2016 Global City Forum was held in Shanghai Jiaotong University China Institute for Urban Governance was unveiled

On October 30th, the 2016 Global Urban Forum of the “World Cities Day” theme event was held at Shanghai Jiaotong University. Shanghai Mayor Yang Xiong delivered a speech at the opening ceremony and unveiled the China Urban Governance Research Institute. Meric Gertler, Director of the Academic Committee of the China Institute for Urban Governance, President of the University of Toronto, Canada, Zhang Junkuo, deputy director of the Development Research Center of the State Council, Jiang Sixian, deputy director of the Shanghai Municipal People's Congress Standing Committee, secretary of the Party Committee of Shanghai Jiaotong University, Zhang Jie, president of Shanghai Jiaotong University, Ren Bin, deputy director of the World Bank's Transportation and Communication Technology Global Development and Practice Bureau, Xiao Guiyu, secretary general of the Shanghai Municipal People's Government, Zhang Zhenshan, director of the UN-HABITAT China Office, Xiao Lin, Director of the Shanghai Municipal People's Government Development Research Center, Cui Minghua, Secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of Urban and Rural Construction and Transportation, Zhang Xiaosong, Director of the Foreign Affairs Office of the Shanghai Municipal People's Government, Guo Xinli, Executive Deputy Secretary of the Shanghai Jiaotong University, Directors of Jiahua (China) Investment Co., Ltd. Gu Wensheng, Li Zhixian and experts and scholars from all over the world, teachers and students of Shanghai Jiaotong University attended the forum. The opening ceremony of the forum was hosted by Xiao Guiyu.

 

The 2016 Global Urban Forum is co-sponsored by the Shanghai Municipal People's Government Development Research Center, Shanghai Housing and Urban-Rural Construction Management Committee, Shanghai Jiaotong University, UN-HABITAT and the World Bank. Under the theme of “co-governance and shared development”, experts and scholars from all over the world combine the trends and practices of urban development in today's world to explore common problems and solutions for urban development, and provide new ideas for global urban governance and development, focusing on urban government governance innovation and urban economic transformation, urban traffic management innovation, urban ecological governance innovation, urban cultural protection and inheritance.

 

Yang Xiong delivered a speech at the opening ceremony of the forum. Yang Xiong said that World City Day is the first international day with the theme of the city and is an important spiritual legacy of the Shanghai World Expo. The Global Urban Forum is one of the key thematic activities of World City Day. It is an open platform that brings together global wisdom to explore urban governance issues. It is of great practical significance for the forum to explore the major issues facing urban governance in all aspects and from multiple perspectives. Currently, Shanghai is preparing a new round of urban master plan to depict the blueprint for future development. We propose that the vision for Shanghai's urban development in 2040 is a remarkable global city, a city of innovation, a city of humanities, and an ecological city. We will grasp the new round of scientific and technological revolution and the rapid development of industrial innovation, vigorously implement the innovation-driven development strategy, accelerate the construction of international economic, financial, trade, shipping centers, and accelerate the move to a globally influential science and technology innovation center. We will pay more attention to the protection and inheritance of material and intangible cultural heritage, strengthen international cultural exchanges, promote cultural innovation in the expansion of opening up, and strive to build an international cultural metropolis. We will firmly establish the concept of green water and green hills as mountains of gold and silver, strictly control the scale of construction land, strengthen environmental management in key areas such as water and atmosphere, increase more green space, and strive to build an ecologically livable city.

 

 

Yang Xiong and Jiang Sixian unveiled the China Institute for Urban Governance. The institute is supported by the Shanghai Municipal People's Government, and jointly constructed by Shanghai Jiaotong University and the Shanghai Municipal People's Government Development Research Center. It aims to normalize urban governance research and build a new international think tank with Chinese characteristics, a talent pool and a high-end international exchange and cooperation platform. The institute adopts the president responsibility system under the leadership of the Academic Affairs Committee. The deputy director of the Shanghai Municipal People's Congress Standing Committee, the Secretary of the Party Committee of Shanghai Jiaotong University, Jiang Sixian, the Secretary General of the Shanghai Municipal Government and the Director of the General Office of the Municipal Government, Xiao Guiyu, jointly serve as the director of the Academic Affairs Committee; Jiang Sixian also served as Dean, and Xiao Lin, Director of the Shanghai Municipal Government Development Research Center, served as the first deputy dean. The Academic Committee consists of an academic committee chaired by Götler, the President of the University of Toronto, Canada. As a research platform open to both domestic and overseas schools, the Institute is looking forward to the joint participation and planning, collaborative research, and win-win cooperation of researchers and practitioners in the field of urban governance and innovation at home and abroad.

