The 5th International Forum of Urban Competitivene
The 5thInternational Forum of Urban Competitiveness
The 5th International Forum of Urban Competitiveness was held in Yangzhou city, Jiangsu province, on July 26-27, 2008, by Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and Yangzhou municipal government, together with Institute of Finance and Trade Economics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, being responsible for concrete work. Leaders from the host organizations, members of the project group, leaders from relative departments and commissions of the State Council, exports from universities and colleges and research institutes, the mayor, as well as scholars in urban competitiveness from countries and regions such as USA, Germany, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong (China) and so on, attended the forum. With "The sustainable road for urban development in oriented countries" being the theme, they took the ideas and practices in Yangzhou as the case, exchanged research results, and discussed deeply about the effective approaches to improve urban competitiveness.
The delegates attending the forum thought, “sustainable urban development” is a subject highly stressed by all the countries. Insisting scientific development and sustainable development has become the common recognition in China.
Based on the great achievements China had made in urban development since the reform and opening up, the delegates attending the forum made an analysis of the challenges confronting the sustainable urban development in China, including pressures from population and unemployment, from land, energy and water, from ecosystem, correspondent infrastructure, social security system and public services, as well as spatial pressures caused by expansion of cities, social problems in suburban areas and countryside within cities, overlapped construction inside and economic imbalance outside, the problem of coordinated development of regions, the transfer of large amount of rural workforce into urban workforce, etc. all these pressures and challenges have put forth new tasks, including the planning of urban spatial layout and theme functional areas, the forecast and prevention of natural disasters, the increase in population density, the improvement of healthy level and life expectancy, food security and quality, the balance between supplies of resources, energies and demands, the construction of environment-friendly cities that can save energies and reduce emissions, the establishment of recycling economic system of “reduction at the source, recycling in the process, resource recovery at the end”, the in-depth disposal of waste, the solution to environmental pollution, the recovery and protection of ecosystem, the control over carbon dioxide emissions and low-carbon economy, the cure to urban diseases and the construction of intelligent transportation, new type of industrialization, the improvement of international competitiveness, new type of urbanization and balanced development of rural and urban areas, etc. Although these are common problems confronting urbanization around world, the pressures and challenges confronting China are even larger.
The delegates to the forum made a conclusion to the experience of Yangzhou city in sustainable urban development. They thought Yangzhou has taken a path of sustainable urban development full of oriented cultures, based on characteristic advantages, that is, humanity, ecosystem and being livable. The approaches chosen by Yangzhou are as follows: based on natural grants, cultural heritages and industries and other essential elements, with the development in competition and cooperation of its neighborhood as the background, and the requirements of the concept of scientific development as the guidance, Yangzhou has taken all the factors into consideration, established rational approaches, and spontaneously explored the special road of development with differential competitions. In the new century, when Yangzhou are speeding up in urban development, urbanization, and modernization, its environment is being improved, urban functions being perfected, urban images and competitiveness being enhanced, thus it won a great many titles such National Sanitary City, National Environmental Protection Model City, National Garden City, Habitat Scroll of Honor Award both in China and in UN. Therefore, all the delegates have fully acknowledged and highly praised the road of scientific, harmonious and sustainable development Yangzhou has taken in urban construction.
The delegates discussed the sustainable road for urban development in oriented countries, and thought that it should include the following aspects: first, emphasis on new type of industrialization that is different from the traditional industrialization in the west. This new type does not only pay attention of industry, heavy industry, or outputs, but stresses environmental protection, energy conservation and sustainable development. Second, emphasis on balanced development of rural and urban areas which is different from the traditional road of urbanization. “Balanced development of rural and urban areas” must be in oriented countries. The criterion of traditional urbanization is the proportion of urban population in the total population. While “balanced development of rural and urban areas” must take farmers’ conditions into consideration, and regard farmers as brothers rather than a sort of backward productivity that has been removed. Thus “balanced development of rural and urban areas” is not the responsibility of a certain department of the government. It must be led by the leaders of the city so that the balance can be achieved between cities and the countryside. Third, emphasis on the direction of development, that is, it should inherit our cultures and stress our characteristics. Fourth, emphasis on people-oriented, well-off-oriented development that can make people wealthier. Fifth, emphasis on the integration of nature and humans. To build up the development concept of environment-friendly society based on natural principles.
They also thought it necessary to enhance “sustainable urban movement” with cities as basic units. The “sustainability” is different from the traditional values and concepts of industrialized society which mean conforming to growth and development unconditionally. On the contrary, it is a totally new concept that consisting of kinds of new values in almost all the social aspects such as production, life, cities and the relationship between generations and so on. The society that has realized this kind of new concept can be called sustainable regional society. The sustainable urban movement should start from communities. If communities are not sustainable, then there will not be sustainability for our planet; the growth pattern and life pattern both should be changed. Otherwise, natural resources will be harmed. Cities and towns are the key to the changes in life pattern, production pattern, consumption pattern and spatial patterns; the basic life of human being can not transcend the capacity limits of natural environment but should pursue the sustainability in society, economy and ecosystem; the differences and diversities between regions should be acknowledged, and problems in different regions should be addressed differently; social fairness should be maintained and the poor should be protected from becoming the victims of environmental problems. The policies and measures for management of sustainability should combine existing policies on sustainability of environment, economy and society together. Sustainable environment can only stem from sustainable social systems. If the existing regional social policy system is not changed radically and that only themes such as recycling, water purification, forestation, protection of biodiversity, etc., are stressed, then the goal of building a sustainable city will not be realized.
The delegates analyzed the disadvantages of traditional urbanization and proposed that a new path of urbanization be taken. Traditional urbanization not only makes the countryside poorer, but also enlarges the number of poor people in cities, so it becomes one of the main causes of “Latin American Trap”. Traditional urbanization simply pursues the increase of urban population rather than balanced development and common wealth between cities and countryside, which will certainly bring about social contradictions and social turbulence. The new type of urbanization is, under the general principle of the balance, coordination and integration between cities and countryside, “improve farmers’ ability to make money”, “realize the transfer of farmers from physical labor to mental labor”, “build the new socialist countryside and change rural production pattern, life pattern and cultural pattern”, “establish a social security system covering both cities and countryside”, “create fair opportunities for education and employment both in cities and countryside”, etc. Only by insisting on balanced development between rural and urban areas can we realize “the transfer from difference to similarity, from opposition to unity, from binary to unary”, so that the “first threat” intimating our harmonious society will be confined within the safety threshold.
The delegates believed, confronted with new situations, cities must put into practice the concept of scientific development, grasp key procedures, change economic growth pattern, enhance the strategic adjustment to economic structure, improve cities’ comprehensive strength and potentials, strengthen the guidance and control over rural and urban planning, speed up the construction of urban infrastructure, perfect urban functions, enhance the construction of ecological civilization, and the construction of energy-saving society and environment-friendly society, create a good environment for urban development, and finally enhance the sustainable development of both economy and society.