The CPC Central Committee and the State Council on Promoting High-Quality Development of Cities

Cities are vital platforms for modernization and essential spaces that enrich the lives of our people. China’s urbanization is transitioning from a period of rapid growth to one of steady development, as urban growth shifts from large-scale incremental expansion to a focus on enhancing the quality and efficiency of existing urban assets. To accelerate this transformation in urban development approaches and drive high-quality urban growth, the following recommendations are hereby put forward.

 

One

Overall Requirements

Uphold Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era as our guiding principle, deeply implement the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and the Second and Third Plenary Sessions of the 20th Central Committee, comprehensively carry forward General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important discourses on urban development, and earnestly follow the guidelines set forth at the Central Urban Work Conference. We will firmly uphold and strengthen the CPC’s overall leadership, diligently practice the people-centered urban philosophy, adhere to the general tone of pursuing progress while ensuring stability, and adopt strategies tailored to local conditions and guided by category. Our overarching goal is to build a modern, people-oriented city that is innovative, livable, beautiful, resilient, civilized, and smart—anchored in high-quality urban development, driven primarily by inward-focused urban growth, and bolstered significantly through urban renewal initiatives. To this end, we will vigorously promote urban structural optimization, economic momentum shifts, quality enhancements, green transformations, cultural heritage preservation, and more efficient governance. Above all, we will firmly safeguard urban safety as our bottom line, forging a new path toward urban modernization with Chinese characteristics.

 

In your work, you must: shift the urban development philosophy to place greater emphasis on people-centered approaches; transform the mode of urban development to focus more on intensive and efficient practices; pivot urban development drivers toward distinctive,特色-based growth; realign the focus of urban work to prioritize investments in governance; and adapt urban working methods to emphasize integrated planning and coordinated action.

 

The primary goals are: By 2030, significant progress will be made in building a modernized people's city, with policies and systems continuously refined to support high-quality urban development. Meanwhile, the transition from old to new growth drivers will accelerate, significantly enhancing residents' quality of life, deepening the green transformation, strengthening the foundation for urban safety, fully showcasing cultural appeal, and substantially elevating governance standards. By 2035, a modernized people's city will be essentially completed.

 

 

Two

Optimize the modern urban system

(1) Steadily and orderly promote the integrated development of city clusters and the seamless integration of metropolitan areas into urban centers. Foster modern, networked city clusters and metropolitan circles organized in a clustered or networked manner, thereby establishing a rationally structured, state-of-the-art urban system. Support city clusters such as Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, the Yangtze River Delta, and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area in their quest to become world-class urban agglomerations. Meanwhile, drive the Chengdu-Chongqing Twin-City Economic Circle and the Yangtze River Midstream City Cluster to emerge as high-quality growth hubs. Strengthen the role of city clusters and metropolitan areas in the central-western and northeastern regions as pillars for balanced regional development, encouraging cities to pursue complementary positioning, interconnected infrastructure, and collaborative governance. Enhance industrial chain collaboration within city clusters, optimizing the division of labor and spatial linkages among them. Vigorously develop robust metropolitan circles, supporting regions with suitable conditions to advance integrated urban-rural development. Establish and refine institutional frameworks for integrated urban development, deepen reforms aimed at appropriately separating economic zones from administrative jurisdictions, and promote seamless, efficient commuting patterns, tiered industrial support systems, and the convenient sharing of public services across these areas.

 

(2) Enhance the Comprehensive Competitiveness of Mega- and Super-Mega Cities. Promote mega- and super-mega cities to strengthen and refine their core functions in accordance with the nationally approved functional positioning, while carefully managing urban expansion. Reasonably and orderly relocate non-core functions to create a primary engine for high-quality development. Support these cities in advancing institutional innovations tailored to their specific contexts. Additionally, encourage select mega- and super-mega cities to bolster their capacity to attract and allocate global high-end production factors. Back these cities as they establish platforms and bases for scientific and technological innovation, thereby boosting their ability to drive groundbreaking, game-changing advancements. Finally, facilitate eligible provinces in fostering and developing sub-center cities at the provincial level.

