General Offices of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council: Strengthen the Construction and Renovation of Urban Infrastructure, and Promote the Construction of New-type Urban Infrastructure

The General Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the General Office of the State Council recently issued the "Opinions on Continuously Promoting Urban Renewal Actions," requiring adherence to the general principle of seeking progress while maintaining stability, transforming urban development and construction methods, establishing sustainable urban renewal models and policy regulations, vigorously implementing urban renewal, promoting urban structural optimization, functional improvement, cultural continuity, and quality enhancement, and creating livable, resilient, and smart cities.

The opinions propose eight main tasks, including: strengthening the renovation and utilization of existing buildings, advancing the renovation of old urban residential areas, carrying out the construction of complete communities, promoting the renewal and renovation of old neighborhoods, old factory areas, and urban villages, improving urban functions, enhancing the renovation of urban infrastructure, restoring urban ecosystems, and protecting and inheriting urban historical and cultural heritage.

In addition, the opinions also propose strengthening support and guarantees, including: establishing and improving the implementation mechanism for urban renewal, refining land use policies, establishing a life cycle safety management system for building use, diversifying investment and financing methods, establishing a sustainable urban renewal model guided by the government, operated by the market, and participated in by the public, and improving laws and regulations.

Opinions of the General Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the General Office of the State Council on Continuously Promoting Urban Renewal Actions

(May 2, 2025)

Implementing urban renewal actions is an important measure to promote high-quality urban development and continuously meet the people's needs for a better life. To continuously promote urban renewal actions, with the consent of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, the following opinions are now proposed.

I. General Requirements

Adhere to the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, thoroughly implement the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and the second and third plenary sessions of the 20th Central Committee, fully implement General Secretary Xi Jinping's important expositions on urban work, adhere to the general principle of seeking progress while maintaining stability, transform urban development and construction methods, establish sustainable urban renewal models and policy regulations, vigorously implement urban renewal, promote urban structural optimization, functional improvement, cultural continuity, and quality enhancement, and create livable, resilient, and smart cities.

In the work, it is necessary to: adhere to the people-centered approach, fully practice the concept of a people's city, and build good houses, good neighborhoods, good communities, and good urban areas; adhere to a systematic perspective, respect the laws of urban development, establish a life cycle management awareness, and continuously enhance the systematic, holistic, and coordinated nature of cities; adhere to planning leadership, leverage the strategic guiding role of development plans, strengthen the foundational role of territorial spatial planning, and enhance the supporting role of special plan implementation; adhere to the integration of development and security, prevent and respond to risks and challenges in urban operations, and comprehensively improve urban resilience; adhere to the principle of protection first, ensuring full protection and promoting protection through use, and strengthen the protection of urban cultural heritage throughout the entire process and all aspects of urban renewal; adhere to seeking truth from facts and adapting to local conditions, doing what is possible within our means, and avoiding "vanity projects" and "image projects" that waste resources and harm the people.

The main objectives are as follows: By 2030, significant progress should be made in the implementation of urban renewal initiatives, with continuous improvement in the institutional mechanisms for urban renewal. Initial results should be achieved in the transformation of urban development and construction methods, a more solid foundation for safe development, continuously enhanced service efficiency, significantly improved living environments, a more diversified economic landscape, effective protection of cultural heritage, more prominent characteristics and styles, and cities becoming spaces for high-quality living for the people.

II. Main Tasks

(1) Strengthen the renovation and utilization of existing buildings. Steadily advance the renovation of dilapidated housing, accelerate the demolition and renovation of Category D dilapidated housing, and actively and steadily implement the renovation of Category C dilapidated housing on state-owned land and non-complete housing units of state-owned enterprises and institutions through various methods such as reinforcement, renovation, and reconstruction. Carry out seismic reinforcement for urban buildings with seismic safety hazards that have reinforcement value, in a categorized and phased manner. For those involving protected objects such as immovable cultural relics and historic buildings, maintenance and use shall be carried out in accordance with relevant laws and regulations. Renovation plans shall be proposed on a "one-building-one-policy" basis. It is strictly prohibited to illegally demolish or renovate historic and cultural districts, traditional villages, cultural relics, and historic buildings under the pretext of dilapidated housing. Continuously promote energy-saving renovations of existing residential and public buildings, strengthen the management of building insulation materials, and encourage residents to carry out interior renovations of urban housing. Strengthen the renovation and utilization of existing buildings such as old factories, inefficient buildings, and traditional commercial facilities, promote the conversion and mixed use of building functions, and reasonably convert land use in accordance with laws and regulations based on the dominant function of the building.

