Chongqing- A sharing session about urban renewal and cultural landscape took place in southwestern China's Chongqing Municipality Tuesday.

Savills and Chongqing Shibati Cultural Development Co., Ltd. co-hosted the 2021 Chongqing Urban Renewal and Semi-Annual Market Sharing Session, which brought the performance of Chongqing's commercial market and key highlights.

Implementing urban renewal at micro-level

Chongqing issued its urban renewal management measures recently, implementing the national action in this regard. It aims to promote the optimization of urban structure, function, and quality improvement.

Through establishing and enhancing institutional mechanisms and policy systems that are compatible with the quality improvement and transformation of urban spaces, Chongqing will help build a new paradigm for high-quality development and life.

The session discussed how Chongqing could focus on micro-renewal of community development and urban business circles.

According to Xu Youting, senior assistant director of Savills Chongqing Strategy Advisory Department, the renewal of cities in western China is developing towards the refinement of communities, sinking towards quality, providing places for daily life and social life setting into scattered spaces in various communities.

She said, in addition to the transformation of the material and space, urban renewal also includes the co-construction and sharing of the spirit of the community, from improving the old environment and restructuring the space in stock to the transformation of lifestyle, as well as the enhancement of space quality and the shaping of the charm in one district.

“This is to allow the quality permeate every cell of the city,” said Xu.

Preserving cultural landscape with traditional architecture

The Shibati (literally meaning "18 steps"), as a "top brand" project of Chongqing restoring and constructing five traditional style districts, will be the renewal project characterized by the theme of "old Chongqing elements in a new life of the mountain city," and will become the city's attention as well as a synonymous of Chongqing's urban renewal.

The Shibati project serves as a core area in the Yuzhong District in central Chongqing that bridges the upper and lower parts of the city.

Preserving connections with the local culture is one of the main design objectives for the site, which is home to the former French consulate — a national heritage dating back to the city’s early development.

The design of the Shibati project conforms to Chongqing’s unique terrain, where a multidimensional streetscape is highlighted by entry points at different levels. 

Urban renewal has been raised to a national strategic level for the first time.

Xu emphasized that understanding the implications of urban renewal, building a perfect institutional system for urban renewal, effectively pushing forward urban renewal are practical issues that need to be addressed for all large cities during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025).

The 2021 government work report also proposed developing and expanding urban agglomerations and metropolitan areas, promoting urbanization with counties as an important carrier, and implementing urban renewal actions.