Mayor: a better city in sight when Shanghai strives to become greener, more liveable and more attractive to the talented
Shanghai is striving to become greener, more liveable and more attractive to talented workers from around the world.
Residents enjoy themselves in a park in Minhang District.
Greener
About 2,000 parks will be completed by the end of 2035, Shanghai Mayor Gong Zheng said at a press conference after the annual session of the Shanghai People's Congress on Sunday afternoon.
Those parks will come in different sizes, including pocket parks and street-corner parks.
Apart from riverside parks along the Huangpu River and Suzhou Creek, the government also plans to build green belts around the city's Outer Ring Road area as well as in five "new cities."
Moreover, some 120 parks will be built within the year.
In the future, residents in all parts of the city will able to enjoy green-land space.
In addition, Shanghai will continue to step up efforts to improve air quality.
"To make the sky bluer, the ground greener, the water cleaner and the environment more beautiful is our assiduous goal," Gong said.
The government will also focus on reducing carbon emission. It will also facilitate construction of low-carbon factories, zones, products as well as supply chains.
A renovated neighborhood
More liveable
Shanghai is also making itself more liveable by pressing ahead old neighborhood renovation.
Shanghai will finish a total of 400,000 square meters of old neighborhood renovation this year.
Gong said that in some old communities with poor conditions, residents still need to share kitches and toilets.
The city will continue speeding up the renovation such old communities in three steps.
By the end of 2025, the city will finish all the old community renovation in downtown areas.
By the end of 2027, renovation work on all the constructions with fragile structures and thin walls as well as "urban villages" in the city center will be finished.
By the end of 2032, all the "urban villages" and apartments of employment with poor conditions will be renovated.
Better environment for foreign investment
Last year, Shanghai attracted more than US$23.5 billion investment from overseas.
Shanghai is home to a total of 891 regional headquarters and 531 research and development centers of multinational enterprises, making the city China's largest hub for foreign businesses.
Shanghai is still one of the most popular foreign investment spots worldwide.
The city will continue to create better conditions for foreign companies to invest in and take root by improving market mechanisms, the legal environment as well as internationalization.
Expats working in Shanghai in various fields are honored with the Shanghai Magnolia Silver Award.
Attractive for the talented
Shanghai is striving to become the best choice for talented workers worldwide. It has made remarkable achievements in attracting professionals globally.
As for now, more than 11,000 overseas talented workers have obtained permanent residence permits in Shanghai. The city has also issued more than 370,000 work permits for foreigners. More than 270,000 overseas returnees have chosen Shanghai to settle and obtain hukou, household registration – all these three indicators are ranked the top in China.
In the future, the city will have a flexible system and mechanism for attracting talented workers. In particular, it will focus on relaxing some unnecessary restrictions such as the number of academic articles, qualifications, awards and professional titles to allow more flexibility in talent attraction.
