A key central document has been officially released, highlighting the importance of high-quality urban development.

On the 28th, the "Opinions of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on Promoting High-Quality Urban Development" were officially released to the public.

The proposal suggests that in promoting high-quality urban development, we must: Transforming urban development concepts , placing greater emphasis on people-centered approaches; Transforming urban development approaches , placing greater emphasis on intensive and efficient practices; Transforming the driving force behind urban development , placing greater emphasis on distinctive development; Shift the Focus of Urban Work , placing greater emphasis on governance investment; Transforming urban work approaches , placing greater emphasis on overall coordination.

The opinion mentioned, By 2030 , significant progress has been made in building a modernized people's city. Policy frameworks tailored to support high-quality urban development are continuously refined, while the shift from old to new growth drivers accelerates. As a result, residents' quality of life has markedly improved, green transformation is deepening steadily, the foundation for urban safety has been firmly strengthened, cultural appeal is fully showcased, and governance capabilities have been significantly enhanced. By 2035 , a modernized people's city has been basically completed.

The proposal outlines several key tasks, including optimizing the modern urban system, fostering and strengthening new drivers for urban development, and creating high-quality urban living spaces. Key points are as follows:
 

Optimize the modern urban system

• Support Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Yangtze River Delta, Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area City clusters are being developed into world-class urban agglomerations, driving The Chengdu-Chongqing Dual-City Economic Circle, the Yangtze River Midstream Urban Cluster, and others Become a high-quality development growth pole, and strengthen Midwest and Northeast The supporting role of urban clusters and metropolitan areas in promoting coordinated regional development.
• Promote megacities and super-large cities to strengthen and refine their core functions in accordance with the function-oriented guidelines officially approved by the state. Control the size of megacities and rationally and orderly relocate non-core functions. , fostering a key engine for high-quality development.
• Support selected super-large and mega-cities in enhancing their ability to allocate global high-end production factors. Support the establishment of science and technology innovation platform bases in mega- and super-large cities, enhancing original and disruptive innovation capabilities.
• Promote qualified provinces to foster and develop sub-center cities at the provincial level.

• Promote small and medium-sized cities to dynamically optimize infrastructure layout and public service provision in line with trends in resident population changes, while steadily and prudently refining administrative division arrangements according to established procedures.
• Promote urbanization construction in a categorized manner, with county towns as key platforms. Vigorously develop the county-level economy.
• Develop small towns according to local conditions.
• Timely adjust and expand the economic and social management authorities of county-level cities with large economic scales and rapid population growth, as well as those of extra-large towns.
• Promote the transformation and development of cities experiencing sustained population outflows, as well as resource-based cities.
• Continuously promote the urbanization of agricultural migrants.

Cultivate and strengthen new driving forces for urban development

• Accelerate the construction of international and regional innovation centers. Deeply implement the National Strategic Emerging Industry Cluster Development Project. Foster and strengthen advanced manufacturing clusters.
• Developing Intelligent Construction , fostering a modernized construction industry chain and accelerating the transformation and upgrading of the construction sector.
• Vigorously develop productive service industries , promoting lifestyle service industries to address their shortcomings and elevate their standards.
• Develop first-mover economies, silver-age economies, ice-and-snow economies, and low-altitude economies, while fostering new consumption scenarios.
• Deepen the development of international consumer center cities.

• Thoroughly assess the inventory of urban assets and resources, including buildings, facilities, land, and more. Transform and repurpose existing buildings such as aging factory spaces, inefficient office buildings, and underutilized traditional commercial facilities, establishing a planning adjustment mechanism that aligns with the needs for functional conversion and mixed-use development.
• For areas involving critical safety and essential livelihood safeguards, the central government will increase support through special-purpose transfer payments. Central budgetary investment will provide appropriate subsidies.
• Innovate fiscal and financial policy tools to attract and regulate the participation of social capital, Proceed steadily and prudently with public utility price reforms.
• Accelerate the reform and transformation of financing platforms, Firmly curb the addition of new local government implicit debt. 。
• Building an internationally renowned integrated transportation hub city.
• Support cities with the necessary conditions to host major foreign affairs and diplomatic events. , attracting influential international organizations to establish themselves here.
• Combining high-quality joint construction of the Belt and Road Initiative, we will build a number of international gateway hub cities and regional open-node cities.

Creating high-quality urban living spaces

• Systematically advance the construction of "good homes" and comprehensive communities. Enhance housing design, construction, maintenance, and service levels across the entire chain. Vigorously promote the construction of "good homes" that are safe, comfortable, green, and smart. Implement an action plan to enhance property service quality.
• Steadily advancing the transformation of urban villages and dilapidated housing, Supporting the independent renovation and original demolition-with-reconstruction of older housing units. Continue to push forward the renovation of old residential areas in urban towns. Adhere to integrated planning that aligns population, industry, urban development, and transportation. Building innovative industry and business communities 。

• Improve the social security system for flexibly employed workers, rural migrant workers entering cities, and those in new forms of employment.
• Accelerate the construction and renovation of age-friendly, child-friendly, and barrier-free facilities. Expand the supply of universally accessible elderly care services and strengthen the comprehensive system for inclusive childcare.
• Optimize the allocation of educational resources, Implement the Action Plan for Expanding, Enhancing, and Improving Basic Education , advancing the development of learning-oriented cities.
• Vigorously implement the Healthcare Strengthening Foundation Project, build tightly integrated healthcare consortia, and promote the expansion of high-quality medical resources to lower-tier areas as well as their balanced regional distribution.
• Develop affordable housing tailored to local conditions.
• Steadily advance the participation of flexible employment workers in the housing provident fund system. Strengthen social security and implement tiered, categorized social assistance to firmly safeguard people's basic livelihoods.

