Climate problems caused by urban carbon emissions have become increasingly serious. As the building blocks of low carbon cities, the importance of low carbon communities is widely recognized, and the strategy of its planning and construction has become a research hotspot. Based on the concept and connotation of low carbon communities, this study proposed a planning concept for low carbon communities within the framework of sustainable development, so as to achieve the reduction of carbon emission on the basis of coordinated economic, social and environmental development. After analyzing the experiences of developing low carbon communities in domestic and foreign cities, the type of low carbon community planning is classed into three models in this study:innovative planning, resource-based planning, and learning-based planning. In addition, the following planning strategies for low carbon communities have been formulated within the framework of sustainable development:establish goals and plans for sustainable development, integrate the effort of government and communities in the construction of low carbon communities, and match multi-dimensional planning with comprehensive construction strategies. Furthermore, this study has provided the following recommendations for future research on low carbon communities:strengthen the research on the transformation of existing communities into low carbon communities, improve the criteria and assessment system used to evaluate the construction of low carbon communities, and to promote the research on the internal mechanisms underlying the operation of low carbon communities. The study on the concept and planning strategy of low carbon communities within the framework of sustainable development is of practical significance to explore the path of sustainable urban development and to transform current cities into low carbon cities.