15 trillion! A major deployment for urban renewal

The "task list" for urban renewal is here, which concerns the next five years.

On the morning of May 15th, the State Council Executive Meeting reviewed and approved the country's first "15th Five-Year Plan for Urban Renewal". Urban renewal has officially become part of the national strategy, and a series of important deployments have been made.

On the afternoon of the same day, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development immediately announced the rigid principle: conduct inspections first and then carry out renewal; no renewal without inspection. All cities across the country must conduct comprehensive "physical examinations", and construction is not allowed if they fail the inspection.

Industry insiders said that the two meetings have determined the underlying logic of China's urban construction in the next five years.

The meeting pointed out that China's urban development is currently shifting from a stage of large-scale incremental expansion to a stage mainly focused on improving the quality and efficiency of the existing stock; urban renewal should be placed in a prominent position. This has set the direction for China to carry out urban renewal with high quality.

According to CCTV News, the scale of the urban renewal market during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period is huge. China can complete at least 15 trillion yuan in urban renewal investment in the next five years.

What are the key tasks for urban renewal in the next five years?

First, in terms of the construction and renovation of underground pipe networks, about 200,000 kilometers of urban gas pipelines, about 175,000 kilometers of drainage pipelines, about 175,000 kilometers of water supply pipelines, about 100,000 kilometers of sewage pipelines, and about 120,000 kilometers of heating pipelines should be constructed and renovated, and the intelligent transformation should be promoted simultaneously. Comprehensive pipe galleries should be constructed according to local conditions.

Second, in terms of improving the level of livable housing, with a focus on Class C and D dangerous housing on state-owned land, about 500,000 sets (units) of urban dilapidated houses should be renovated. About 115,000 old residential communities should be renovated.

Third, in terms of the renovation of old blocks and factory areas, the functional transformation, business format upgrading, and vitality enhancement of old blocks should be promoted. Idle and inefficient factory areas, workshops, and facilities should be revitalized and utilized in a market-oriented manner. About 1,500 old blocks and factory areas should be renovated.

In addition, the upgrading of public service facilities such as education, medical care, and elderly care should be promoted. Historical blocks and industrial heritages should be revitalized to preserve the city's memory. The construction of smart cities, unified management through a single network, and green and low-carbon transformation should be carried out simultaneously to achieve refined urban governance.

The meeting clearly stated that urban renewal should be placed in a prominent position, combining short-term and long-term goals, highlighting key points, and promoting all work in an orderly manner to build a modern people-centered city that is innovative, livable, beautiful, resilient, civilized, and smart.

Industry insiders analyzed that in the next five years, China's urban renewal work will shift from single-functional renovation to a new stage of multi-dimensional coordination and comprehensive upgrading in aspects such as improving people's livelihood, cultural inheritance, ecological optimization, and industrial activation. The core of this work will no longer be limited to "renovation" but will emphasize connotation, efficiency, and sustainability.

Yan Yuejin, the deputy dean of the Shanghai E-House Real Estate Research Institute, said that the relevant deployments of the meeting for urban renewal mean that the urban renewal work will enter an acceleration stage. It is expected that local governments will further increase the intensity of relevant work and continuously promote various tasks of urban renewal.

Li Yujia, the chief researcher of the Guangdong Provincial Housing Policy Research Center, believes that urban renewal is no longer "large-scale demolition and construction" and is no longer dominated by real estate development. Instead, it adheres to the concept of a people-centered city - by revitalizing the existing stock space through renewal and making up for the shortage of supporting facilities, the living environment will be significantly improved, the economic business forms will be more diversified, and the cultural heritage will be effectively protected.

As of now, at least 27 provinces have made deployments for urban renewal.

Recently, relevant urban renewal policies have been successively introduced in various places, covering aspects such as announcing and implementing urban renewal regulations, issuing urban renewal action plans for the next five years, and launching policy incentive toolkits for urban renewal, to accelerate the implementation of urban renewal actions.

"Generally speaking, with the adoption of the '15th Five-Year Plan for Urban Renewal', local governments need to increase policy support in the field of urban renewal, continuously promote the construction of a sustainable urban renewal model, and steadily advance relevant work in depth," Yan Yuejin said.

This article is from the WeChat official account "Leju Finance", author: Wang Min. Republished by 36Kr with authorization.