A drone photo shows the Huizhou ancient town in Shexian County of Huangshan City, east China's Anhui Province, March 26, 2025. (Xinhua/Zhang Duan)
BEIJING, May 16 (Xinhua) -- China is intensifying efforts to advance its urban renewal initiative as it strives to build livable, resilient and smart cities, and to bolster high-quality development.
In its latest push, the country on Thursday unveiled a set of guidelines, pledging increased policy and financial support for urban renewal projects, which can range from gas pipe updates and lift installations to the renovation of old factories into commercial zones.
The guidelines, issued by the general offices of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and the State Council, are designed to achieve key progress in the country's urban renewal campaign by 2030. They also aim to improve safety conditions, enhance service efficiency, elevate living environments, develop business models, and preserve cultural heritage.
Efforts should be focused on reinforcing and renovating existing buildings as well as old residential areas, while optimizing their infrastructure, including parking, charging, fire protection and communication.
The update and renovation of old commercial blocks, factory areas and urban villages will be advanced, according to the guidelines, which also urged establishing multi-level and all-coverage public service networks to meet people's living needs.
The guidelines also called for accelerating the construction and renovation of gas, water supply, drainage, sewage, heat supply along with other underground pipeline networks and underground utility tunnels, while strengthening the construction of public fire protection facilities, and improving transportation infrastructure.
They also established requirements on restoring the ecological system in cities, and preserving urban history and culture.
In the meantime, an urban renewal implementation mechanism should be established, while the land use policy should be optimized, the guidelines said, adding that a whole-life-cycle housing safety management system needs to be created.
The latest document came as Chinese authorities issue a slew of measures to upgrade urban areas.
The country initiated over 60,000 urban renewal projects in 2024, with a total investment of 2.9 trillion yuan (about 402.8 billion U.S. dollars).
In January this year, a meeting of the State Council said that urban renewal "serves as an important lever for the expansion of domestic demand."
The renovation of old residential communities, blocks, factory areas and urban villages in cities should be accelerated, and the renovation of urban infrastructure should be strengthened, the meeting noted.
In April, the Ministry of Finance pledged central budget support for the urban renewal initiative in up to 20 cities over the course of this year, noting that priority will be given to mega and super large cities, as well as large cities along key river basins such as the Yellow River and the Pearl River.
Municipalities, along with cities in the country's western regions, can each receive up to 1.2 billion yuan in subsidies for upgrade projects. Urban areas in China's central regions can obtain up to 1 billion yuan, while those in eastern regions can receive up to 800 million yuan.
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