Shanghai aiming to be 'alluring' by 2035

Shanghai aims to become an alluring city featuring innovation, humanity and ecology as well as a socialistic metropolis with global influence by 2035, according to the Shanghai Committee of the Communist Party of China.

It has published a suggestion on the city’s 14th Five-Year Plan from 2020 as well as its long-term vision for 2035.

Shanghai is expected to become a “people’s city” with the characteristics of China, the times and the city. It aims to become a core city of the world-class city cluster in the Yangtze River Delta region as well as the key window and benchmark for the construction of a socialist modern country, according to the committee.

China makes plans for every five years to guide social and economic development as well as set goals.

The 13th five-year period between 2015 and 2020 was a milestone and an epoch-making period for Shanghai’s development, the committee said. The planning and targets had been nearly completed. The city’s power and international influence had been enhanced along with people’s living standards.

By 2025, Shanghai should be a global center for economy, finance, trade, shipping and science and technology innovation (the five centers) at a new level. Shanghai also aims to significantly improve the livelihoods of its residents in the following five years.

With 10 more years of efforts, the city’s five-center functions and strength as a cultural metropolis will be further upgraded by 2035, according to the document.

“Everyone will have the opportunity to show their talent, participate to the governance, enjoy quality life as well as feel the warmth and sense of belonging,” according to the prospect released by the committee.

It will strive to strengthen its four functions of allocating global resources, leading scientific and technological innovation, directing the development of high-end industries and serving as a hub for opening up.

Shanghai will also speed up the construction of the “five centers,” and comprehensively promote digital transformation of the whole city, which has become the core driving force for social and economic development.

To achieve the goals, Shanghai should continue to implement its philosophy of “a city built by and for the people” when planning and carrying out its tasks in economic, political, cultural, social and ecological areas to achieve high-quality development and highly efficient governance, the committee said.

As one of the principles for development during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, Shanghai will continue to deepen reform and opening up as a pioneer of innovation, pushing forward high-level institutional openness and vigorously promoting the decentralization and empowerment of economic and social management powers to the grassroots.

As a major goal set for economic development, Shanghai expects to make notable progress in urban digital transformation by 2025. The core functions of Shanghai as a center for international economy, finance, trade, shipping, and science and technology innovation, meanwhile, will step up to a new level.

The city’s core functions will be more powerful. The concentration of high-end global resources should be accelerated, and the international influence of factor markets be significantly strengthened, with more development momentums emerging and innovation capacity enhanced. Major breakthroughs will be made in tackling key technological problems.

The upgrading of the industrial base and the modernization of the industrial chain will be significantly enhanced.

The city also expects to make breakthroughs in setting up a higher-level open economy system, form a basic framework for the construction of a digital city, and enhance the city's "four major functions.”

According to the plan, the gross product of the Lingang new area of the pilot free trade zone by 2025 will quadruple that of 2018, and major achievements will be made in the system innovation of the eco-green integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta.

Quality of  life

People can enjoy a higher quality of life with incomes increasing along with economic growth, while the social insurance system will be further optimized.

All derelict houses in the downtown area will complete renovations to help enhance the attraction of the city.

The education and human resources development indexes, as well as average life expectancy, will be close to the level of leading global cities.

The urban spirit will be further highlighted with an elevated quality of civilization as well as optimized sports and cultural facilities.

The ecological environment will be improved by reducing the pollutant emissions and having over 1,000 parks across the city.

Meanwhile, governance of the city will be more efficient. The one-stop online platform offering government services and the one-network administration will operate efficiently, with a more scientific, refined, intelligent long-term mechanism and more enhanced urban security and resilience.

Aiming to promote the Yangtze River Delta to take the lead in forming a new development pattern of "dual circulation,” Shanghai will focus on building a new platform linking the international market with the domestic market.

The city will give full play to the Pudong New Area’s leading role in high-level reform and opening up, the role of the Lingang New Area as a test field, and the role of the demonstration area for the ecological and green integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta.

It will also continue to expand the spillover effects of the China International Import Expo and the functions of Hongqiao as an international open hub. As a result, the city can build a distribution center for imported and exported commodities, thus promoting liberalization and facilitation of trade and investment, as well as allowing better allocation of global resources.

Meanwhile, the city expects to deepened reform of SSE Star Market and the registration system to be a driving force for the development of Shanghai as a financial center and a sci-tech innovation center.

In terms of developing a new mechanism for higher-level open economy, the city will make efforts to stimulate the vitality of various market entities.

In one case, it will accelerate the structural adjustment and strategic restructuring of state-owned economic entities, to promote state-owned capital flowing into key industries and liquidize remnant state-owned assets.

Also during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, the city will make greater efforts to improve the environment for doing business, and attract more multinational enterprises to set up regional headquarters, research and development centers and other organizations.

Platforms for open cooperation and communication will be further promoted, such as the Hongqiao International Economic Forum, the World Laureates Forum, the Pujiang Innovation Forum, the World Artificial Intelligence Conference and the Lujiazui Forum. New such platforms will also be set up over the next five years.