 

 

The China Institute for Urban Governance received the care and support of Chairman of the Jiahua Group, Lv Zhi, and the school's director, Lv Huiyu.  Jiahua Group will invest in the establishment of “Jiahua Urban Governance Research Fund” to support the construction and development of China Institute for Urban Governance, especially its big data center. In order to remember the charity and encourage teachers and students, Shanghai Jiaotong University will permanently name the big data center “Jiahua Big Data Center”. Zhang Jie, President of Shanghai Jiaotong University, and Gu Wensheng, Director of Jiahua (China) Investment Co., Ltd. jointly unveiled the “Jiahua Big Data Center”.

 

 

Ren Bin, deputy director of the World Bank's Transportation and Communication Technology Global Development Practice Bureau, said in his speech that the World Bank has always had good cooperative relations with Chinese cities including Shanghai. Shanghai has played a very important role in urban planning and economic development, and can serve as a model for many cities in China and even for many cities around the world. From the perspective of urban planning, the World Bank is very concerned about the development of Shanghai. It is hoped that the Global Urban Forum will bring together outstanding experiences from all over the world to further promote the rapid and sustainable development of Shanghai and global cities. It also looks forward to the in-depth cooperation between the World Bank and Shanghai and high-end research institutions such as China Institute for Urban Governance.

 

 

Zhang Zhenshan, director of the UN-HABITAT China Office, said in his speech that with the acceleration of urbanization, urban development has received more and more attention. In January 2016, the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was launched, calling on countries to take action to achieve 17 sustainable development goals in the next 15 years; In October 2016, the 3rd United Nations Conference on Housing and Urban Sustainable Development discussed and adopted the New Urban Agenda, which guides the sustainable development of cities in the next 20 years, with particular emphasis on the concept of inclusive and shared cities. China's urbanization is shifting from quantitative to qualitative. It is hoped that the Forum will implement the "New Urban Agenda" and actively promote the sharing of experience in urban governance and shared development.

 

 

Jiang Sixian, deputy director of the Shanghai Municipal People's Congress Standing Committee and secretary of the Party Committee of Shanghai Jiaotong University, delivered a speech. In his speech, Jiang Sixian said that global urbanization has enabled people to have a better life, but the high-density urban lifestyle has also caused different levels of space conflicts, cultural frictions, and traffic congestion. A good city life requires excellent urban governance. Urban governance, especially the governance of mega-cities, urgently requires interdisciplinary, cross-disciplinary and cross-border experts to participate in the process. The role that institutions of higher learning can play in this process is also particularly prominent with the explosion of knowledge. The practice of urban governance not only provides rich materials for theoretical research, but also puts forward higher requirements for theoretical research and the combination of theory and practice. Based on this, under the care and support of Mayor Yang Xiong and the relevant leaders and departments of the Shanghai Municipal Government, Shanghai Jiaotong University has over 100 professors from more than ten colleges in the school to form a city governance research institute that aims to provide ideas, solutions and solutions for urban governance, build a high-end platform for international exchanges and cooperation, and train outstanding talents in urban governance. China Institute for Urban Governance was jointly built by Shanghai Jiaotong University and the Shanghai Municipal People's Government Development Research Center. It is expected that through the joint efforts from all aspects, the global experience of urban governance will be brought to China, brought to Shanghai, and the vivid practices of Shanghai and China will be passed on to other countries in the world.

 

 

Xiao Guiyu, secretary general of the Shanghai Municipal People's Government, presided over the opening ceremony.

