On March 15, the State Council issued a circular approving the master plan for Linyi city (2011-2020) submitted by the Shandong provincial government.

Linyi is a central city in east Shandong province with modern industries, trade, and logistics.

Based on the five development concepts -- innovation, coordination, green development, opening up and sharing -- the master plan should stick to a sustainable development strategy, building Linyi into a modern city featuring prosperous economy, harmonious living environment, and vitality, the State Council said.

With a coordinated urban and rural planning management, the master plan covers 2,106.89 square kilometers. Counties and towns are the keys to coordinated urban and rural development. Efforts should be made in promoting agricultural and rural modernization and facilitating standardized urban and rural basic public services.

City size should be controlled within a reasonable scale, and the circular stated that by 2020, permanent residents in the central urban area should be controlled within 2.6 million, while urban construction land use should be restricted to 287 square kilometers.

In addition, development zones and new city districts that are not included in the master plan will not be allowed. Efforts should be made to optimize city layout, utilizing underground spaces, improving land-use efficiency, and protecting basic farmlands.

Basic urban infrastructure system should be improved in accordance with green, cyclic, and low carbon development philosophies. According to the plan, efforts should be made to improve a comprehensive transport system, parking lots, underground pipelines, and urban disaster prevention systems.

To build a resource-conserving and environment-friendly city, efforts should be made to reduce outdated capacity and pollutants, support green building, improve water use efficiency, promote sponge city construction, and strengthen preservation of scenic areas, natural reserve areas, and ecological function areas, such as wetlands and water sources.

Based on a people-oriented approach to create a hospitable living environment, efforts should be made to improve public service infrastructure concerning education, medical care, and municipal administration, affordable housing construction, and shantytown and dilapidated building renovation.

History and culture are also issues that the State Council stressed in the circular as cultural relics, including the Great Wall built by the State of Qi as early as the Spring Autumn period (770-476 BC), should be preserved. City layout with local features should also be preserved, according to the circular.