(2) Promote the renovation of old urban residential communities. Renew and renovate aging pipelines such as gas pipelines in residential communities, renovate pedestrian walkways, exhaust flues, ventilation shafts, etc. within buildings, and make every effort to eliminate safety hazards. Support the installation of elevators in qualified buildings. Renovate the environment within and around residential communities, improve supporting infrastructure such as parking, charging, fire protection, and communication in the communities, and add public service facilities such as meal assistance and housekeeping services. Strengthen the supervision of quality and safety in the renovation of old residential communities, and clarify the responsibilities of all participating construction units. Simultaneously improve the long-term management mechanism of residential communities in conjunction with renovations, focus on guiding residents' participation and supervision, and jointly maintain the results of renovations. Implement comprehensive renovations of old residential communities and dilapidated housing in a coordinated manner, formulate comprehensive protection, repair, and renovation plans on the basis of tapping into the value of cultural heritage and protecting traditional styles and features, and continuously enhance the living environment, facility conditions, service functions, and cultural value of old residential communities.

(3) Develop the construction of complete communities. Improve basic public service facilities, convenient commercial service facilities, public activity spaces, etc. in communities, build safe, healthy, well-equipped, and orderly managed complete communities, and construct 15-minute convenient living circles in cities. Carry out the construction of embedded service facilities in urban communities, and make up for the shortcomings of public service facilities according to local conditions, and optimize the layout of comprehensive service facilities. Guide residents, planners, designers, etc. to participate in community construction.

(4) Promote the renewal and transformation of old blocks, old factory areas, and urban villages. Promote the functional transformation, business upgrading, and vitality enhancement of old blocks, and create a number of vibrant blocks according to local conditions. Renovate and upgrade commercial pedestrian streets and old commercial blocks, improve supporting facilities, optimize traffic organization, enhance the quality of public spaces, enrich business formats, innovate consumption scenarios, and empower urban renewal with cultural and tourism industries. Encourage the promotion of the renewal and transformation of old factory areas through market-oriented methods, strengthen the protection and utilization of industrial heritage, revitalize the use of idle and inefficient factory areas, factory buildings, and facilities, and implant new business formats and functions. Actively promote the transformation of urban villages, do a good job in the preliminary work of protecting historical and cultural features, avoid large-scale demolition and construction, and implement the transformation by adopting methods such as demolition and new construction, renovation and upgrading, and a combination of demolition and renovation according to the "one village, one policy", effectively eliminate safety risks and hidden dangers, and improve living conditions and living environment. Accelerate the implementation of urban village transformation projects with strong public willingness, balanced urban funds, and mature expropriation and compensation plans. Promote the coordinated implementation of renewal and transformation of old railway stations and surrounding old blocks.

(5) Improve urban functions. Establish and improve a multi-level and full-coverage public service network, make full use of existing idle houses and inefficient land, prioritize making up for the shortcomings of public service facilities in the field of people's livelihood, and reasonably meet the living needs of the people. Actively and steadily promote the construction of "dual-use in peacetime and emergency" public infrastructure. Improve the urban medical emergency service system, strengthen temporary resettlement and emergency material support. Promote the transformation of aging-friendly and child-friendly facilities, and accelerate the construction and transformation of barrier-free environments in public places. Increase the supply of inclusive childcare services, and develop bottom-line, inclusive, and diversified elderly care services. Build and transform fitness facilities for the public according to local conditions. Promote the transformation and upgrading of consumer infrastructure. Actively expand urban public spaces, and scientifically layout new-type public cultural spaces.