 

 

 

The 2016 edition of the "Shanghai Handbook" domestic conference was held at the opening ceremony of the forum. Cui Minghua, secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of Urban and Rural Construction and Transportation, gave a brief introduction to the features and highlights of the 2016 edition of the Shanghai Handbook. The 2016 edition of the Shanghai Handbook focuses on the new practices of sustainable urban development in recent years. It has selected a number of representative and forward-looking cases, further assisting cities in the world to absorb the advanced achievements of sustainable development and innovative urban development models. Cui Minghua, secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of Urban and Rural Construction and Transportation, Xiao Lin, director of the Shanghai Municipal People's Government Development Research Center, Zhou Guoping and Yan Jun, deputy director of the Shanghai Municipal People's Government Development Research Center, Yang Yu, deputy director of the Shanghai Housing and Urban-Rural Construction Management Committee, Jin Chen, secretary general of the Shanghai Housing and Urban-Rural Construction Management Committee, and Liu Qianwei, chief engineer of the Shanghai Housing and Urban-Rural Construction Management Committee, presented the 2016 edition of the Shanghai Handbook to the young student representatives.

 

 

 

The forum invited experts and scholars from all over the world, as well as leaders and experts from UN-HABITAT, the World Bank, the Development Research Center of the State Council, the Shanghai Municipal People's Government Development Research Center, the Shanghai Housing and Urban-Rural Construction Management Committee, and the Shanghai Jiaotong University China Urban Governance Research to explore the common problems and related governance experiences of global urban development in an all-round and multi-angle perspective.

 

 

In the keynote speech of the forum, Zhang Junkuo, deputy director of the Development Research Center of the State Council, Ren Bin, deputy director of the World Bank's Transportation and Communication Technology Global Development Practice Bureau, Merrick Gettler, President of the University of Toronto, and the Shanghai Research Center for People's Government Director Xiao Lin gave keynote speeches around the theme of the forum and exchanged ideas with experts and scholars on the spot. Zhang Jie, President of Shanghai Jiaotong University, presided over the keynote speech.

 

Zhang Junkuo pointed out that in the process of global urban development, the number of mega-cities is increasing, and the super-large cities in developing countries are constantly emerging. How these mega-cities improve urban functions, optimize urban governance, improve urban energy levels, and achieve more efficient, inclusive and sustainable development will be a major topic in the global urban development arena. In the future, urban development should focus on further optimizing and upgrading the industrial structure and employment structure, accelerate the building of innovative capabilities and innovative systems, focus on building a green and livable urban environment, vigorously promote urban culture, achieve benign urban governance, and create a safe, stable, and harmonious urban society.

 

 

With the theme of “China's Urbanization Financing: Reform and Innovation of Infrastructure Financing”, Ren Bin discussed the challenges and development directions of China's urbanization financing. Ren Bin pointed out that the main source of China's urban construction funds is local financial allocations and land transfer fees. This traditional means of financing tends to increase the government's debt ratio. A large amount of land transfer will also make the expansion of urban space faster than the actual needs of the population, resulting in the city's "low density" expansion. Therefore, in the process of financing the city, it is necessary to introduce market mechanisms to promote the cooperation between the central and local governments and social forces.

 

 

With the theme “Incentives for the Innovative Vitality of Cities”, Merrick Götler introduces relevant elements that inspire urban innovation. He believes that a quality city should be a vibrant and innovative hot spot. It can cultivate and attract outstanding talents and give full play to each individual's strengths. The innovation factors here can be spread around the city and drive more cities to develop together. The formulation of city-related policies should also aim to give full play to the city's innovative advantages and stimulate urban vitality.

 

 

Xiao Lin gave a keynote speech on the theme of “Shanghai is moving towards a global city of excellence”. Xiao Lin said that “co-governance and shared development” is one of the important characteristics of global urban development. The future world will enter a city-centered operation pattern, and global cities will present new features and new missions in self-reconstruction. The Shanghai Urban Master Plan (2016-2040) (draft for review) scientifically planned the development of Shanghai and put forward the goal of moving towards a global city of excellence. Under the global urban development trend full of challenges and strategic opportunities, a superior global city is the strategic orientation and vision for Shanghai's future development. In the future, Shanghai needs to change its development model, rely on innovation and transformation, adhere to innovation, tenacious and intensive development, and embark on a road of development with Chinese characteristics, characteristics of the times, and characteristics of Shanghai.

