ISSCC member city: New Development of Park City by Chengdu

On 26 April, the 3rd Park City Forum and the 6th International High Level Forum on Sustainable Urban Development opened in Chengdu, a member city of the ISSCC.

The Forum, which was attended by renowned experts and scholars in the field of urbanism from home and abroad, was a comprehensive showcase of the concept and practice of park city construction, presenting a complete picture of a park city from the "first place" to the "demonstration zone". It will present a complete picture of a park city from the beginning of the "first place" to a "model area", contributing to a more innovative, perfect and feasible paradigm for the sustainable development of the world's cities, and opening up a new situation for the future construction of the "Belt and Road" Sustainable Cities Alliance and the in-depth promotion of the Chinese model of modern development.

Park cities and sustainable development are different in meaning but fundamentally related. In the process of urban transformation, the park city is a "green decoding" of the concept of sustainable development, an innovative exploration and practice of urban development paradigm in the context of China's promotion of ecological civilisation transformation.

In 2022, the State Council approved the development of a Park City Demonstration Zone in Chengdu, which is an advanced form of urban development embodying the new development concept, and Chengdu has started to explore a new practice of harmonious integration of mountains, water, people and cities, and has taken a new path of transformation and development of mega megacities. Along the way, the city insists on putting the people at the centre and taking ecological civilization as its leader, organically integrating the park form with urban space, integrating production and living ecological space, and integrating nature, economy, society and humanity, and marching fast towards a highly harmonious and unified modern city.

In May 2022, the Chengdu Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government benchmarked the "Overall Plan for Building a Park City Demonstration Area that Practices the New Development Concept in Chengdu" jointly issued by the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, and compiled and issued the "Action Plan for Building a Park City Demonstration Area that Practices the New Development Concept in Chengdu (2021-2025)", specifying 27 The plan also identifies 69 key construction tasks in 27 areas and promotes major engineering projects, major functional platforms, major reform pilots and major policy actions in the demonstration zone.

The three-tier indicator system for the construction of the demonstration zone has been built from four dimensions: green ecological background, good living, good environment for business and modern governance system. Adopt the form of "comprehensive construction opportunity list + series of special planning construction opportunity list", rolling release "park city demonstration area construction opportunity list" ......

The city is accelerating its efforts to make the beautiful blueprint of the Park City Demonstration Zone into a physical and realistic map, while Chengdu is opening up its doors and inviting experts and scholars from all walks of life at home and abroad to seek wisdom and ask for wisdom, so as to gather ideas for the construction of the Park City...

On April 22, 2019, the 50th World Earth Day, the first Park City Forum was held in Tianfu New District, with the theme of "Park City - City of the Future - Park City Theory Research and Path Exploration The first Park City Forum was held in Tianfu New Area on the theme of "Park City - City of the Future - Theoretical Research and Path Exploration on Park City".

On 24 October 2020, the second Park City Forum was held under the theme of "Park City - City of the Future - A Park City Demonstration Zone Practicing the New Development Concept", and officially released the world's first Park City Index (Framework System) and the Park City Development Report (2020)".

At the combined opening of the 3rd Park City Forum and the 6th International High Level Forum on Sustainable Urban Development, a number of important results were presented, including the Park City Demonstration Zone Construction and Development Report (2022), Park City Index 2022, Guidelines for the Construction of Future Park Communities in Chengdu, Master Plan for Future Park Communities around Chengdu Ring Ecological Park, and Ecological Value Assessment of Longquanshan Urban Forest Park. The results were presented one by one.

Chengdu is also the permanent host city of the International High Level Forum on Sustainable Urban Development. As an important international platform for showcasing best practices in urban sustainable development, the Forum began in 2017.

During the 2nd Belt and Road International Cooperation Summit, the National Development and Reform Commission and UN-Habitat signed the Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation under the Belt and Road Framework and the Action Plan on Jointly Promoting the Construction of the Belt and Road. Plan of Action on Jointly Promoting the Construction of "One Belt, One Road". As an important outcome of the implementation of the "Action Plan on Jointly Promoting the Construction of "One Belt, One Road" between the Chinese Government and UN-Habitat, the implementation of the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's instruction at the 2nd "One Belt, One Road" International Cooperation Summit Forum and the promotion of "Under the guidance of the National Development and Reform Commission, the International High-level Forum on Sustainable Urban Development has been successfully held in Chengdu for five consecutive sessions since 2017.