(6) Strengthen the construction and transformation of urban infrastructure. Comprehensively investigate the risks and hidden dangers of urban infrastructure. Promote the coordinated development and comprehensive utilization of underground space. Accelerate the construction and transformation of underground pipelines and networks for urban gas, water supply, drainage, sewage, and heating, and improve the long-term management system for construction and operation. Promote the transformation and upgrading of urban water supply facilities, strengthen the construction and transformation of urban domestic sewage collection, treatment, and recycling, and sludge treatment and disposal facilities, and accelerate the establishment of a integrated construction and operation mechanism for sewage treatment plants and networks. Coordinate urban flood control and waterlogging management, establish and improve the operation and management model for the joint operation and regulation of urban water systems, drainage pipe networks, and surrounding rivers, lakes, seas, and reservoirs. Accelerate the construction and renovation of drainage and flood prevention facilities, build a comprehensive urban flood control and drainage system, and enhance emergency response capabilities. Promote the renovation and upgrading of domestic waste treatment facilities. Strengthen the construction of public fire-fighting facilities and appropriately advance the construction of disaster prevention projects. Improve urban transportation infrastructure, develop fast arterial transportation, living-oriented distribution transportation, and green slow-moving transportation, and accelerate the construction of parking facilities. Optimize the planning and design of urban freight transportation networks, and improve the hierarchical distribution facility system. Promote the construction of new-type urban infrastructure, deepen the application of Building Information Modeling (BIM) technology, and implement the construction of urban infrastructure lifeline safety projects.

(VII) Restore the urban ecosystem. Adhere to the integrated promotion of mountain, water, and urban governance, and build a continuous and complete urban ecological infrastructure system. Accelerate the restoration of damaged mountains and coal mining subsidence areas to eliminate safety hazards. Promote the construction of sponge cities, protect and restore urban wetlands, consolidate the achievements in the treatment of urban black and odorous water bodies, and advance the construction of urban soil and water conservation and ecologically clean small watersheds. Strengthen the risk management, control, and restoration of soil pollution in construction land to ensure the safe reuse of contaminated plots. Continue to promote the construction of urban green rings, green corridors, green wedges, and greenways, improve the application level of native plants, protect urban biodiversity, increase the number of community parks and pocket parks near the public, and promote the open sharing of park green spaces.

(VIII) Protect and inherit the historical and cultural heritage of cities. Align with the national cultural relics census and conduct a thorough survey of urban cultural heritage resources. Implement the requirement that "old cities should no longer be demolished," comprehensively investigate old cities and their historical and cultural districts, ascertain the baseline data on cultural heritage resources in old urban residential communities, old neighborhoods, and old factory areas, and delineate the strictest protection zones. Conduct cultural heritage impact assessments and establish and improve a pre-protection mechanism that prioritizes "investigation before construction" and "archaeological excavation before land transfer." Strengthen the management of the demolition of old houses, refrain from indiscriminately demolishing old buildings and ancient dwellings with protective value, and prohibit the demolition of authentic structures for the construction of fakes. Establish a resident-centered protection implementation mechanism, promote the restoration of historical and cultural districts and the repair of immovable cultural relics and historic buildings, and explore ways and paths for the rational utilization of cultural heritage. Protect place names with significant historical and cultural value that reflect the historical lineage of China, and prudently rectify non-standard place names. Strengthen the management of the urban landscape in key areas and important sections of urban renewal, and strictly manage oversized public buildings and super high-rise buildings.

III. Strengthen Support and Guarantee Measures

(I) Establish and improve the implementation mechanism for urban renewal. We will innovate and improve the urban renewal institutional mechanisms that are demand-oriented and project-driven. We will conduct comprehensive urban health assessments and establish a working approach that involves identifying problems, addressing them, evaluating outcomes, and consolidating and enhancing results. Based on territorial spatial planning and the results of urban health assessments, we will formulate and implement special urban renewal plans, set goals, key tasks, construction projects, and implementation timelines for urban renewal initiatives, and establish and improve a planning and implementation system of "special planning - district planning - project implementation plans." We will strengthen the guiding role of urban design in the implementation of urban renewal projects and clarify design management requirements at different scales, including buildings, residential areas, communities, urban districts, and cities. We will continuously improve the project construction and implementation management system tailored to urban renewal.

