ABSTRACT
The term strategy originates from a military context (Albrechts, 2004; Yang, 2006) and is literally understood as an overall plan or decision aimed to pursue survival and long-term development. Apart from the military sense, this term has been widely used in political and economic fields as well. Strategic thinking has been adopted since the twentieth century as guidance for urban and regional development. As a response, the term strategic planning (SP) has emerged. The world has witnessed a revival and buoyant development of strategic (spatial) planning in recent years because of various driving factors, such as globalization, sustainable development, marketization, and decentralization. In China, rapid urbanization plays a particularly important role in facilitating the rise of SP studies and practices, and a two-round development of SP has emerged in the last decade or so.
