The Information Office of Shanghai Municipality held a municipal government press conference today (April 9), during with Zhuang Mudi, Secretary of the CPC Fengxian District Committee, gave a briefing on the Action Plan of Construction of the Fengxian New Town in 14th Five-Year Plan Period. Yuan Quan, Deputy Party Secretary and acting district chief of Fengxian District, Lian Zhenghua, member of the Standing Committee CPC Fengxian District Committee, and deputy district chief, Tao Jianxing, director of Fengxian District Bureau of Planning and Natural Resources and director of Fengxian New Town Promotion Office, and Tang Min, chairman of Fengxian New Town Construction Development Co., Ltd., attended the press conference and answered questions from reporter.

In accordance with the overall plans to “foster industry-town integration, establish complete functions, create a balance between workplace and residential areas, build an eco-friendly living area, improve transportation convenience, and ensure efficient governance,” Fengxian District positions the new town as the western gateway of the new area, the urban center of southern Shanghai, and the dynamic new town in the Yangtze River Delta region, in a bid to highlight the new and holistic arrangement, while advancing the construction in an interconnected way. The aim is to create more growth drivers, new highlights, boosters, as well as new spaces, new images cards, and new breakthroughs.

I. Strategic vision: independent, borderless, embrace the future

1. Independent. As an independent comprehensive hub town with a population of one million, the new town must first have complete functions and join hands with central urban areas and the Yangtze River Delta city cluster to complement and empower each other. It will create an independent industrial ecosystem, explore a new model of “business + residence”, achieve a balance between workplace and residential areas, and enable “zero commuting” and “zero switching” between work and life. With the “dual water sources”, “dual power sources” and “dual gas sources”, Fengxian aims to build a brand of a resilient new town.

2. Borderless. The district will call for international plans for new town construction from around the world, recruit the chief planner and chief architect, and introduce high-level professionals, top talent, and teams. It will promote the integrated transformation from “physical space, hard resources” to “digital space, soft resources”, by better leveraging existing resources and the digitalization process to push the boundaries and improve the interconnectivity.

3. Embrace the future. The future of Fengxian New Town is expected to be more modern, more ecological, more convenient, more prosperous, and safer. The new town will be committed to solving ‘urban diseases’, by leveraging future technologies to push changes in production and lifestyles, accelerating the digital urban transformation, and creating smart cars, smart roads, and future cities, so that the future urban scenes can be seen everywhere to enable the new town to play a unique role in seeking breakthroughs, undertaking pilot programs, and testing new formats.

II. Functional goals: The Town of Innovation, Town of Parks, Town of Digitalization, Town of Consumption, Capital of Cultural and Creative Industries

1. The Town of Innovation. Fengxian will improve the “concentration, thickness and height” of innovation, and lure talent in the fields of scientific and technological innovation. The number of high-tech enterprises will lead among all new towns in Shanghai.

2. The Town of Parks. It will give full play to the advantages of its ecological resources, create an urban ecological core area, and highlight the characteristics of connecting the river and sea.

3. The Town of Digitalization. It will foster the integration between digitalization and industrialization, develop the digital economy, and build the digital society and digital government.

4. The Town of Consumption. It will build the world-leading cosmetics capital, and enhance Fengxian New Town’s international reputation, urban prosperity, commercial vitality, and consumption comfort through fostering the consumption economy.

5. The Capital of Cultural and Creative Industries. It will build a “new cultural landmark, and a new palace for performing arts”, and create an arts capital with beautiful rivers and sea, cultural elegance as well as future elements.

III. Spatial pattern: Waterfront landscape, Green Corridor, Town on the Water, Open Economy

1. Crossing-water streets. Fengxian will develop an urban life landscape belt that connects Jinhui Port and Punan Canal, expand waterfront areas, and create waterfront public open spaces.

2. Full-coverage Green Corridor. Relying on the town’s central green spaces, a “forest fortress” with a length of 50 kilometers and a width of 30 meters to 3 kilometers will be built along the water system, in a bid to create an ecological and green landscape.

3. Town on the Water. The district will create a system that features “one river, 24 lakes, five ports and 17 ferries” so as to link up ancient towns such as Lengjiang Yuxiang, Nanqiaoyuan, Shuiyun Qingchun, and Mingcheng Xinyue, and develop “water buses” and waterfront economy.

4. Open Economy. It will upgrade Wangyuan and Jinhai boulevards to allow the town to connect with the rivers and green spaces, while luring people and industries, so as to embrace the sea with great vitality.

IV. Features and highlights: people-oriented, international, ecological, digital

1.People-oriented. Fengxian will build a people-oriented town that is humane, humanistic, and human. It will develop urban “micro-space”, “micro-infrastructure” and “micro-functions” to create a 15-minute “doughnut city” for community life. The district will introduce the International Division of Shanghai High School, World Foreign Language School, China Welfare Institute Kindergarten, etc., to create a new height for future education. Relying on the International Peace Maternity & Child Health Hospital, Children’s Hospital of Fudan University, Xinhua Hospital Fengxian Campus, etc., the district will build a new hub for maternity and child health in Asia.

2. International. The district will build an international community for young people. Top forums, events, exhibitions, and performances such as the Oriental Beauty Valley International Cosmetics Conference and the World Motocross Championship will be held, and the international brand of “F1 in the north and automobile and motorcycle race in the south” will be promoted. It will fully present the urban image of “crossing water streets, full-coverage green corridor, and a squared town with a history dating back 5,000 years.” Based on the new Jiangnan, or south of the Yangtze River, landscape on the long canal, ancient town, rivers and households, the district will create the modern versions of “Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains” and “Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival”, allowing more international elements to gather and flow in the new town.

3. Ecological. The district will persist in fostering the combination of ecology with other elements. It will explore new paths for rural revitalization under the background of an international metropolis, make beautiful villages as normal scenes in the new town, and create an upgraded version of encouraging the sett-up of headquarters in rural areas. It aims to build an international ecological business district, the growth place of the headquarters economy, the gathering place of creative culture, and the habitat for a poetic life. The district will build the pioneer town of parks, allow people to enjoy the greenery everywhere, and enable people to have access to green public spaces, and have a higher quality of life.

4. Digitalization. The district will join the initiative to build Shanghai into a world-renowned “international digital capital”. It will build a 3 square kilometer area of “digital rivers and sea”, and invest 40 billion yuan to form a future industrial community model of industry-town integration, in a digital, interconnected, and intelligent way. Efforts will be made to bolster the cosmetics and shopping sectors, therefore making the new town a popular region for brands to open their first stores, and debut or showcase their products.

The development of the new town is not a repetition of “yesterday’s story”, but represents a continuous effort to write the “story of spring”. Fengxian will seek cross-sector development, break the circles, and pursue new breakthroughs in developing the Fengxian New Town that will be “independent, and borderless, and embraces the future.” The aim is to make the beautiful vision become an entrepreneurship scene and a beautiful landscape, and to create a new Fengxian that is both strong and beautiful in terms of the town, industry, villages, ecology and culture. #