Why must rural village planning take a long-term perspective?

To accelerate the building of a new countryside, in recent years various regions have formulated many proactive and effective policies tailored to local conditions, invested a great deal of manpower, material and financial resources, and achieved tremendous results. But it cannot be denied that at present the building of a new countryside in some areas is still progressing slowly, and to a certain extent there exist phenomena of formalism and scattered disorder. The building of a new countryside and the building of new-type urbanization are two important aspects of our country's economic and social development, and they complement each other. In the new era, how to further build, with clear priorities and in a precise and effective manner, a socialist new countryside with a prosperous economy, complete facilities, a beautiful environment, and civility and harmony requires active thinking and bold practice.

The planning and optimization of rural village layout is a foundational task in the building of a new countryside and is directly tied to the coordinated advancement of urbanization and the building of a new countryside. After decades of rapid development, most rural areas in our country still retain the traditional village pattern, which has brought some obstacles to rural economic and social development, mainly manifested in: unbalanced development in rural areas has intensified, and there is a lack of overall coordinated planning; the intensive utilization rate of land is low, and extensive and inefficient construction causes enormous waste of land, financial resources and resources; population and industry are dispersed, making it difficult to generate the agglomeration benefits of economic and social development; the cost of investment in and maintenance of infrastructure and public services in rural areas is increasing day by day; and some beautiful villages, traditional ancient villages, and folk culture have suffered irreparable damage.

Looking at some developed countries, they all carried out rural village consolidation during the process of urbanization, such as South Korea's "New Village Movement", India's "Integrated Rural Development Movement", Germany's "Land Consolidation and Village Renewal", and so on. The rural village consolidation in these countries was both an inevitable result of economic and social development and a process of proactive action and coordinated planning by administrative and social public forces.

In urbanization and the building of a new countryside, the concentration of population from natural villages to administrative villages, from administrative villages to townships, from townships to county seats, and from county areas to large cities is a long-term trend. The building of a new countryside is essentially also a process of restructuring the rural village system. Advancing rural village planning and optimizing the layout of rural population, industrial development, and so on is highly necessary and urgent for advancing local economic and social development and strengthening resource conservation and ecological environmental protection.

To advance village planning and layout optimization in an orderly manner, we should first clearly define village development positioning and optimization approaches. A thorough survey of conditions such as the natural geography, population mobility, transportation situation, and industrial development of villages, along with in-depth analysis of development potential, is the foundation for carrying out village planning and layout optimization. Townships should, on the basis of fully considering the different circumstances of rural villages within their jurisdiction, and in combination with the township's development positioning and overall planning, determine the development echelons and layout optimization approaches for villages within their jurisdiction. Generally, villages can be divided into types such as small-town type, expansion type, retention type, merger and withdrawal type, and characteristic type. Second, village infrastructure construction and public service allocation should be planned in a coordinated manner. On the basis of clearly defining village planning and development positioning, townships should plan in a coordinated manner the population mobility and infrastructure construction within their jurisdiction, should plan in a coordinated manner the building of small towns and beautiful villages, the layout of industry and agriculture, and industrial agglomeration, and should plan in a coordinated manner farmland protection and ecological conservation. County-level local governments should carry out overall coordinated planning and layout optimization for population mobility, industrial development, and infrastructure construction within the county area.

Now, some people still have doubts about village planning and layout optimization, and in practice there are still some difficulties and obstacles in advancing this work, such as resistance from traditional rural concepts, social security for relocated farmers, the financial burden on grassroots governments, and the protection and inheritance of rural civilization. Regarding these doubts, we should view them from a developmental perspective. With economic and social development, grassroots governments, through reform and innovation in working ideas and working methods, can completely overcome and resolve some difficulties and obstacles. The process of resolving these doubts and difficulties is precisely the process of building a new countryside. The countryside itself is a dynamic, developing concept, and the building of a new countryside and the building of a beautiful countryside are dynamically evolving processes. Only by achieving scientific development while protecting and inheriting traditional rural civilization can we truly realize the protection and inheritance of traditional rural civilization.

Today, the traditional village pattern in some rural areas has already lagged behind our country's increasingly accelerating economic and social development, causing some problems and obstacles for rural development. On the basis of fully considering conditions such as natural geography, population layout, and differences in development potential, advancing rural village planning and optimizing the layout of rural population and economic and social development has become a very important task in the building of a new countryside. Grassroots governments need to plan early, take a long-term perspective, and implement steadily.

At the same time, it should also be recognized that village layout planning and optimization is a long-term and arduous task. Implementing village layout planning and optimization cannot be pursued for quick success and instant benefits, and cannot be carried out as a one-size-fits-all, mandatory campaign; the wishes of farmers should be respected, and in the short term planning and guidance should be the main focus. It should be seen even more clearly that our country has a vast territory, conditions vary greatly from place to place, and there is no unified model that can be copied wholesale. Various regions need to actively explore village layout optimization models suited to their own conditions in light of objective conditions and economic and social development situations, and so on.