Shanghai to host 2023 World Cities Day China event

Imaginechina

The 2023 World Cities Day main event in China will be held in Shanghai from Saturday through Tuesday to help promote sustainable urban development and improve the living environment.

This year's event, themed "Financing Sustainable Urban Future for All," is jointly hosted by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, the Shanghai government and the United Nations Human Settlements Program.

The main event will focus on exchanging and showcasing policies, experiences and practices from around the world in implementing the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda.

The opening ceremony will be held on Saturday at the North Bund waterfront in Hongkou District, when the inaugural Global Sustainable Development City Awards, also known as the Shanghai Awards, will be presented. The first edition of the award will honor five cities around the world.

Additionally, the event will release the 2023 edition of the "Shanghai Manual – A Guide for Sustainable Urban Development in the 21st Century."

Throughout the event, more than 20 forums and meetings will be held, addressing hot topics in urban sustainable development in areas such as the economy, society and the environment.

Furthermore, a special event on sustainable development between Shanghai and Espoo will be held to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Shanghai's sister city relationship with the city in Finland.

The World Cities Day Theme Exhibition will highlight recent exemplary practices in urban sustainable development in Shanghai, across China, and globally.

The 2023 Shanghai International Urban and Architectural Expo will be held from October 30 to November 1 at the Shanghai Expo Exhibition Center. The theme of the expo is "Green and Low-Carbon Cities, Smart Transformation and Development," and it covers an exhibition area of nearly 50,000 square meters.

World Cities Day was established by the UN, with China advocating for October 31 as the designated date. In 2014, the first global launch ceremony took place in Shanghai.

Since its inception, the event has seen diverse promotional activities conducted both domestically and internationally. This year's global main event will be held in Istanbul, Turkey.

Data indicates that by the end of 2022, China's urbanization rate had reached 65.22 percent and the total length of urban roads hit 548,500 kilometers. The urban gas coverage, sewage treatment rate, and harmless treatment rate of domestic waste was over 97 percent. The per capita park and green space area reached 15.12 square meters.

Since its establishment in 2013, Shanghai has hosted two global main events and two Chinese main events. As the birthplace of the concept of "People-Oriented City," Shanghai places great emphasis on creating a livable environment for its residents, according to the city government.

This year, Shanghai has renovated 85,200 square meters of old neighborhoods and 247,700 square meters of old housing, launching 10 urban village transformation projects.

An additional of 8 kilometers of riverside paths have been created this year to become popular recreational sites for residents and tourists.