small towns that have been incorporated into the sewage pipe network system in the central urban area should fully rely on the urban area and be included in the urban infrastructure construction planning. Small towns with relatively dense distribution in a certain area should take key towns as the center and actively coordinate the co-construction and sharing of environmental infrastructure. Garbage in small towns should be disposed of step by step in accordance with the way of "household collection, village collection, town transportation and city (county) disposal".

V. innovate the management system of small towns and improve the management level of small towns

At present, the management level of small towns is not high, which has a serious negative impact on the development of small towns. The main reasons for the low level of management of small towns are as follows: first, the management system is not smooth. For a long time, the management function of small town government is controlled by "rules" and lacks due autonomy and management power. Second, the management foundation is weak. Small towns are generally faced with problems such as lack of managers, lack of management funds, low level of management and even lack of some management organizations. Third, there are many branches of government. There are still conflicts between some policies, which makes the small town government at a loss as to what to do. Fourth, the relevant laws and regulations are not perfect.

The government of small towns has direct organization and management responsibility for the construction and development of small towns. During the Twelfth five-year Plan period, in order to fundamentally improve the management level of small towns, we must first follow the principles of market economy, innovate the management system of small towns, and let the governments of small towns have the autonomy to match their responsibilities. Secondly, on the basis of the relevant provisions of the Urban and Rural Planning Law, the regulations on the Planning and Construction of villages and Market towns should be revised and promulgated as soon as possible to establish a legal system for the management of village and town construction based on "one law and one regulation". Finally, strengthen the training of government leaders and relevant managers in small towns. In order to regularize and institutionalize the training work, it is suggested that the China Mayors Association should be established to learn from the experience of the Chinese Mayors Association. The China Mayors Association provides various forms of systematic training services specifically for the mayors of small towns. In addition, by editing journals and relevant materials, we can provide a variety of information services for small towns, communicate the relationship between small towns, small towns and relevant departments, and appropriately carry out exchanges and cooperation with foreign small towns and relevant research institutions, we will promote the reform and opening up of small towns in an all-round way.

Research Group of the Policy Research Center of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development