 

In the afternoon, five parallel sub-forums were held to provide practical solutions for urban government governance innovation, urban economic transformation and development, urban traffic management innovation, urban ecological governance innovation, and urban cultural protection and inheritance.

 

 

In the “Urban Government Governance Innovation” sub-forum, experts and scholars from China, the United States, Germany, South Korea and other countries have explored the issue of urban government innovation from the perspective of national experience and comparative perspective. Experts and scholars at the conference combined with the development experience of international metropolises and the realistic needs of the transformation of China's urban development mode, with the innovative thinking of systematic science, explored the co-ordination of government, society, and citizens, and promoted the government, society, and citizens to act in concert and realize the city, to achieve the development strategy of urban co-governance, co-construction and sharing, and the path of government reform and governance innovation. The forum mainly discussed the urban government's innovative measures in public services, several models of innovative government, the role of the market in innovative government and cooperative governance in crisis management, and explored the role of public participation (including network participation) in urban governance, as well as urban cooperation and urban alliances in the governance of the metropolitan area.

 

 

The sub-forum of “Urban Economic Transformation and Development” invited experts and scholars at home and abroad who have already accumulated rich research results in this field. Focusing on the comparison of Chinese and foreign cities, they have conducted in-depth discussions on the governance of future cities from the Mega City Development Project, global cities and local shopping streets, the experience and inspiration of innovation-driven transformation and upgrading in Shenzhen, and economic analysis and policy research on sustainable development in major emerging economies. The sub-forum first discussed the theme from the “big” aspect – the mega-city development project – based on Shanghai’s Lingang New City and London’s old oak development plan, comparing the differences between the Chinese government-led new city development and the UK property orientation and planning benefits development; Then from the "small" aspect - close observation of 12 local commercial streets in six cities - to analyze the tremendous changes in the global cities mapped by the socially dominant activities represented by these neighborhoods; The next speech focused on Shenzhen, one of the most watched cities in China's current innovation-driven transformation and development, and made a profound exposition of Shenzhen's development experience and enlightenment. The guests discussed the model and path of China's urban economic transformation and upgrading and innovation transformation, in order to provide innovative ideas and references for China's urban transformation and development, and to provide guiding opinions and suggestions for Shanghai to build a globally influential science and technology innovation center.

 

 

 

The “Urban Traffic Governance Innovation” sub-forum explores the effective countermeasures of traffic management in developed countries and regions through the comparison of Chinese and foreign cities, and provides experience for China's urban public transportation system, intelligent transportation system and urban scientific layout. In the forum, experts from home and abroad introduced innovation policies and management experiences in promoting public transport development in New York, Chicago and Vancouver, Canada, Singapore's experience in comprehensive measures to comprehensively manage urban transportation and Japan's experience in integrated operation of urban transportation planning, design and management. At the same time, experts also discussed the impact of technology update on urban transportation development, and new ideas for countries in the world to use new technologies to achieve urban traffic management innovation, and proposed urban governance measures with Chinese characteristics based on the causes of urban congestion in China, and have in-depth discussions on the innovative theory and practice of urban traffic management with experts and transportation experts and scholars from the World Bank and other institutions in China.

 

 

In the “Urban Ecological Governance Innovation” sub-forum, experts from urban development and ecological governance from all over the world discussed the theory, path and methods of global climate change, urban ecological stress, and urban ecological comprehensive governance under the background of ecological civilization in China. It is hoped that through this forum, we can learn from the experience of urban ecological management in developed countries, analyze the contradictions of ecological development and the root causes of ecological problems in the process of urbanization development in China, explore the mechanism of urban ecological double repair and the countermeasures of ecological governance, and also puts forward some questions about the urban ecological risk assessment, construction mode and management mechanism system of the climate adaptation city, ecological garden city and Eco-city development in the future of urban ecological governance innovation for China Institute for Urban Governance.

