Factories encouraged to build up, not out

This national strategy finds concrete expression in the city of Maanshan's Bowang district. Since the 1980s, small workshops and micro enterprises producing blades, dies and machine-tool accessories have clustered there. By the late 2000s, however, the developed area had become saturated. Scattered plots — many occupied by aging single-story plants with a plot ratio of barely 0.4, compared with more than 1.0 in modern industrial parks — left little room for expansion.

"We have little space for enlarging the development zone," said Chen Puwen, head of the Bowang division of the Maanshan Natural Resources and Planning Bureau. "If we wanted to keep traditional industry viable and bring in emerging industries, we had to look inward — consolidate fragmented lots, raise density and reallocate resources."

Bowang introduced a performance-based enterprise evaluation system for land allocation in 2018. Firms are assessed annually on land-output value, tax contribution, energy intensity, environmental compliance and workplace safety. Top performers receive priority when consolidated land becomes available. Lower-ranked firms are not forcibly removed; instead, they are relocated to standardized multistory plants, each occupying around five hectares, freeing original plots for higher-intensity use.

"The biggest hurdle in such consolidation efforts remains funding," Chen said.