Abstract：

Urban development in China is，by and large，responsive to political motivations，given the fact that the local developmental governments are holding to public resources in many respects. Taking Western Changzhou’s Strategic Planning Study as an example，this article discusses the potential and process of Scenario Planning in urban strategic planning. In this process，planners attempt to provide complete information obtained through investigation，evaluation and extrapolation， and then formulate alternative urban development scenarios with regard to different political wills，disclosing the underlying costs and benefits. The stakeholders are guided towards thorough and effective multilateral conversations，seeking consensus of urban development strategy. This article takes the side that urban planning is not value-neutral，and could not be produced through “scientific” judgments by urban planners alone. Rather，the rational technological process of planning should be implanted into the existing conditions.

Keywords：

Political Motivation; Scenario Planning; Strategic Planning; Changzhou