Cities serve as crucial engines for modernization and vital spaces for people's happiness and well-being.

At present, China's urbanization is transitioning from a phase of rapid growth to one of stable development, with urban development shifting from large-scale incremental expansion to a stage focused primarily on enhancing quality and efficiency through existing resources.

In recent years, Anhui has vigorously implemented urban renewal initiatives, strengthened the construction of resilient and safe cities, continuously improved urban functions, elevated urban quality, and innovated urban governance. These efforts promote the connotative development of cities, accelerate the creation of an Anhui urban matrix with more appealing forms, superior business ecosystems, and greater vitality, and enhance cities' ability to attract and allocate resources.

Since the launch of the 14th Five-Year Plan, the province has focused on boosting urban vitality and competitiveness by advancing the construction and renovation of urban infrastructure. Anhui has added 389,000 public parking spaces, expanded its rail transit network by 165.6 kilometers, and upgraded 22,000 kilometers of various underground pipelines. The per capita road area in cities has reached 27.1 square meters. The province has promoted two national-level and thirteen provincial-level pilot projects for complete communities, established provincial, municipal, and county-level urban operation management service platforms to enable integrated online governance of cities, and advanced the renovation of small-scale public spaces. Anhui is now home to seven national historical and cultural cities and 6,297 historical buildings, ranking eighth and third nationally, respectively.

Next, Anhui will focus on improving urban functions and making breakthroughs in enhancing urban quality. Efforts will include systematically optimizing urban infrastructure, upgrading public services, and improving living environments. The province aims to collaboratively build urban spaces characterized by high-quality development, a beautiful ecology, efficient governance, a high quality of life, and a high level of safety, accelerating the construction of modern, livable, resilient, and smart cities with distinctive Anhui features.

In the next phase, the province will prioritize building safe and reliable resilient cities, with a focus on "expanding coverage, improving quality, and increasing efficiency." This will involve extending urban lifeline safety projects across entire cities, accelerating technological breakthroughs, product iterations, and industrial upgrades, striving to create an "Anhui model" for urban lifeline safety projects and building secure and dependable resilient cities.

Since the launch of the 14th Five-Year Plan, the province has actively promoted the open sharing of park green spaces, improved facilities for public recreation and sports fitness, and developed 936 "pocket parks," adding 2,824 kilometers of urban greenways.

Looking ahead to the 15th Five-Year Plan period, Anhui will advance green and low-carbon transformations in key areas such as industry, urban and rural construction, transportation, and energy. The province will promote the development of "zero-waste cities" across all regions, foster the growth of a circular economy, implement fiscal, financial, investment, pricing, technological, and environmental policies that support green and low-carbon development, improve green consumption incentive mechanisms, optimize government green procurement policies, and accelerate the comprehensive green transformation of urban construction and development.

Source: Anhui Daily