(II) Improve land use policies. We will adhere to the principle of "projects following planning and land elements following projects," strengthen land use guarantees, establish and improve a unified and interconnected territorial spatial use control and planning permission system that covers all regions and types of land, and coordinate the allocation of newly added and existing construction land. Where adjustments to territorial spatial planning are involved, they will be handled in accordance with legal procedures. We will promote the mixed development and utilization of land and the lawful and rational conversion of land uses, clarify positive and negative lists and control requirements for land use conversion and compatible uses, and improve policies for the transition period of land use conversion. We will revitalize and utilize inefficient existing land, improve the mechanism for reclaiming idle land use rights, and optimize policies for the centralized renovation of scattered land plots, floor area ratio transfers, or incentives. We will support the use of inefficient existing land for the construction of affordable housing, industrial development, and the improvement of public service facilities. Except in cases where the state-owned land use right transfer contract stipulates or the decision on allocated land use specifies that the government shall reclaim the land use right, or where the law or administrative regulations prohibit unauthorized transfer, we will encourage holders of state-owned land use rights to renovate and transform inefficient land on their own or through transfer, equity participation, joint ventures, or other means in accordance with procedures. We will optimize the rules for calculating land prices. We will promote the separate establishment of construction land use rights on the surface, above, or below the land. We will improve the real estate registration system related to urban renewal.

(III) Establish a safety management system for the entire life cycle of building use. We will implement the main responsibility and supervisory responsibility for building use safety, strengthen daily building safety inspections and health assessments, and promptly identify and address safety hazards. We will explore innovative mechanisms for ensuring building quality and safety through market-oriented means. We will improve policies for special residential maintenance funds and promote the establishment and improvement of a model for the raising, management, and use of public funds for the safety management of existing buildings.

(IV) Improve diversified investment and financing methods. We will increase support, including from central budgetary investments, and provide support for eligible projects through ultra-long-term special government bonds. The central government's finance should support the implementation of urban renewal initiatives. Local governments should increase financial investment, promote the integration and coordinated use of relevant funds, and, under the premise of controllable debt risks, support eligible urban renewal projects by issuing local government special bonds {{specifically referring to China}}. Illegal and irregular debt financing is strictly prohibited. Implement tax and fee reduction policies related to urban renewal. Encourage various types of financial institutions to actively participate in urban renewal on the premise of compliance with laws and regulations, controllable risks, and commercial sustainability, and strengthen credit support. Improve market-oriented investment and financing models, attract social capital to participate in urban renewal, and promote eligible projects to issue Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), asset-backed securities, corporate credit bonds, and other products in the infrastructure sector.

(5) Establish a sustainable model for urban renewal that is government-guided, market-operated, and publicly participated. Give full play to the role of neighborhood committees and communities, and mobilize the enthusiasm of the people to participate in urban renewal. Carry out urban management work in communities. Encourage property owners to carry out independent renewal, support enterprises in revitalizing idle and inefficient existing assets, and better leverage the leading role of state-owned capital. Guide business entities to participate, support the participation of professional forces and service institutions in multiple fields in urban renewal, and improve the system for experts to participate in public decision-making. Establish and improve institutional mechanisms for construction, operation, and governance that are adapted to urban renewal. Strengthen the construction of social risk assessment and imbalance resolution mechanisms for urban renewal.

(6) Improve laws, regulations, and standards. Accelerate the legislative work related to urban renewal, and improve laws and regulations on urban planning, construction, operation, governance, and housing management. Improve technical standards applicable to urban renewal, and formulate and revise standards for fire protection, supporting public facilities, and other aspects that are applicable to different categories. Strengthen the construction of scientific and technological innovation capabilities for urban renewal, vigorously research and develop new technologies, processes, and materials, and accelerate the promotion and application of scientific and technological achievements.

IV. Strengthen Organization and Implementation

Under the centralized and unified leadership of the CPC Central Committee, all regions and relevant departments should implement this opinion in light of their actual conditions. Provincial party committees and governments should determine the goals and tasks of urban renewal initiatives in their respective regions and ensure coordination between higher and lower levels. City party committees and governments should earnestly fulfill their responsibilities, establish a working pattern featuring municipal-level coordination, interdepartmental collaboration, and hierarchical implementation, strengthen policy coordination, enhance guarantees such as funding, and implement urban renewal initiatives in a steady and orderly manner, avoiding formalism and refraining from engaging in "empty gestures." The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development should play a leading role, work with relevant departments to strengthen overall guidance and coordination support, and improve institutional policies. Support local governments in carrying out exploration and innovation according to local conditions, and establish and improve a sustainable mechanism for urban renewal.