Over the past few years, the Forum has been attended by senior officials from more than 60 countries, mayors of more than 50 international cities, more than 40 international institutions and 100 Chinese and foreign entrepreneurs, and has released nearly 10 research results and more than 700 reports on dozens of Chinese and foreign media platforms, including the official website of the United Nations, China Central Television and the official website of the National Development and Reform Commission.

In Chengdu, the previous International High-level Forums on Sustainable Urban Development have produced extremely fruitful results.

The first International High-Level Forum on Urban Sustainability was a high-profile event, with the official release of the Chengdu Declaration on Urban Sustainability. The Declaration advocates: building an inclusive and open urban development environment, practising green and low-carbon urban concepts, improving scientific and rational urban planning, and achieving sharing and innovation in urban governance. The Forum officially launched the first five "International Pilot Cities for Sustainable Urban Development", including Chengdu, Sichuan Province; Nanhu District, Jiaxing City, Zhejiang Province; Langzhong City, Sichuan Province; Libo County, Guizhou Province; and Chibei District, Changbai Mountain, Jilin Province. As Joan Clos, Executive Director of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme, who attended the forum, said that China has accumulated a lot of experience in the urbanisation process and "we should keep using these experiences in China, analysing the success stories in China and how to keep improving and improving." He believes that the Belt and Road Initiative is an important opportunity to showcase China's experience.

The 2nd International High Level Forum on Sustainable Urban Development, together with the World Bank and other international agencies, launched the International Sustainable Pilot Cities Guidelines and the Sustainable Urban Development Framework, and held an important event such as the signing ceremony of the Memorandum of Cooperation with the UN-Habitat Chengdu Project Office.

The third International High Level Forum on Sustainable Urban Development, with the theme of "Dialogue with the World, Green Development", was held, and the Urban Centre and UN-Habitat jointly released the Chengdu Sustainable Development Guidelines based on their research on the sustainable development of Chengdu, using Chengdu as a case study to summarise and promote the sustainable development experience of Chinese cities.

The 4th International High Level Forum on Sustainable Urban Development, which combined the "Chengdu Main Conference" and the "Online Cloud Conference", focused on the new needs of future urban development under the new situation and shared the latest ideas, technologies and best practices of sustainable development. More than 30 executives from multinational companies in China gathered in Chengdu to learn more about the opening up of China's inland market and to seek new opportunities for market cooperation.

In addition to the main venue in Chengdu, the 5th International High Level Forum on Sustainable Urban Development also had three international sessions in Vienna, Austria, Seoul, South Korea and Liverpool, UK, where the "Belt and Road" City Connectivity Index Report, the "Green Urbanisation Consensus" and the "Chengdu Sustainable Planning Guidelines for the Future Science and Technology City" were released jointly by UN-Habitat and Chengdu Hi-tech Zone. The Future Science and Technology City Sustainable Planning Guidelines.

In recent years, Chengdu has taken into account its own urban development and focused on the 17 goals of the 2023 Agenda for Sustainable Development, an outcome document agreed by 193 UN member states, including healthy lifestyles, modern energy, full employment and other specific objectives. It has developed a complete set of concepts, practices and achievements, providing new ideas for the sustainable development of cities around the world and a powerful sample to prove, demonstrate and promote Chinese modernisation.

The report of the 14th Party Congress of Chengdu proposes to co-ordinate and promote the optimisation and adjustment of the "four major structures", to protect the green water and green mountains, to enlarge the golden mountains, and to accelerate the formation of a spatial pattern, industrial structure, production methods and lifestyles that conserve resources and protect the environment.

To promote the adjustment of the spatial structure of the park city with the goal of balance and reasonableness. Chengdu distinctly proposes to do better and stronger central urban areas, new urban areas, suburban new cities, focus on improving the core functions and comprehensive carrying capacity of the city, comprehensive optimization of urban space and population, industrial layout, and promote mega-cities slim and healthy.