BEIJING, May 17 (Xinhua) -- China's Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development has called for integrated endeavors to advance urban "health checks" and urban renewal, stressing that renewal projects should be carried out after city check-ups.

A ministry official said local authorities should follow the principle of "health checks before renewal" and strengthen the use of assessment results in urban renewal planning and implementation.

The unnamed official said China will further advance urban health checks in 2026 and carry out urban renewal programs to a high standard. Cities are required to conduct comprehensive urban check-ups and accelerate the achievement of full-coverage check-ups across housing, residential communities, street blocks and urban districts.

Local governments should carry out targeted assessments based on key urban renewal tasks and local conditions, while improving mechanisms to identify problems, address them, evaluate outcomes and consolidate improvements, the official noted.

Having experienced the world's largest and fastest urbanization process over the past few decades, China introduced the city "health check" pilot program in 2018, with aims to build livable, resilient and smart cities. The initiative began full implementation in all prefecture-level and higher-tier cities in 2024 to diagnose problems in urban development and provide evidence-based support for city renewal and improved urban governance.

The ministry recently held a video conference to make arrangements for 2026 urban health check work. Last year, 297 prefecture-level and higher-tier cities, as well as 152 county-level cities, carried out such assessments, helping identify and resolve a number of pressing public concerns and providing support for high-quality urban renewal, according to the ministry.■