Global Cities Forum

The Global Cities Forum was launched by the Development and Research Center of Shanghai Municipal People's Government and sponsored by the World Bank Group, UN-HABITAT, Shanghai Municipal Housing and Urban-Rural Development Administration Commission, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai University and Shanghai Jiao Tong University to promote "World Cities Day" to the public, convey the common aspiration and goal of "Better City, Better Life" and facilitate exchanges and cooperation among global cities. Five Global Cities Forum have been successfully held since 2014.

On October 31, 2014, the first "Global Cities Forum" was successfully held under the theme "Shanghai 2050: A Rising Global City" at Shanghai International Convention Center. A total of more than 200 people attended the meeting, including officials from the United Nations and the World Bank Group, leaders from Shanghai Municipal People’s Government, municipal authorities, districts and counties, experts and scholars from world-renowned universities and domestic research institutions, representatives of Shanghai 2050 Research Group and friends from domestic and foreign media. Two sub-forums: "Shanghai International Urban Strategy from the Perspective of Diversity" and "Innovation and Competitiveness Enhancement of Global Cities" were held simultaneously. On October 30, a parallel forum took place in Shanghai Normal University, focusing on the topics of the positioning and transformation of cities, knowledge innovation, cultural exchanges, development of tourism and sustainable development evaluation in order to build Shanghai into an global city by 2050.

On November 1, ‘Global Cities Forum 2015" was held under the theme "Global Cities: Innovation and Design" on Baoshan Campus of Shanghai University. Experts from the World Bank Group, the Development Research Center of the State Council, the research group of "Shanghai Development Strategy for the Next 30 years" and 300 guests from home and abroad attended the forum. The forum followed the sequence of ‘main forum – sub forum – main forum’ and provided various forms of events such as luncheon lectures, theme reports, parallel sub-forums and closing ceremony. LI Peilin, Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and President of the Shanghai Research Institute, ZHOU Hanmin, Vice Chairman of Shanghai Municipal People's Political Consultative Conference, Abhas K. Jha, Deputy Director of the Global Development Practice Bureau of the World Bank Group, HOU Yongzhi, minister of Regional Economic and Development Strategy of the State Council Development Research Center, XIAO Lin, Director of Development Research Center of Shanghai Municipal People's Government and LI Youmei, Vice President of Shanghai University delivered keynote speeches. Guests from home and abroad gathered together and shared the experience of global cities such as New York, London and Tokyo. They discussed in a profound manner about issues that Shanghai faces to become a global city in the following 30 years, including scienti¬fic and technological innovation, industrial upgrading, social governance and cultural integration, and offered many insightful observations.

On October 30, the 2016 Global Cities Forum were jointly held by the Research Center of Shanghai Municipal People's Government, the Shanghai Municipal Housing and Urban-Rural Construction Management Committee, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, UN-HABITAT and the World Bank. Yang Xiong, Mayor of Shanghai, delivered a speech at the opening ceremony and unveiled the China Institute for Urban Governance with Jiang Sixian. The forum was hosted by Xiao Guiyu, Secretary-General of Shanghai Municipal People's Government and was wildly attended by experts from all over the world, faculties and students from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and many distinguished guests, including Meric Gertler (Director of the Academic Committee of China Institute for Urban Governance and President of the University of Toronto), Zhang Junkuo (Deputy Director of the Development Research Center of the State Council), Jiang Sixian (Deputy Secretary of the Standing Committee of the Shanghai Municipal People's Congress and Party Secretary of Shanghai Jiao Tong University), Zhang Jie (President of Shanghai Jiao Tong University), Ren Bin (Deputy Director of World Bank Transportation and Communication Technology Global Development Practice Bureau), Zhang Zhenshan (UN-Habitat China Office Director), Cui Minghua (Party Secretary of Shanghai Municipal Urban and Rural Construction and Transportation Commission), Zhang Xiaosong (Director of Shanghai Municipal People's Government Foreign Affairs Office), Guo Xinli (Deputy Secretary of Shanghai Jiao Tong University Party Committee), Gu Wensheng and Li Zhixian (Directors of K.WAH GROUP). Looking into the trend and practice of global cities development, as well as the theme of 2016 World Cities Day, ‘Inclusive Cities, Shared Development’, this forum took the theme of ‘Coordinated Governance and Shared Development’ and focused on solving common problems facing urban development from the perspectives of urban governance innovation, urban economic transformation and development, urban traffic management innovation, urban ecological management innovation, urban cultural protection and inheritance, etc.

Joint Governance, Common Development