In the afternoon of September 28, Municipal Forum on Urban Regeneration and Development, organized by SBS, was successfully held. He Ying, Vice-president of SBS, presided over the forum, and Yu Hai, Professor of Department of Sociology, Fudan University, Zhang Bang, Associate Dean of Shanghai Jingwei Construction Planning Design Research Institute Co., Ltd., Arie Baka-Conte, Vice-minister of Department of Labo, Sierra Leone, and Frederick Grumet, Vice-minister of National Affairs of Department of Trade and Industry, Uganda keynoted the forum. Chen Wei, Associate Dean of School of Continuing Education, Fu Jiandong, Associate Dean of School of Continuing Education and all the officials of 2019 Seminar on Urban Planning and Construction for Official at Ministerial Level participated in the forum.

Professor Yu Hai delivered speech on the theme of urban renewal: from space production to community building. From the perspective of a sociologist, he made professional and objective analysis on gains and losses of Shanghai in the city renewal and development during the 40 years of implementation of the reform and opening-up policy. With Knowledge & Innovation Community Garden as an example, he pointed out, in the process of renewal and development, the city needs to constantly explore new models which aim to construct new framework of urban space, alleviate problems such as insufficient dwelling space of residents and attach importance to the establishment of habitable community environment. Vice-minister Arie Baka-Conte delivered speech subsequently. From the point of view of Sierra Leone, he introduced the bottlenecks that they encountered in the process of urbanization, including steep rise in the density of population, unreasonable road traffic planning, obsolete buildings and limited educational and medical resources and so on. He said that, Chinese government had accumulated rich experiences in the process of urban renewal and development, and there were a lot of excellent cases. China had made great success in a series of infrastructure assistance projects in Sierra Leone, and he hoped to further strengthen cooperation with China, introduce Chinese experience and accelerate the urbanization process of Sierra Leone.

Associate Dean Zhang Bang delivered speech on the theme of “follow, inherit and practice - development direction for the urban and rural construction in China.” Based on the situation of urban and rural construction in China in recent years, he gave detailed introduction of development direction for the urban and rural construction in China from different aspects such as national policies, urban planning concepts and specific practical cases and so on. By presenting specific data and classic cases such as Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area etc., he helped the officials to have a deeper understanding of development trend of urbanization in China. Vice-minister Frederick Grumet took Uganda as an example and elaborated on the challenges facing sub-Saharan African countries in the urbanization process. He pointed out that, in response to all kinds of problems brought about by urbanization, it is necessary to unite the strength of the whole society, develop the suburban areas of a town and improve housing structure, and also to strengthen the cooperation between the developing countries. They should introduce good experience from each other for joint development.

Vice-president He Ying commented on the speech of every guest and provided a concluding remark for the forum. She pointed out that, from the perspectives of theory, practices of their own countries and case, all the distinguished guests shared their understanding of urbanization and discussed the challenges facing all the countries in urban renewal and development. She believes that, urbanization is the route one country must take for the social and economic development. In the process of urbanization, one country must persist with sustainable development; instead of being confined to the space transformation, it should attach more importance to the creation of the community. She quoted the words that Vice Premier of the State Council Han Zheng adopted when he described the future of Shanghai, “you can appreciate the beautiful architecture, and you are also free to take a stroll on the street. The city is always kind and thoughtful” and proposed her ideas and initiatives for the urban renewal and development. She sincerely hoped that, the cities would be better through the efforts and practices of all the countries.

Drafted by: Hong Xingzhi

Photographed by: He Xiaoming

Reviewed by: Chen Wei

Edited by: Shen Weiping