 

(III) Enhance the carrying capacity of small and medium-sized cities and county towns. Encourage these cities to align infrastructure planning and public service provision with trends in resident population changes, dynamically optimizing their layouts. At the same time, carefully and prudently refine administrative divisions according to established procedures. Promote urbanization initiatives centered on county towns as key platforms, while vigorously boosting county-level economies. Develop small towns tailored to local conditions. Timely adjust and expand the economic and social management authority of county-level cities and mega-towns that boast large economic scales and rapid population growth. Support cities experiencing sustained population outflows, as well as resource-based cities, in their efforts to transition and transform. Back border towns in strengthening their roles in safeguarding national borders, attracting populations, and fostering secure development. Additionally, integrate urban and rural infrastructure planning and public service systems to foster seamless integration and balanced growth between urban and rural areas. Continue advancing the process of integrating agricultural migrants into urban life.

 

Three

Cultivate and strengthen new driving forces for urban development

(Four) Implement city-specific strategies to boost urban development momentum. Based on each city's unique resource endowments and foundational conditions, carefully nurture an innovative ecosystem and unleash the vitality of entrepreneurship and innovation. Strengthen efforts in original innovation and tackle critical core technologies, while enhancing synergy between scientific and technological innovation and industrial innovation. Strategically advance the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries, foster the growth of emerging industries, and proactively plan for future industry development—tailoring approaches to local conditions and cultivating new forms of productive forces. Accelerate the construction of both international and regional innovation hubs. Deeply implement the National Strategic Emerging Industry Cluster Development Project, nurturing and expanding advanced manufacturing clusters. Promote smart construction practices, develop a modernized building industry chain, and expedite the transformation and upgrading of the construction sector. Vigorously expand productivity-oriented service industries, while simultaneously bolstering lifestyle services to address existing gaps and elevate overall quality. Actively cultivate new consumption models such as first-launch economies, silver economy initiatives, ice-and-snow economies, and low-altitude economies, creating innovative consumer experiences. Further deepen efforts to build internationally recognized consumption centers.

 

(5) Unlock the potential of existing urban resources. Conduct a comprehensive assessment to identify the full inventory of urban assets, including buildings, facilities, and land. Repurpose and revitalize aging industrial plants, inefficient office buildings, and underutilized traditional commercial spaces—transforming these existing properties to meet evolving needs for functional shifts and mixed-use development. Establish a flexible planning mechanism that aligns with the demands of building function conversion and integrated utilization. Strengthen and standardize the management of existing urban infrastructure assets, enhancing their operational efficiency. Additionally, refine policies governing property rights aggregation, consolidation, exchange, and registration, ensuring that underused, low-efficiency land plots are effectively revitalized and put to productive use.

 

(6) Establish a sustainable investment and financing system for urban construction and operations. Fully implement the principal responsibility of local governments, coordinating financial resources from fiscal funds, social capital, and financial institutions. For projects involving critical safety concerns and essential public services, the central government will increase support through special-purpose transfer payments, with appropriate subsidies provided via investments within the central budget. Innovate fiscal and financial policy tools to attract and regulate social capital participation, while steadily advancing utility pricing reforms in a prudent manner. Strengthen medium- and long-term credit supply, leverage the financing capabilities of the bond and stock markets, and encourage financial institutions such as insurance and trust companies to deliver tailored financial services. Accelerate the reform and transformation of financing platforms, and firmly curb the growth of new local government-related hidden debt.

 

(7) Enhance the city's level of openness and international cooperation. Optimize the city's open environment and services, fostering an internationally oriented urban living space. Develop the city into a world-class integrated transportation hub. Support eligible cities in hosting major diplomatic events and attract influential international organizations to establish themselves locally. In alignment with the high-quality joint construction of the Belt and Road Initiative, cultivate a group of international gateway hub cities and regional open-node cities. Strengthen international exchanges and collaborations in the field of human settlements, continuously boosting the global impact of World Cities Day and the Global Award for Sustainable Cities (Shanghai Award).

 

Four

Creating high-quality urban living spaces

(8) Systematically promote the development of "good homes" and comprehensive community construction. Accelerate the establishment of a new model for real estate development, better meeting the public's essential housing needs as well as their diverse demands for home improvement. Enhance housing design, construction, maintenance, and service quality across the entire chain, vigorously advancing the creation of safe, comfortable, green, and smart "good homes." Implement initiatives to improve property management service quality. Steadily advance the renovation of urban villages and dilapidated or hazardous housing, while supporting residents in independently upgrading older homes through original demolition and reconstruction. Continuously drive forward the transformation of aging residential areas in urban towns. Adhere to integrated planning that aligns population, industry, urban development, and transportation, fostering innovative industrial and business communities. Speed up the development of complete communities by improving urban embedded service facilities and creating convenient, accessible lifestyle hubs within cities. Scientifically formulate and implement specialized urban renewal plans, seamlessly integrating urban health assessments with urban redevelopment efforts, ultimately crafting vibrant urban environments that are ideal for work, living, leisure, and tourism—thus promoting the seamless integration of industry and urban life and achieving a balanced relationship between employment and residential areas.

