Tackling the uncertainty of spatial regulations in China: An institutional analysis of the multi-plan combination

To overcome the problems caused by the uncertainty of spatial regulations, a series of reforms have been proposed in China, although they are considered insufficient. In our study, we first analyse the inherent logic behind the spatial regulations in China from the perspective of two models (interest politics to legal order) and the context of the turn between these two models. The endogeneity and credibility thesis is adopted to explain why spatial regulation reforms that attempt to shift spatial regulation from interest politics to legal order are partial failures. This paper focuses on a case study of a multi-plan combination and argues that multi-plan combinations are spatial regulation reforms that changed interest politics in the current planning system to the legal order through uniform spatial regulation rules. The multi-plan combination reforms are not successful as the reform of multi-plan combinations, which are dominated by the Chinese central government and designed exogenously without endogeneity within governments and among the social public. Therefore, the reforms are ultimately empty institutions.