APEC High-Level Urbanization Forum Focusing on Innovative Development of Small-and-Medium-Sized Cities
- Details
- Category: Governmental News
- Published: Tuesday, 07 June 2016 13:25
How does a city achieve scientific planning and innovative development based on its natural endowments? The APEC High-Level Urbanization Forum, centering around Innovative Development of Small-and-Medium-Sized Cities was unveiled in Ningbo on the afternoon of June 2nd. Shu Guozeng, deputy head of the Office of the Central Leading Group for Financial and Economic Affairs, delivered the keynote speech, and Chen Yijun, member of Standing Committee of the CPC Ningbo Municipal Committee and vice mayor, hosted the meeting.
Since the initiation of the reform and opening-up program, Zhejiang has blazed a new trail in urbanization that combines with industrialization, informatization and agricultural modernization. The delegates said the urbanization in Zhejiang is people-centered and is expanding to rural areas, achieving a balanced urban-rural development with public service in cities transferred and modern culture transmitted to rural areas synchronously.
“As a connection between cities and rural areas, the county economy plays an important role in the process of urbanization in Zhejiang.” Shu noted, “It is the developed county economy that supports large cities to be large and prosperous, small cities to be small and beautiful.”
These years has seen Zhejiang focus on fostering characteristic towns, which, according to the delegates, should start with supply-side reform and combine structural adjustments, industrial upgrades with urbanization. “They actually are neither towns or districts. They possess characteristic industries, concentrate mainly on competitive and historic ones, and further strengthen one particular industry, as to make a dominant platform of entrepreneurship and innovation.”
The delegates believed that the web-shaped layout of Ningbo helps improve the service function and the bearing capacity, and promote a more efficient resource utilization as well. They suggested that Ningbo foster and develop satellite cities, and central towns and promote the coordinated development of population, industry and resource environment in the next stage.