 

(9) Enhance urban infrastructure. Optimize the layout, structure, and functions of urban infrastructure, and strengthen system integration. Promote efficient utilization of urban underground spaces and refine the city's spatial architecture. Accelerate the construction and renovation of urban underground utility networks, and因地制宜 (tailor-made) develop integrated underground utility tunnels where appropriate. Strengthen the coverage of fifth-generation mobile communication networks (5G) and gigabit optical networks, optimize the layout of computing power facilities, and advance the development of new types of urban infrastructure. Improve urban water resource allocation and enhance the management system for ensuring reliable water supply. Furthermore, establish a robust, modern, and comprehensive transportation network, boost intercity and intra-city commuting efficiency, refine the layout of transit and transfer facilities at transportation hubs, and step up efforts to build convenient amenities such as parking spaces and charging stations.

 

(10) Enhance the quality and balance of public services. Establish a sound, precise, and efficient public employment service system. Improve social security systems for flexible workers, rural migrant workers entering cities, and individuals 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 promote integrated healthcare and eldercare models. Strengthen the universal childcare service system and vigorously develop integrated early childhood education and care programs. Optimize the allocation of educational resources, implement an action plan to enhance the quality and accessibility of basic education, and advance the development of learning-oriented cities. Vigorously carry out the Medical and Health Infrastructure Enhancement Project, build closely-knit medical consortiums, and facilitate the expansion and equitable distribution of high-quality medical resources to lower-tier areas. Develop affordable housing tailored to local conditions. Steadily promote the participation of flexible workers in the housing provident fund system. Strengthen social security measures and provide tiered, categorized social assistance to ensure that no one is left behind on the frontlines of people's livelihoods.

 

Five

Promote the green and low-carbon transformation of urban development

(11) Promote energy conservation and carbon reduction in the production sector. Implement initiatives to enhance industrial energy and water efficiency, and popularize advanced green, low-carbon technologies, processes, and equipment. Strengthen control over high-energy-consuming and high-emission projects, and facilitate the orderly phasing out of outdated production capacities. Establish a carbon footprint labeling and certification system for key products. Develop centralized energy supply systems within industrial parks, and drive comprehensive, integrated treatment of wastewater, waste heat, and solid waste. Vigorously advance green building practices, accelerate research and application of innovative building materials, and promote the large-scale development of ultra-low-energy and low-carbon buildings. Additionally, step up efforts to retrofit existing buildings with energy-efficient upgrades.

 

(12) Embrace a green and low-carbon lifestyle. Deeply implement the national water-saving initiative and comprehensively advance the development of water-efficient cities. Promote clean heating solutions for winter in northern regions. Encourage the use of energy-saving and low-carbon household products, while reducing consumption of single-use consumer goods and packaging materials. Continue to actively promote the "Clean Plate Campaign." Further advance urban waste sorting, fostering seamless integration between sorting facilities and recycling centers for recovered resources. Prioritize the development of public transportation systems in cities and encourage green, low-carbon modes of travel.

 

(13) Strengthen urban ecological and environmental governance. Enhance the implementation of ecological and environmental zoning management. Deeply advance urban ecological restoration projects. Improve the urban park and greenway network system, develop pocket parks, and promote open access to green spaces for shared enjoyment. Drive coordinated reductions in atmospheric pollutants across key cities and their surrounding areas, continuously improving air quality. Intensify efforts to tackle urban noise pollution and cooking fume emissions. Step up measures to address emerging contaminants such as antibiotics and microplastics. Promote the resourceful utilization and proper disposal of construction waste. Ensure full coverage of urban sewage networks, consolidate achievements in tackling black-and-odor water bodies, and work toward creating thriving, picturesque rivers and lakes that bring happiness to communities.

