New urban renewal plan prioritizes safety

Editor's note: The Chinese government recently released an urban renewal plan, outlining key targets, major tasks and projects, as well as policy measures for the country's urban renewal efforts during the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30) period. China Central Television spoke to Zheng Degao, vice-president of the China Academy of Urban Planning and Design and Tang Daizhong, deputy head of the construction management and real estate department at Tongji University, to discuss the sustainable development aspects of this plan. Below are excerpts of the interview. The views don't necessarily represent those of China Daily.

China's urban development is shifting from a model focused on expansion to a more intensive and quality-oriented approach. This new stage of development emphasizes the construction of modern cities that are innovative, desirable to live in, beautiful, resilient, culturally advanced and smart. These principles must translate into concrete actions, projects and real-life scenarios to deliver tangible results.

The urban renewal plan identifies six major tasks: fostering new drivers of urban development, creating high-quality urban living spaces, advancing the green and low-carbon transition, building safer and more resilient cities, promoting urban culture, and enhancing urban governance capabilities. It also stresses the need to optimize underutilized land, introduce full life-cycle safety management systems for housing, construct or renovate "quality homes" and upgrade urban municipal infrastructure.

Urban renewal is fundamentally a safety project. Risks are often concentrated in large cities, so it is essential to focus on safety. Aging infrastructure, deteriorating buildings and outdated public facilities pose risks, necessitating renewal and upgrades.

At the same time, managing urban safety requires a systematic approach. Cities are increasingly expected to leverage digital technologies and monitoring systems to detect risks early, issue timely warnings and respond before problems escalate.

A comprehensive urban assessment is the critical first step in the renewal process. By examining the condition of buildings and residential compounds, cities can identify existing problems and residents' needs. For example, there may be a shortage of parking facilities, structural risks in an aging building or insufficient public services for seniors and children.

However, identifying problems is only the beginning. The real challenge lies in addressing them through targeted renovation, upgrades and quality improvement. This is why the principle of "no renewal without assessment" has become a core component of the urban renewal framework. It creates a closed-loop process in which assessments uncover problems, and those findings guide the design and implementation of renewal projects.

According to the plan, future urban renewal projects are expected to draw on three major sources of funding: public finance, financial capital and private capital, with each serving a distinct function.

Public funding will provide the foundation and serve as a safeguard, particularly for projects with strong public-interest characteristics. Public finance can also act as seed capital to attract additional financing.

Financial capital is to play a leveraging role, addressing the mismatch between the long investment cycles of urban renewal projects and the slower pace of returns. Since many renewal projects require years to generate stable revenue, long-term financing is essential to bridge the gap and ensure that future cash flows cover the current investment costs.

The third crucial source of funding is private capital. Some private capital, such as real estate developers and professional operators can revitalize projects, improve efficiency and create sustainable business models where future operating revenues help offset the initial investment.