Ji'an City: Exploring a "People-Centered" Sustainable Urban Renewal Model

Renovation and Reconstruction of Nanmen Old Street in Yongxin County

 

 

The recently held Central Urban Work Conference emphasized building innovative, livable, beautiful, resilient, civilized, and smart modern people's cities. Ji'an City in Jiangxi Province thoroughly implements General Secretary Xi Jinping's important discourse on urban work, deeply practices the concept of people-centered cities, and in the implementation of the "Ten Major Battles" including key reform breakthroughs and key livelihood quality improvements, led by the Municipal Party Secretary, explores and promotes a "people-centered" sustainable urban renewal reform. This approach focuses on the people as the main body, guided by projects, using small-scale, micro-renewal, and refined enhancement as the means, emphasizing "starting from the environment around the people," promoting urban structure optimization, kinetic energy transformation, quality improvement, green transformation, cultural continuity, and governance efficiency, making the happiness "at the doorstep" more tangible and accessible to the people. So far, the city has completed the renovation of 791 old residential communities, benefiting 212,500 households; implemented shantytown renovation covering 10.15 million square meters, resettling 101,500 households; carried out 106 micro-renewal projects on idle land in the city center, built 48 new ecological parking lots, and added 36 "pocket parks + micro-commerce" and "community parks + leisure squares," gradually unfolding a convenient, beneficial, and secure people's city picture across Luling land.

Establishing a Collaborative Mechanism of "Participating Entities + Responsible Entities" for Projects

Adhering to incorporating the people's perspective throughout the entire urban renewal process and all aspects, breaking through the path of government departments taking full control, streamlining the cooperation relationship among government, enterprises, and the people, ensuring that the people's voices carry weight, participation is empowered, and supervision is of high quality.

Volunteers guiding people to place orders on the Fuguanjia platform

 

 

Idle land micro-renewal project organizing surrounding residents to fill out questionnaires

 

 

People as the masters asking for needs. Deeply practicing the mass line in urban inspections by distributing questionnaires, opening the "12345" government hotline, and conducting forums and exchanges to collect public opinions and renovation suggestions through multiple channels and all-round approaches, generating a "demand list." Focusing on four dimensions—housing, community, block, and urban area—with 14 sections and 69 problem indicators, extracting over 5,800 valid resident questionnaires and processing 188,000 government hotline data entries, producing 120 public suggestion projects.

Experts assisting in consultation. Adhering to planning guidance and design direction, inviting the China Academy of Urban Planning and Design and Jiangxi Provincial Institute of Human Settlements to organize the preparation of special urban renewal plans, scientifically setting planning indicators, and delineating urban renewal units. Establishing a resident "order-based" renovation mechanism, fully integrating public opinions into urban renewal planning, design, and implementation plans, promoting urban renewal that meets public needs and suits people's livelihoods.

Government coordinating consultation. Formulating urban renewal management measures, focusing on the stages of "planning and design—construction implementation—renewal utilization—operation and maintenance," issuing policies such as project land supply, integrated regional development and operation, and floor area ratio compensation, providing policy support for various entities participating in urban renewal.

Social supervision for effectiveness. Establishing a normalized supervision mechanism with residents as the main body, forming renovation councils to continuously follow up on the entire process of design, material selection, and construction of renewal projects. Posting public notice boards at each renewal project site, displaying renovation content, project leaders of construction units, community grid staff, street people's congress committee contact persons, and feedback channels. Establishing a "double evaluation" mechanism for urban renewal, distributing questionnaires door-to-door by communities for evaluation, and organizing satisfaction surveys by the Municipal People's Congress Standing Committee with representatives. Among 2,358 anonymous questionnaires distributed for the micro-renewal projects on idle land in the city center, public satisfaction reached 99.96%.