 

Six

Enhancing Urban Security Resilience

(Fourteen) Strengthen safety management of housing and municipal infrastructure. Establish comprehensive lifecycle safety management systems for housing, including regular safety inspections, dedicated funding for housing safety management, and housing quality & safety insurance. Strictly limit the construction of ultra-high-rise buildings and enhance firefighting capabilities at high altitudes. Implement initiatives to retrofit and renovate prefabricated-panel housing units in urban areas, as well as projects aimed at reinforcing building structures in regions prone to earthquakes. Intensify efforts to address illegal shared-rental housing situations. Accelerate the development of critical infrastructure projects focused on ensuring the safety of urban lifelines. Promote a distributed layout for essential facilities, energy systems, water sources, and other key resources, while simultaneously upgrading disaster-resilience standards to bolster overall safety and security capabilities.

 

(Fifteen) Strengthen safety production management in key industries and sectors. Strictly implement the safety production responsibility system, uphold the principle of shared responsibility between the Party and government, and ensure that managing an industry means managing its safety, overseeing business operations means ensuring their safety, and directing production and operations inherently entails prioritizing safety. Urge production and operation entities to fulfill their primary responsibilities for safety production. Focus particularly on hazardous chemicals, special equipment, construction projects, urban gas systems, road transportation, and fire safety, adopting tiered, intelligent, and precise approaches to effectively control major risk sources. Regularly carry out inspections and rectifications of safety hazards, as well as safety training for employees. Additionally, establish a corporate safety production credit evaluation system and emphasize the practical application of evaluation results.

 

(Sixteen) Enhance the city's public health preparedness, prevention, and treatment capabilities. Advance the construction of national regional public health centers. Strengthen capacity-building efforts at national major infectious disease control and prevention bases, national emergency medical rescue bases, and designated hospitals for infectious diseases, and establish a tiered, layered, and triage-based treatment system. Bolster reserves of emergency medical supplies. Promote multi-departmental and cross-city collaboration, reinforcing public health emergency management as well as joint prevention and control mechanisms. Improve and refine the mental health service system.

 

(17) Enhance the city's comprehensive capacity for disaster prevention, mitigation, and relief. Develop a risk profile specific to urban safety, and establish robust mechanisms for routine monitoring, early warning, hazard identification, and remediation. Optimize the spatial layout of urban disaster prevention and mitigation efforts by increasing ecological barriers, isolation and evacuation routes, and reserving flexible spaces for disaster response and relief operations. Strengthen the integrated flood management and coordinated regulation system to improve the city's drainage and flood control capabilities. Promote the efficient use of both above-ground and underground urban spaces, reinforce the construction of "dual-purpose" public infrastructure capable of handling both daily needs and emergency situations, and build an emergency shelter system that is both adequate in quantity and strategically well-distributed. Scientifically formulate contingency plans for mega-disasters. Additionally, bolster the emergency command, response, and rescue systems, and advance the proactive stockpiling of essential emergency equipment and supplies.

 

Seven

Promote the thriving development of urban culture

(18) Promote the protection, utilization, and inheritance of urban historical and cultural heritage. Strengthen efforts to preserve cities' unique historical contexts, humanistic landscapes, and natural features, and enhance the comprehensive system for safeguarding and passing down urban and rural historical cultures. Improve the city-level survey and inventory system for cultural heritage, and conduct specialized investigations focusing on historic urban centers and their traditional neighborhoods. Establish resident-centered mechanisms for implementing conservation initiatives. Advance holistic protection of nationally renowned historic cities and districts, while actively revitalizing immovable cultural relics, historic buildings, and industrial legacies. Leverage historic cultural districts and sites to creatively integrate cultural exhibitions, distinctive commerce, and leisure experiences tailored to local conditions. Additionally, reinforce the protection, management, and sustainable use of tangible cultural assets, as well as the preservation, promotion, and transmission of intangible cultural heritage.

 

(19) Shape the unique character and charm of the city. Rooted in China's outstanding traditional culture, we will build a civilized city that upholds moral integrity and fosters kindness, thereby showcasing China's distinctive ethos and elegance. Strengthen the regulatory and guiding roles of urban planning, promoting integrated functions, moderate density, varied heights, and a harmonious blend of blue and green spaces. Enhance the city's aesthetic management system to elevate its overall artistic taste. Fully implement the architectural principles of "practicality, economy, sustainability, and beauty," while reinforcing building design oversight to ensure that urban architecture better reflects both Chinese aesthetics and contemporary trends. Absolutely no large-scale relocation or felling of trees, reckless construction of cultural landmarks, or arbitrary alterations of time-honored place names are permitted.