 

 

In the sub-forum of “City Culture Conservation and Inheritance”, from the London Thames Corridor to the development of the Po Valley Valley in Venice, from the historical buildings in Beijing to the historical renewal of Shanghai’s historical districts and Guangzhou industrial buildings, from the smoke and water creations of the Six Dynasties to the contemporary visual multimedia art, from archives and documentary heritage to daily life space, experts elaborated on the unique insights on urban culture and memory protection and inheritance, deeply explored the internal relationship between urban memory inheritance and urban transformation and development, as well as the predicaments and problems faced by current urban memory protection, and combined with the excellent cases of urban culture construction at home and abroad, discussed the ways and means of urban memory inheritance and innovation, as well as the development of Shanghai's future 2040, and then provide ideas and experiences to actively promote Shanghai's goal of ecological, humanistic and innovative excellence in global cities, and to build a diverse and open Chinese urban culture.

 

 

 

 

 

 

                 

After the forum was fully exchanged and discussed, at 16:40 pm, the closing ceremony of the forum was held. The closing ceremony was hosted by Guo Xinli, executive deputy secretary of the Party Committee of Shanghai Jiaotong University. Zhong Yang, Dean of Shanghai Jiaotong University School of International and Public Affairs, Lu Ming, Distinguished Professor of Antai College of Economics and Management, Peng Zhongren, Professor of the School of Naval Architecture and Civil Engineering, Che Shengquan, Associate Dean of the School of Agriculture and Biology, and Professor of Urban Space Culture and Science Center Lu Shaoming represented the five parallel sub-forums to exchange speeches.

 

 

 

 

At the closing ceremony, the award ceremony for the 2016 College Urban Management Case Challenge was also held. Jiang Sixian, deputy director of the Shanghai Municipal People's Congress Standing Committee, secretary of the Party Committee of Shanghai Jiaotong University, Xiao Lin, director of the Shanghai Municipal People's Government Development Research Center, Zhou Guoping, deputy director of the Shanghai Municipal People's Government Development Research Center, and Merrick Gettler, president of the University of Toronto, presented awards to the winning collectives and individuals. This competition is one of the sub-activities of the 2016 Global Urban Forum. It is jointly organized by the School of International and Public Affairs of Shanghai Jiaotong University and the China Institute for Urban Governance. In the case of urban emergencies and people's livelihood topics, the contest requires students to combine the hotspots in the city to propose solutions to problems, simulate the interests of all parties in the society, and seek the most appropriate implementation plan and strategy. This is a “practical exercise” for young students to participate in urban governance.

 

 

At the end of the forum, Jiang Sixian made a closing speech. Jiang Sixian said that the forum had a heated discussion on the theme of "collaborative governance and shared development" and achieved good results beyond expectations. The theme of "co-governance and shared development" shows that China pays attention to the development of the community of human destiny and expects that China's development achievements will be shared by the people of the world. China recognizes the importance of coordinated governance. Although countries have different national conditions and different development paths and institutional choices, they should learn from each others’ experiences in urban governance. Jiang Sixian said that people and cities under good governance should become an organic harmonious symbiosis community, that is, "Our City, Our Community." The word “our city” runs through the “people-oriented” governance concept, while the “common home” fully reflects the governance spirit of “everyone participates”. As the protagonist of the future city, the participation of young people is very worthy of encouragement and guidance. It is necessary to strengthen the thinking of young students on the concepts, methods and strategies of urban governance, enhance their theoretical application ability to solve practical problems and establish a stronger sense of social responsibility. In the future, China Institute for Urban Governance of Jiaotong University will carry out more in-depth cooperation with international organizations participating in the conference and famous universities at home and abroad. We will work hard to promote the multidisciplinary development of urban research with a more open mind and mechanism for internal and external schools, domestic and foreign. China Institute for Urban Governance will give full play to the advantages of the comprehensive university of Shanghai Jiaotong University and the advantages of being a living experimental field in Shanghai, and encourages science and engineering and humanities and social sciences to integrate organic research on urban governance issues. It is hoped that the Institute can provide wisdom from universities and colleges for the governance of global cities, and finally form a platform for urban governance innovation that is closely integrated with politics, production, learning, research and use.

 

The heads of the Party and Government Office of Shanghai Jiaotong University, the Propaganda Department of the Party Committee, the Department of Liberal Arts, the International Cooperation and Exchange Office, the Development Liaison Office, the School of International and Public Affairs, and representatives of teachers and students attended the forum.