Li Xiaojiang, a national engineering survey and design master and former president of China Academy of Urban Planning and Design
Urban renewal is important, but really deep institutional reform is even more important. Without systematic institutional reform, it is impossible to have a complete and good urban renewal.
China Housing Daily reporter Xu Qian reported from Beijing
"The process of national modernization is the process of continuously improving the level of physical capital, human capital, social capital and natural capital, and we must get rid of the first half of urbanization and only focus on the spatial value and aesthetic orientation of physical capital, and further care for the improvement of the level of the four major capitals, and take care of the vitality of the city and the needs of people's livelihood." Li Xiaojiang, a national engineering survey and design master and former president of the China Academy of Urban Planning and Design, said.
On April 27, the "2024 China Urban Renewal Innovation and Development Summit Forum" with the theme of "More Future: New Qualitative Power in Urban Renewal" was held in Beijing, and the event was jointly sponsored by China Real Estate News and China Institute of Urban and Regional Governance. At the meeting, Li Xiaojiang delivered a keynote speech entitled "Vitality and People's Livelihood: Observations and Reflections on Urban Renewal".
Li Xiaojiang is a professor-level senior urban planner with more than 40 years of experience, and has long been concerned about China's urbanization and urban development, and has presided over and participated in the coordinated development of urban agglomerations in the Pearl River Delta, urban spatial development in Beijing, urban agglomeration development in Chengdu-Chongqing, and Chongqing Liangjiang New Area since the 80s of the last century. In his research on urbanization, he always pays attention to the needs of "people", and always hopes that cities will explore a development model that is more friendly to people and nature.
In Li Xiaojiang's view, the key point of urban renewal is also "people". What is the relationship between urban renewal and urban vitality? How can urban renewal further care for people's livelihood needs? This is a matter of great concern to him.
The report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China pointed out that the main contradiction in mainland society has been transformed into a contradiction between the people's growing needs for a better life and unbalanced and inadequate development.
Li Xiaojiang believes that as China enters a new stage of development, the most important thing is to figure out what the needs of different groups of people for a better life are. The need for a better life is the vitality of consumption, and meeting the needs of a better life is the development of new momentum. "In terms of space provision, we used to pay the most attention to the improvement of material space and physical capital, but in the future, we need to pay more attention to the improvement of human capital, social capital and natural capital.
To improve the level of social capital, it is necessary to pay attention to the spatial needs and affordability of low-income and disadvantaged groups, and to pay attention to the supply and improvement of informal spaces such as urban villages and urban-rural interfaces.
In particular, Li Xiaojiang pointed out that "informal" spaces such as urban villages and urban-rural interfaces are "settled cities" for population migration, and 30%~50% of the permanent population in first-tier cities live here, which not only has economic value, but also social value and cultural value. It is very important for the government to both accommodate and manage and guide such informal spaces.
Just last month, Li Xiaojiang once again inspected the Zhongda cloth market in Guangzhou, which is being renovated, which is a typical case of new momentum on the old track. Zhongda Cloth Market is not a single professional wholesale market, it is a market cluster composed of 62 professional markets, with more than 20,000 shops, more than 100,000 business varieties, a total construction area of about 3 million square meters, more than 100,000 direct employees, and more than 2 million people in related industries. This is where Chinese luxury brands like Exception were created.
Zhongda Cloth Market, "The transformation is rhythmic, and it is not a simple use of the land model. Li Xiaojiang said that among the first-tier cities, it is a great thing in Guangzhou that such a large area of five villages is retained so close to the central area of the city. The forms of business behind it and the rich economic, social and cultural values it contains need to be recognized; It is the most important core hub of the entire garment industry in Guangzhou, and this hub has all the labor, processes, processing sites and accessories, raw materials you want can be found, and can produce extremely high efficiency.
"The new quality productivity must be the organic combination of new production factors and the traditional manufacturing industry, which is the real value of the new quality productivity." He stressed.
He also mentioned another typical case - Guangzhou Shein, which became one of the world's three major unicorns at the end of last year, almost overnight defeated three light luxury brands, including H&M, ZARA, Uniqlo, "This is the new quality of productivity, with the most advanced production management, quality control, network technology, algorithm technology and logistics management, to serve the most traditional garment manufacturing industry, the use of localized regional industrial chain, supply chain integration into new quality productivity." Li Xiaojiang said with praise.
He also dissected the case of community renewal in Chengdu. As an urban village next to the university, Chengdu is effectively linking the diversified consumption needs of college students with the low-cost supply of urban villages because of the community renewal project, and sewing the community rift between the campus and the community.
The renewal of Hangzhou Zhegong community is a typical case of independent renewal and original demolition and construction. 548 households have completed community renovation and building renovation through independent renewal, installed elevators, increased parking spaces, and achieved a comprehensive upgrade of housing and community with residents' self-raised funds.
For the renewal model of first-tier cities in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, Li Xiaojiang conducted research from five aspects: people, money, land, housing, and governance. He proposed that the urban renewal model should move from people to retaining people, appropriately retaining indigenous people, and reflecting the temperature of the city. In terms of "money", it has shifted from calculating economic accounts to calculating comprehensive accounts; In terms of "land", it has shifted from simple land transfer to site operation; In terms of "housing", it is necessary to protect the building from retaining the texture; In terms of "governance", it is necessary for the government to support the bottom, residents to participate, and the market to be moderate.
"In urban renewal, only by dealing with the five dimensions of people, money, land, housing and governance at the same time can we find a correct path that can not only maintain the vitality of the city, but also pay attention to the renewal of residents' livelihood." He said.
"What's the most disturbing thing right now?" Li Xiaojiang raised a deep-seated question. In his view, the central government's policy on urban renewal is very firm, the principles are also very clear, the actions are also very specific, and even the funds are relatively abundant, but all the current systems are formed in the expansion stage and the incremental development stage, and strictly speaking, there is no system to meet the needs of the current stock utilization and organic renewal.
"Urban renewal is important, but really deep institutional reform is even more important. Without systematic system reform, it is impossible to have a complete and good urban renewal, at most it is to do some fragments, and everyone should pay full attention to and fully appeal. Li Xiaojiang said.
"The 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China has pointed out the direction of the reform of the mainland's fiscal and taxation systems." "I am especially looking forward to how to move from the old development model and the old system to the new system, so that the interests of the city government and citizens are consistent, the responsibilities and powers of the central and local governments are consistent, and the local finances and responsibilities are consistent, so that we can better balance the allocation of resources and put an end to large-scale demolition and relocation, otherwise any kind of renewal will be a fatal blow to real estate and land finance, and it will be a drain from the bottom of the kettle."
"I hope that the supply of urban space can be more inclusive and diversified, and that the allocation of space resources will be more fair and just, so that different groups of people can have their own place, especially for low-income people, disadvantaged groups and minority preference groups. Let the high-tech and traditional manufacturing industries have their own place, especially for small and micro innovative and creative enterprises to provide low-control and low-cost growth space, and release new momentum for industrial development. This is the original intention and purpose of the organic renewal of urban stock utilization. Li Xiaojiang said.