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Beijing becomes the first mega-city in China applying decremental development mode

2022-09-14

On September 1, the CPC Beijing Municipal Committee held a press conference on the theme of ‘China's Decade - Beijing’, and Chen Jining, the deputy secretary of the Beijing Municipal Committee and mayor, made an announcement and answered reporters' questions.

Chen said that it has been a milestone period in the history of Beijing's development since the 18th Party Congress. Beijing has been implemented a new development concept and new development pattern. Specifically, it has firmly shifted from the development of Beijing to the development of the capital, from the development of a single city to the coordinated development of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, from gathering resources for growth to decongesting non-capital functions for development, and from urban management to mega-city governance. This great city of Beijing has achieved profound transformation and undergone new historical changes.

Chen pointed out that over the decade, Beijing's capital function has been significantly enhanced and a historic breakthrough in collaborative development has been achieved. In order to break the wrist and unswervingly decentralize non-capital functions, Beijing has become the first mega-city in China to reduce its development. We have been vigorously developing Beijing as a center of politics, culture, international communication, and technological innovation and successfully completed a series of major events such as the 70th anniversary of the founding of New China and the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China. After seven years of hard work, we collaborated with Hebei Province to hold a Winter Olympics event. Since then, Beijing became the world's first and only double Olympic city.

Chen said we have been supporting the construction of Xiong'an New Area and promoting the high-quality development of the city's sub-center. The modern capital city circle is accelerating the formation and the synergy of key aspects such as transportation, ecology and industry. The region of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei has opened a new vision for residents of the three areas to live in the same city. The cooperative development strategy creates a new way of thinking to optimize the layout of Beijing's urban functions and a novel path for the connotative and optimal development of densely populated areas.



Source: China City Planning Review, 2022, 31(2), pp. 3-5.

Edited by Liang Xiuchun