A Critical Analysis of Beijing's Urban Planning: Economic, Transportation, and Demographic Perspectives

Menghan Wang

doi:10.54254/2753-7064/2025.LC25532

Communications in Humanities ResearchOpen access

A Critical Analysis of Beijing's Urban Planning: Economic, Transportation, and Demographic Perspectives

Research Article

Open Access

A Critical Analysis of Beijing's Urban Planning: Economic, Transportation, and Demographic Perspectives

Menghan Wang ^1*

¹ Bayi International Department

^*Corresponding author: Menghan.wang@bayism.cn

Published on 30 July 2025

CHR Vol.74

ISSN (Print): 2753-7072

ISSN (Online): 2753-7064

ISBN (Print): 978-1-80590-301-7

ISBN (Online): 978-1-80590-302-4

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Abstract

This paper presents a comprehensive review of Beijing’s urban development planning, focusing on its development process, current situation, and future optimization directions. Firstly, it outlines key changes in urban layout and development strategies across different policy periods. Then, it analyzes Beijing's urban planning from three core dimensions: economy, transportation, and population, summarizing development patterns and evaluating advantages and disadvantages. Economically, Beijing has promoted development through spatial planning for consumption and production, implementing an industrial map and a commercial consumption layout plan to guide industries and improve enterprise efficiency. In transportation, the city has worked to optimize spatial structure to better support industrial and consumption needs. Regarding population, Beijing’s demographic evolution reflects shifts in urban positioning, with planning efforts moving from rapid growth to stable, coordinated development. As China’s political, cultural, and innovation hub, Beijing should continue embracing concepts of innovation, coordination, green development, openness, and sharing. Scientific urban planning plays a vital role in enhancing development quality, improving residents’ well-being, and providing valuable insights for future planning both in Beijing and other cities.

Keywords:

Beijing, Urban planning, Economic development, Traffic management, Population control

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References

[1]. He, C. D., Shi, X. D., Zhao, F., Chen, J., & Wang, L. (2014). The evolution of Beijing’s master plan and innovations in overall planning. Urban Planning, 38(10), 28–34.

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[3]. Sun, H. M. (2005). The foundation of the new Beijing master plan: On the formulation, implementation, and historical value of the 1958 master plan. In Collected Papers on Beijing Studies 2005 (pp. 5–12). Beijing Municipal Planning Commission.

[4]. Long, Y. (2005). Ten sustainable development strategies in urban master planning: A case study of Beijing Urban Master Plan (2004–2020). In Urban Planning Face-to-Face—Proceedings of the 2005 Annual Urban Planning Conference (Vol. 1) (pp. 378–386). Planning Research Office, Beijing Urban Planning & Design Institute.

[5]. Wang, S. Y. (2019). Beijing Urban Master Plan (2016–2035). In Strategic Implementation and Coordinated Integration of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (pp. 69–75).

[6]. The Paper. (n.d.). Special Plan for the Commercial Consumption Space Layout of Beijing (2022–2035) officially released. Retrieved from https: //www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_20998320

[7]. Beijing Municipal Commission of Planning and Natural Resources. (n.d.). Beijing 2035: Optimizing urban spatial layout and clarifying functional positioning of each district. Retrieved from https: //ghzrzyw.beijing.gov.cn/zhengwuxinxi/ghcg/ghjd/202405/t20240528_3697326.html

[8]. Sohu. (2017, October 11). Beijing's new master plan released: One core, one main, one sub-center, two axes, multiple points, one zone. Retrieved from https: //www.sohu.com/a/197515139_742310

[9]. Beijing Municipal Government. (2025, February 25). Beijing’s Comprehensive Transportation Management Action Plan (2025). Retrieved from https: //www.beijing.gov.cn/zhengce/zhengcefagui/202502/t20250224_4017915.html

References

[1]. He, C. D., Shi, X. D., Zhao, F., Chen, J., & Wang, L. (2014). The evolution of Beijing’s master plan and innovations in overall planning. Urban Planning, 38(10), 28–34.

[5]. Wang, S. Y. (2019). Beijing Urban Master Plan (2016–2035). In Strategic Implementation and Coordinated Integration of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (pp. 69–75).

[6]. The Paper. (n.d.). Special Plan for the Commercial Consumption Space Layout of Beijing (2022–2035) officially released. Retrieved from https: //www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_20998320

[8]. Sohu. (2017, October 11). Beijing's new master plan released: One core, one main, one sub-center, two axes, multiple points, one zone. Retrieved from https: //www.sohu.com/a/197515139_742310

Cite this article

Wang,M. (2025). A Critical Analysis of Beijing's Urban Planning: Economic, Transportation, and Demographic Perspectives. Communications in Humanities Research,74,45-51.

Data availability

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study will be available from the authors upon reasonable request.

About volume

Volume title: Proceedings of ICADSS 2025 Symposium: Art, Identity, and Society: Interdisciplinary Dialogues

ISBN: 978-1-80590-301-7(Print) / 978-1-80590-302-4(Online)

Editor: Ioannis Panagiotou, Yanhua Qin

Conference website: https://www.icadss.org/Lincoln.html

Conference date: 22 August 2025

Series: Communications in Humanities Research

Volume number: Vol.74

ISSN: 2753-7064(Print) / 2753-7072(Online)

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