Promote the green and low-carbon transformation of urban development

• Implement actions to enhance industrial energy and water efficiency, and promote advanced green, low-carbon technologies and equipment. Strengthen control over high-energy-consuming and high-emission projects, and promote the orderly phasing out of outdated production capacities. Establish a carbon footprint labeling and certification system for key products.
• Deeply implement the national water-saving initiative, Fully promote the construction of water-saving cities Promote clean heating solutions for winter in northern regions. Encourage the use of energy-efficient and low-carbon household products, and reduce consumption of single-use consumer goods and packaging materials.
• Establish a robust network system of urban parks and greenways, develop pocket parks, and promote the open and shared use of green spaces. Promote the coordinated reduction of atmospheric pollutants in key cities and surrounding areas. Strengthen efforts to address urban noise pollution and manage cooking fume emissions from restaurants. Enhance governance of emerging contaminants such as antibiotics and microplastics.

Enhancing Urban Security Resilience

• Strengthen safety management of housing and municipal infrastructure. Strictly limit super-tall buildings , enhancing high-altitude firefighting capabilities. Implementing actions to renovate and upgrade prefabricated panel houses in urban areas, as well as reinforcing housing facilities in regions prone to earthquakes. Strengthen the crackdown on shared rental housing. Promote the distributed layout of critical infrastructure, energy resources, water sources, and more. Improve disaster-resilience defense standards 。
• Strictly implement the safety production responsibility system and urge production and business entities to fulfill their primary responsibilities for safety production. Focusing on hazardous chemicals, special equipment, construction work, urban gas systems, road traffic, and fire safety, we will implement tiered, intelligent, and precise management of major risk sources, while regularly promoting the identification and remediation of safety hazards as well as safety training for industry personnel.

• Promote the construction of national regional public health centers. Strengthen the capacity-building of national key infectious disease prevention and control centers, national emergency medical rescue bases, and designated hospitals for infectious diseases. , establish a tiered and layered triage system for medical treatment. Strengthen the reserve of emergency medical supplies. Promote multi-departmental and cross-city collaboration, enhancing public health emergency management and joint prevention and control efforts. Improve the mental health service system.
• Optimize the spatial layout for urban disaster prevention and mitigation, and enhance ecological barriers as well as isolation and evacuation routes. ， Reserve flexible space for disaster prevention and relief. Establish a sound mechanism for coordinated flood prevention and management. Strategically integrate above-ground and underground spaces, and strengthen the construction of public infrastructure designed for both routine use and emergency response. Scientifically develop comprehensive contingency plans for catastrophic disasters. Enhance the emergency command, response, and rescue systems, and promote the proactive stockpiling of emergency rescue equipment and supplies in advance.

Promote the thriving development of urban culture

• Promote the comprehensive preservation of historic and cultural cities and districts, and revitalize the adaptive use of immovable cultural relics, historical buildings, and industrial heritage. Leveraging historical and cultural districts and heritage sites, we will combine these resources with practical initiatives such as cultural exhibitions, unique retail experiences, and leisure activities.
• Strengthen the protection, management, and utilization of cultural heritage resources, as well as the preservation, utilization, and inheritance of intangible cultural heritage.
• Shaping the city's unique character and appearance. Implement the architectural principles of "practical, economical, green, and aesthetically pleasing." Strengthen architectural design management and promote urban architecture to better reflect Chinese aesthetics and contemporary trends. Large-scale relocation, tree felling, excessive construction of cultural landmarks, and arbitrary changes to old place names are prohibited.
• Innovatively expanding new types of public cultural spaces, Perfect and enhance urban cultural facilities according to actual needs. 。
• Optimizing the Supply of Urban Cultural Products Innovate in fields such as animation, film and television, digital art, and creative design, driving the integrated development of culture with tourism, technology, sports, and other sectors.

Enhancing the Level of Urban Governance Capabilities

• Promote the city's comprehensive digital transformation. Build an intensive, unified urban digital foundation featuring data integration and efficient collaboration, while enhancing the City Information Modeling (CIM) platform. Deepen the development of data resources and their multi-scenario applications. , promoting the integrated online handling of government services, unified management of urban operations through a single network, and shared access to public services via a single online platform. Promote the renovation of small and micro public spaces in urban areas, and improve the environment along backstreets, alleys, and around homes.

• Effectively utilize the citizen service hotline and improve the mechanism for responding to and handling public requests. Strengthen governance in special areas such as ultra-large communities. Strengthen the overall prevention and control of social security, and enhance and expand community-based preventive and governance forces. Establish a robust social security and stability risk monitoring and early warning system. , enhancing the ability for dynamic risk monitoring and early warning.

Source: Xinwen Lianbo