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This paper attempts to build on these published works by examining the role planning has played in directing development in Shenzhen, Guangdong Sheng, China. "Planning" in this paper is not restricted to spatial land use planning, but rather also includes socio-economic planning. Integration of these two types of planning is essential because socioeconomic activities must take place in physical space, and if spatial planning is not integrated with socioeconomic planning, the latter will be very difficult to implement. This paper is divided into two main parts. The first part argues that existing theoretical perspectives do not adequately explain the Shenzhen experiment. However, one thing is certain, socioeconomic and spatial planning by the central and local governments has played a major role in the transformation of Shenzhen from a rural county into a modem metropolis. The second part of the paper analyzes in detail how planning rhetoric was fashioned to accommodate the development realities of Shenzhen over time.

Most of the existing planning theories (theories in urban development, of planning practice and justifications for planning) and debates about their interrelationships are derived from the contexts of basically 'demand-constrained' (capitalist) economies. Some authors have attempted to theorize urban planning in transitional economies. However, theorization based on concrete planning practices in a city in the transition from a 'resource-constrained' to a 'demand-constrained' economy is an uncharted terrain. This paper attempts to take up this challenge and through a detailed case study of Shenzhen, China's first Special Economic Zone (SEZ) explores the relationships between urban development and planning in a transitional economy. Shenzhen's experience proves that a perceptive understanding of urban development can provide us with important clues for understanding the nature of and theoretical justifications for changing urban planning practices. In return, the reformed planning practice helps sharpen our reflections on the constraints and feasible options of urban development in a transitional economy. In this sense, urban planning practice, at least in the case of Shenzhen, is 'path dependent' and has the potential to be increasingly 'path shaping'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]