Protection and Utilization Planning of Yangtze River Shoreline in Jiangyin City

[Objective] The Yangtze River is the most important east-west axis for the development of territorial space and provides a foundation for urban agglomeration planning, industrial development, and transportation in Jiangsu Province. Implementing protection and utilization planning of the Yangtze River shoreline is a practical measure to promote the high-quality development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt and to support integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta. Given the high intensity and complexity of Yangtze River shoreline utilization in Jiangsu Province, this study conducts an implementation evaluation of protection and utilization planning in Jiangyin City. [Methods] From different perspectives such as shoreline utilization project types, shoreline functional zones, and the “production-living-ecological” utilization types, the status of shoreline utilization in Jiangyin City was reviewed and analyzed for the base year (2018) and the recent level year (2025). Changes, characteristics, and key problems of shoreline utilization were identified, and the phased planning outcomes and their implementation under protection and utilization planning were evaluated for the recent level year. [Results] The results showed that protection and utilization planning of the Yangtze River shoreline provided important guidance and that current utilization reached the main planning goals. Specifically, they mainly included: (1) the number of shoreline utilization projects decreased from 104 to 92 since 2018, and utilization rate of the shoreline declined from 80.1% to 66.0%. Across the 92 shoreline utilization projects, the overall proportion of shoreline length in the “production-living-ecological” types was 40∶5∶55. The production shoreline length of Xiagang Street had the highest proportion compared to other streets, reaching 73.3%, while Shengang Street had the highest proportion of living shoreline length (8.5%), and Chengjiang Street had the highest proportion of ecological shoreline length (90.5%), consistent with the functional distribution across streets. (2) Three stages of shoreline utilization were identified: rapid development and intensified utilization from 2000 to 2015, a shift toward governance and protection from 2016 to 2020, and improved efficiency of intensive utilization since 2021. The proportions of the three categories tended to stabilize, and the ecological environment along the Yangtze River in Jiangyin City improved substantially. However, increasing the retention rate of natural shoreline remained challenging. (3) The planned proportions of the three types were 46∶18∶36 for the recent level year (2025), and 42∶18∶40 for the long-term level year (2035). Following the implementation of the plan and related actions for the management and protection of rivers and lakes, the proportion of production shoreline was reduced to below the planned requirement for the long-term level year (2035), while the proportion of ecological shoreline was increased to above the planned requirement. Nevertheless, there are still risks in implementing certain specific arrangements of the plan, and dismantling some utilization projects in Jiangyin City continues to be difficult. [Conclusion] This study proposes targeted countermeasures to support the management and protection of rivers and lakes in Jiangyin City, including improving coordination among plans, continuously enhancing the efficiency of shoreline utilization, and strengthening process supervision of shoreline utilization projects. Accordingly, the shoreline protection and utilization planning in Jiangyin City can serve as a representative reference for the other seven cities along the Yangtze River in Jiangsu Province. Meanwhile, the planning review and evaluation study represents an innovative approach for river and lake management in the Yangtze River Basin. At the beginning of the 15th Five-Year Plan period, the study can also serve as a summative evaluation example for other special water conservancy plans from the 14th Five-Year Plan period, as well as a reference for planning during the 15th Five-Year Plan period.