Exploring a Win-Win Model of "Public Welfare + Marketization" for Projects

Adhering to putting people's interests first and reflecting them in all stages of urban renewal construction, operation, and governance, highlighting public welfare to enhance people's sense of gain, while emphasizing marketization to achieve project sustainability.

Public welfare guarantee and residents' autonomous relocation. Through residents' "voluntary application for relocation, physical resettlement at other locations, repurchase and leaseback at the original site, and on-site renewal and reconstruction," integrating dilapidated and scattered plots for unified acquisition and planning, prioritizing the filling of public service facilities and infrastructure gaps in old neighborhoods, communities, and urban villages, achieving "benefits for those who move out and gains for those who stay."

Area coordination and spot renewal construction. Focusing on starting small and working practically, dividing area units to carry out urban renewal, promoting refined renovation at key nodes, enhancing urban quality with techniques like "patching" and "embroidery," enriching people's living experiences.

Historical and Cultural District Protection and Renewal Project of Xiaxifang in Yongfeng County

 

 

Market orientation and business format introduction and operation. Identifying the balance point among investors, operators, and people's interests in urban renewal projects, coordinating environmental remediation, business format introduction, and operation and maintenance to achieve benefits for government, enterprises, and the people.

State-owned capital platform and private enterprise participation in management. Establishing a full-chain cooperation model of "planning—investment—construction—management" for urban renewal projects, leveraging state-owned enterprise platform resources integration and credit advantages, as well as private enterprises' business format investment, brand incubation, and commercial management advantages, sharing risks and profits, transforming government subsidies into market-driven vitality.

Expanding the Empowerment System of "Cultural Heritage + Texture Regeneration" for Projects

Adhering to enhancing people's intrinsic motivation and improving people's well-being as the starting and ending point of urban renewal, focusing on both "appearance" and "substance," integrating culture, ecology, governance, and other elements into renewal projects to achieve a transformation from "physical renewal" to "systematic rejuvenation."

Wenta Area Renewal Project in Anfu County

 

 

Empowering the Continuity of Luling Cultural Heritage. Highlighting culture as the soul, fully excavating the cultural heritage of Luling, strengthening systematic protection and living inheritance of urban historical culture, preserving the city's unique regional environment, cultural characteristics, and architectural styles, and promoting deep integration of culture, commerce, and tourism through cultural event planning, embedding cultural imprints, and creating cultural atmosphere, allowing the city to continue its cultural heritage and residents to remember their hometown nostalgia.

Empowering Innovation in Grassroots Governance. Combining party-building-led grassroots governance with urban renewal, carrying out special actions of "home visits to listen to complaints and immediate handling," establishing three lists of "problems, needs, and resources," solving pain points such as lagging facility support, insufficient elderly-friendly levels, and weak governance efficiency, promoting "coordinated development and mutual empowerment" of urban renewal and grassroots governance.

Shibakoutang Area Renovation Project in Wan'an County

 

 

Empowering Ecological Space Reconstruction. Persist in the integrated advancement of mountain, water, and city management, replacing large-scale demolition and construction with ecological methods, carrying out ecological protection and restoration, effectively revitalizing inefficient land, ecological "scars," and industrial "rust belts," following a green transformation path, and promoting the city to be more livable, business-friendly, and tourist-friendly.

Empower the development of smart cities. Integrate the achievements of more than 20 departments including public security, housing and urban-rural development, and urban management, connect over 80,000 video feeds and 460 million data entries, build a system-integrated, collaborative, and efficient urban brain central system to achieve "one glance over the entire area, one network managing the whole city." Simultaneously promote the construction of intelligent security communities, create a comprehensive community intelligent "operation, management, and service" platform, making people's lives safer, more comfortable, and smarter.

The power of the people is the inexhaustible driving force for urban renewal. Today in Ji'an, the concept of a people-centered city is vividly practiced across Luling land. Through collective wisdom and effort, the exploration of "people-centered" sustainable urban renewal is promoted, integrating the people-first concept into the entire process of urban construction and governance, adhering to the principles of people as the main body, livelihood as the main line, and sustainable operation, becoming a consensus and joint effort throughout Ji'an. As urban renewal practices deepen step by step, the understanding and experience of cadres and the public are also increasingly profound.

