POST-EARTHQUAKE RECONSTRUCTION: TOWARDS A MUCH MORE PARTICIPATORY PLANNING

After the devastating Great Wenchuan Earthquake occured in May 2008, China responded rapidly to mitigate the losses caused. Post-earthquake reconstruction planning plays a crucial role to the future development of earthquake struck areas. The post-earthquake reconstruction planning work has demonstrated to be an immediate action and tends to be a much more open and participatory. Since the influence of long term planned economy in the past and its centralised administration system, planning in China is comparatively information-close to ordinary people. However, the post-earthquake reconstruction planning turns to be a much wider participatory and more open than before, though it is still immature and there still many obstacles need to be overcome. This paper firstly introduces the Great Wenchuan Earthquake and the quick response of reconstruction planning in China. It depicts the intensive work of the reconstruction planning. Then it reviews the concept of participatory planning and the history of participatory planning in China. Thirdly, it identifies three new trends that a more participatory planning has showed in the reconstruction planning. Lastly, this paper points out some problems still exist in the reconstruction planning.