New strategy to revitalize Chinese cities

Amid the ongoing two sessions, China has identified urban renewal as a key component of the draft outline of the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30) and is poised to embark on an ambitious new urban development agenda, said Jon Taylor, associate dean of the College of Liberal and Fine Arts and chair of the Department of Political Science and Geography at the University of Texas at San Antonio.

"Specifically, China will shift its urban policy from outward expansion to a more intensive inward development," said Taylor. "Cities are encouraged to pursue compact, efficient and environmentally friendly redevelopment rather than unchecked spatial growth."

The draft outline of the 15th Five-Year Plan for national economic and social development was submitted on Thursday to the fourth session of the 14th National People's Congress, China's top legislature, for review.

China will promote coordinated and interconnected regional development, pursue new-type urbanization, optimize the scale and structure of cities, and promote an intensive model of city development, according to the draft outline.

Taylor said that China's largest cities, particularly the first-tier cities of Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou and Shenzhen in Guangdong province, have long been a part of China's urbanization process.

"As a result, a substantial portion of residential and commercial properties were built between the late 1980s and the early 2000s, and are increasingly inadequate to serve a modern China that is experiencing evolving demographic changes driven by dynamic social, environmental and technological demands," he said.

Aimed at revitalizing aging city districts, stabilizing the housing market and launching major reforms focused on affordable housing, China may put urban renewal at the center of its economic development for the next five years, said Taylor.

"As a major structural driver for China's economy during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, urban renewal's focus on domestic economic growth links efforts at renovating aging neighborhoods, replacing outdated infrastructure and addressing inefficient land use," he said.

"In turn, these have created strong demand for redevelopment at the local, provincial and national levels."

Recognizing the need for urban policy experimentation, cities such as Shanghai have piloted programs that target "micro-renewal" at the neighborhood level, and Guangzhou has pursued district-level regeneration, Taylor said.

"All tier-one cities have rapidly expanded transit-oriented redevelopment. And Beijing has engaged in major efforts to implement old-city preservation and renewal projects."

This urban renewal strategy aims to strengthen high-efficiency urban governance and aligns with broader national goals of improving government responsiveness, integrating digital systems and enhancing public services, he said.

"China's urban renewal strategy is not merely a justification for new housing and commercial construction, but a vehicle to elevate urban renewal and urbanization to a national strategy — one that will reshape Chinese society, local governance and economic development for the next decade and beyond," Taylor said.

After the 15th Five-Year Plan is approved and implemented,"urban renewal can no longer be viewed as a peripheral or secondary economic and social development initiative. Rather, it's a central tenet of China's national development strategy now and for the foreseeable future", he said.