Anfu County Qifengshan Mining Area Restoration and Renovation Project.

 

 

In urban renewal, people's livelihood is the main line, and the people-first concept must be deeply practiced. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized, "The people build the city, and the city is for the people." The essence of urban renewal is "renewing for the people," with the starting point and ultimate goal both being the people. This requires adhering to a people-centered approach to promote urban renewal work. In urban renewal practice, Ji'an City focuses on people-oriented principles, thoroughly implements the people-city concept, integrates the public's perspective throughout the reform, emphasizes starting from the environment around the people, from idle and inefficient land, and from small public spaces, maximally integrating public needs, implementing "one place, one policy" micro-renovations, allowing "small plots" to produce "great benefits." Liu Yong, Party Secretary and Director of Ji'an Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau, said: "The process and mechanism we have created for urban renewal—from city inspection, land parcel investigation to project planning, implementation, and acceptance—each link involves public participation, each step has public supervision, it must be solid and real to withstand scrutiny from all sides."

Jishui County Shangxia Old Street Historical and Cultural District Protection and Renewal Project.

 

 

In urban renewal, the people are the main body, and mechanisms to fully utilize the role of the people must be improved. The Opinions on Continuously Promoting Urban Renewal Actions issued by the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council clarify the responsibilities and roles of the government, market, and the people in urban renewal, highlighting the people as a key subject. To promote high-quality urban renewal development, the most important thing is to integrate the people's main role throughout the entire urban renewal process, enabling the people to substantially participate in all aspects of urban construction and governance. Adhering to this concept, Ji'an City has carefully built a full-chain public participation mechanism of "survey and investigation—planning and design—organization and implementation—acceptance and evaluation—operation and maintenance management," ensuring that surveys are self-reported by the people, renovation plans are self-selected by the people, project implementation is self-supervised by the people, renovation results are self-evaluated by the people, and operation and maintenance are self-participated by the people. The people act as advisors, supervisors, and evaluators, substantially participating in all stages of urban renewal, thereby achieving remarkable results.

Jishui County Shangxia Old Street Historical and Cultural District Protection and Renewal Project.

 

 

In urban renewal, sustainability is crucial, and the organic integration of elements must be promoted. The Central Urban Work Conference pointed out, "Insist on planning the city as an organic living system," thus it is necessary to adhere to a systematic concept to promote urban renewal. In specific practice, Ji'an City focuses on relying on the power of the people, promoting the integration of elements such as funds, culture, business formats, ecology, and governance into renewal projects, which not only promotes multi-dimensional empowerment of projects but also ensures sustainability, achieving a transformation from "physical renewal" to "systematic rejuvenation." Yin Xinping, Deputy Secretary-General of the Ji'an Municipal Committee, Director of the Political Research Office, and Executive Deputy Director of the Reform Office, deeply remarked: "Ji'an's urban renewal practice fully demonstrates that the people are the true heroes. Once the wisdom and potential of public participation are unleashed, urban renewal actions will gain continuous vitality." For example: building a "cultural heritage + texture regeneration" empowerment system to protect the city's unique historical context, human geography, and natural landscape, promoting connotative urban development; exploring mechanisms for introducing business formats in urban renewal, attracting social capital or state-owned platform companies, according to public willingness, adopting "self-operated + joint operation" and "low-cost + public welfare" methods to guide public participation in neighborhood commerce and public building operations, promoting sustainability; establishing a long-term urban renewal maintenance mechanism by deeply integrating urban renewal with grassroots governance, guiding public participation in post-renovation operation and maintenance; and so on. Through these reform measures, Ji'an has effectively opened a source of vitality for urban renewal development.