 

(20) Enrich urban spiritual and cultural life. Vigorously promote socialist core values, fostering a mindset, civilized ethos, and behavioral norms that align with a modern, people-centered city. Elevate citizens' civic literacy and cultivate an urban spirit that showcases the city's rich cultural heritage and distinctive character. Innovatively expand new types of public cultural spaces, while continuously improving urban cultural facilities based on actual needs. Optimize the supply of urban cultural products, driving innovation in industries such as animation, film and television, digital art, and creative design. Furthermore, promote the integrated development of culture with tourism, technology, sports, and other sectors.

 

Eight

Enhancing the Level of Urban Governance Capabilities

(21) Enhance the urban governance system. Effectively leverage the roles of "One Committee, One Office, and One Platform," and establish a sound, comprehensive coordination mechanism for urban management, led by key officials from the city-level Party committee or government. Strengthen the integrated administrative law enforcement system across various sectors—such as urban management, market regulation, ecological environment, cultural markets, transportation, and emergency management—ensuring clear division of responsibilities and fostering efficient, collaborative operations. Scientifically determine staffing ratios for enforcement personnel, thereby guaranteeing adequate working conditions. Encourage citizens to actively participate in urban governance with enthusiasm, initiative, and creativity, while exploring new models of coordinated operation among neighborhood committees, homeowners' associations, and property service enterprises under the leadership of community Party organizations. Finally, refine institutional mechanisms that facilitate the involvement of residents, businesses, mass organizations, and social groups in urban governance, fully harnessing the power of volunteer services and expanding channels for participation among newly employed workforce segments.

 

(22) Promote smart and refined urban governance. Advance the city's comprehensive digital transformation across all domains. Build an integrated, unified urban digital infrastructure that fosters data convergence and efficient collaboration, while enhancing the City Information Modeling (CIM) platform. Deepen the development of data resources and their multi-scenario applications, driving initiatives such as "One-Network Access" for government services, "One-Network Management" for urban operations, and "One-Network Sharing" for public services. Strengthen the management and digitalization of urban construction archives. Refine the grid-based governance mechanism, spearhead the renovation of small-scale yet vital public spaces in cities, and systematically improve the environment along backstreets, alleys, and areas surrounding homes.

 

(23) Strengthen urban social governance. Uphold and advance the "Fengqiao Experience" of the new era, refine the coordination mechanism for grassroots governance under the leadership of Party building, and promote the establishment of a grassroots governance system characterized by unified leadership from Party organizations, lawful responsibility-taking by the government, active collaboration among various organizations, and extensive public participation—integrating self-governance, rule of law, and moral governance. Effectively utilize the citizen service hotline and enhance mechanisms for responding to and addressing public demands. Drive urban management initiatives into communities. Strengthen governance in special areas such as ultra-large communities. Bolster comprehensive social security prevention and control efforts, and expand and enhance community-based preventive and collaborative policing forces. Reinforce the development of community worker teams. Fully leverage the role of village (neighborhood) legal advisory teams. Improve the social safety and stability risk monitoring and early-warning system, enhancing capabilities for dynamic risk monitoring and timely alerts. Additionally, strengthen the social psychological service system and crisis intervention mechanisms, while maintaining tight vigilance against individual extremist incidents.

 

Nine

Strengthen organizational implementation

Uphold and strengthen the CPC Central Committee's centralized and unified leadership over urban work, establishing a working framework characterized by central-level overall coordination, provincial-level primary responsibility, and cities tasked with implementation. Foster and practice the right outlook on political achievements, systematically develop and refine a scientific evaluation system for urban development, and enhance the capacity of leading cadres in urban affairs. Further improve the legal frameworks, policies, and institutional mechanisms governing urban planning, construction, governance, and other key areas, ensuring greater policy coherence. Adhere to the principles of seeking truth from facts and being pragmatic, resolutely opposing formalism and bureaucratic practices, and rigorously addressing any violations of discipline or law. Strengthen efforts to enhance the quality and capabilities of urban work teams, cultivating specialized talent in urban planning, construction, governance, and related fields, while building a high-end think tank dedicated to urban issues. All regions and relevant departments should reinforce organizational implementation, bolster collaborative efforts, and effectively put these guidelines into practice based on local conditions. The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and the National Development and Reform Commission, together with other relevant agencies, will step up coordination and guidance. Any significant matters should be promptly reported to the CPC Central Committee and the State Council according to established procedures.

 

 

Source | Xinhua News Agency, "Opinions of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on Promoting High-Quality Urban Development"