BEIJING, July 24 (Xinhua) -- Delegates from the United Nations (UN), European Union (EU) and several countries along the Belt and Road (B&R) talked on how to address the urbanization challenges in a forum held in Chengdu, southwest China’s Sichuan Province during July 20-22.
The first High-Level International Forum on Sustainable Urban Development was jointly organized by UN-Habitat and China Center for Urban Development, and hosted by Chengdu Municipal Government. Under the theme of “B&R and Sustainable Urban Development,” guests from South Africa, Thailand, Pakistan, Mexico and many other countries discussed a series of issues, including urban dynamics and financial innovation, urban innovation and sharing economy, urban governance and smart city.
According to Xu Lin, Director of Department of Development Planning of National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the B&R covers areas that are “most energetic and have the vastest potential in the world.” These areas host more than 60 percent of the world’s population and over 55 percent of the world’s urban population, while contributing nearly one third of the world’s economic output. Therefore, how to address urbanization challenges will be key to realizing worldwide sustainable development.
In the opinion of Dr. Joan Clos, Executive Director of UN-Habitat, industrialization and urbanization are the two important strategies for China to rise rapidly. On the road toward urbanization, China has accumulated experience in the following five aspects: national urban policy, supervisory and legal system, urban design, financing and its implementation. He spoke highly of China’s performance in “national urban policy” but called on improvement in the area of “financing.”
Qiu Baoxing, president of China Society for Urban Studies(CSUS), drew five bottom lines that the B&R countries should defend for the sake of healthy urbanization. He advises to coordinate the development of medium & large-sized cities and small towns to prevent urban areas from spreading in a disorganized manner; harmonize the development of urban and rural areas to promote the bidirectional flows of urban and rural citizens; ensure that urban spatial density is compact; prevent cities from becoming empty; and protect the cultural and natural heritage.
At the forum, UN-Habitat and China Center for Urban Development co-released Chengdu Declaration which is aimed at making urban development sustainable and improving people’s quality of life. They also published the list of five Chinese cities involved in the international pilot program for sustainable urban development, namely Chengdu City in Sichuan Province, Nanhu District of Jiaxing City in Zhejiang Province, Langzhong City in Sichuan Province, Libo County in Guizhou Province and Chibei District of Changbaishan in Jilin Province. (Edited by Zhang Yuan, zhangyuan11@xinhua.org)
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