Chongqing — The Chongqing Municipal People's Government issued and implemented the measures for the management of urban renewal, on July 8. It fully supports Chongqing's urban renewal in terms of working mechanism, planning, and implementation.

Urban renewal is a project for both livelihood and development. Statistics indicated that China's urban gross domestic product and fixed-asset investment accounted for nearly 90 percent of the country's total. Urban total retail sales of consumer goods also made up over 85 percent of the total. 

China will implement an action plan for urban renewal, according to the country's 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) for National Economic and Social Development and Long-Range Objectives Through the Year 2035.

Cities are an essential sector for China to expand the domestic market, bolster areas of weakness, facilitate investment, promote consumption, and build a robust domestic market.

According to Qiao Mingjia, secretary and director of the Party Leadership Group of the Chongqing Municipal Commission of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, there are eight chapters and 42 articles in the Measures applicable to the metropolitan area of the central city and implemented by other districts and counties.

Qiao revealed that the implementation of urban renewal action is an important measure to adhere to the people-centered philosophy of development, promote the adjustment and optimization of urban structure and quality improvement, and change the way of urban development and construction.

Qiao added that urban renewal is not a large-scale demolition and construction. Instead, the focus of construction will be shifted to the transformation of stock quality. The transformation of the economic development model will be promoted from the source through the optimal allocation of factors.

Five major types of urban renewal

At the beginning of this year, Chongqing launched a pilot demonstration project to renovate 30 old urban functional areas with a total investment of 70 billion yuan.

It covers five major types of urban renewal, including the renovation and upgrading of old residential areas, the transformation and upgrading of old industrial areas, the upgrading of traditional business circles, the protection and inheritance of traditional scenic areas, and the optimization and upgrading of public service facilities and public space, and has achieved remarkable results.

According to Yang Zhihong, deputy director of the Chongqing Municipal Commission of Housing and Urban-Rural Construction, Chongqing has always paid attention to the inheritance of old industries' historical and cultural value and the excavation of the value of activation and utilization.

"We should strengthen protection and renovation with an attitude of respecting history and inject new vitality into inefficient industrial relics with the development idea of introducing new industries and new formats," said Yang Zhihong.

For example, under the guidance and support of the Yuzhong District Government, the Testbed 2 Park in Yuzhong District has now become a well-known cultural and creative industry park in China. Another example is the Chongqing Industrial Museum in Dadukou. It was based on the industrial relics of Chongqing Steel Plant and has now become an exhibition venue with great cultural influence in Chongqing.

Yang said that, in fact, there are many old industrial renewal projects like these in Chongqing. For example, the Wangjiang Factory Area in Jiangbei District, the Industrial Site of the Foreign Artillery Bureau, and the Shipyard Area in Nanan District are all being or will soon be updated.

"They will be transformed into urban vitality space for industrial innovation, fashion consumption, and cultural exhibition in the future," Yang added.

(Shi Ruiye, as an intern, also contribute to this article)