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

Opinions of the General Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council on Continuously Promoting Urban Renewal Action
(May 2, 2025)

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

1、 Overall requirements

Adhere to the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, deeply implement the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and the 2nd and 3rd Plenary Sessions of the 20th Central Committee, fully implement General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important discourse on urban work, adhere to the general tone of seeking progress while maintaining stability, transform the mode of urban development and construction, establish a sustainable urban renewal model and policies and regulations, vigorously implement urban renewal, promote the optimization of urban structure, improvement of functions, continuity of cultural heritage, and enhancement of quality, and create livable, resilient, and smart cities.

In work, we must adhere to the people-centered approach, fully implement the concept of people’s cities, and build good houses, communities, and urban areas; Adhere to the concept of systems, respect the laws of urban development, establish a consciousness of full cycle management, and continuously enhance the systematicity, integrity, and coordination of the city; Adhere to the guidance of planning, give full play to the strategic guidance role of development planning, strengthen the fundamental role of national spatial planning, and enhance the support role of special planning implementation; Adhere to coordinated development and safety, prevent and respond to risks and challenges in urban operation, and comprehensively improve urban resilience; Adhere to the principle of prioritizing protection, ensuring protection to the fullest extent possible, and using resources to promote protection, and strengthen the protection of urban cultural heritage throughout the entire process and at all stages of urban renewal; Adhere to seeking truth from facts, adapting measures to local conditions, doing our best, and acting within our capabilities, without engaging in “face saving projects” or “image projects” that cost people and money.

The main goal is to achieve significant progress in the implementation of urban renewal actions by 2030, continuously improve the system and mechanism of urban renewal, achieve initial results in the transformation of urban development and construction methods, strengthen the foundation of safe development, continuously improve service efficiency, significantly improve the living environment, enrich economic formats, effectively protect cultural heritage, and highlight the unique features of the city. The city will become a space for high-quality living for the people.

2、 Main tasks

（1） Strengthen the renovation and utilization of existing buildings. We will steadily promote the renovation of dangerous housing, accelerate the demolition and renovation of D-level dangerous housing, and actively and steadily implement the renovation of C-level dangerous housing on state-owned land and non complete sets of housing in state-owned enterprises and institutions through various methods such as reinforcement, renovation, and reconstruction. Classify and batch urban houses with seismic safety hazards and reinforcement value for seismic reinforcement. For immovable cultural relics, historical buildings and other protected objects, they shall be maintained and used in accordance with relevant laws and regulations. A “one house, one policy” renovation plan shall be proposed, and it is strictly prohibited to illegally demolish and renovate historical and cultural blocks, traditional villages, cultural relics, and historical buildings under the guise of dangerous housing. Continuously promote energy-saving renovation of existing residential and public buildings, strengthen the management of building insulation materials, and encourage residents to carry out indoor decoration 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 according to the dominant functions of buildings in accordance with laws and regulations.

（2） Promote the renovation and renovation of old urban residential areas. Update and renovate aging gas pipelines in residential areas, renovate pedestrian walkways, exhaust ducts, ventilation shafts, etc. in buildings, and make every effort to eliminate safety hazards. Support the installation of elevators in buildings with conditions. Rectify the community and surrounding environment, improve supporting infrastructure such as parking, charging, fire protection, and communication, and add public service facilities such as meal assistance and housekeeping. Strengthen the quality and safety supervision of the renovation of old residential areas, and consolidate the responsibilities of all participating units. Simultaneously improve the long-term management mechanism of the community through renovation, focus on guiding residents to participate and supervise, and jointly maintain the results of the renovation. We will coordinate the renovation of old residential areas and dangerous housing, develop comprehensive protection, repair, and renovation plans based on the excavation of cultural heritage value and the protection of traditional styles, and continuously improve the living environment, facility conditions, service functions, and cultural value of old residential areas.

（3） Carry out complete community construction. Improve basic public service facilities, convenient commercial service facilities, public activity venues, etc. in the community, build a complete community that is safe, healthy, well-equipped, and managed in an orderly manner, and construct a 15 minute convenient living circle in the city. Carry out the construction of embedded service facilities in urban communities, 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, and others to participate in community development.

（4） Promote the renovation and transformation of old neighborhoods, old factory areas, and urban villages. Promote the transformation of functions, upgrading of business formats, and enhancement of vitality in old neighborhoods, and create a batch of vibrant neighborhoods tailored to local conditions. Renovate and upgrade commercial pedestrian streets and old commercial districts, improve supporting facilities, optimize traffic organization, enhance the quality of public spaces, enrich commercial formats, innovate consumption scenarios, and promote cultural and tourism industries to empower urban renewal. Encourage the market-oriented promotion of the renovation and transformation of old factory areas, strengthen the protection and utilization of industrial heritage, revitalize and utilize idle and inefficient factory areas, buildings and facilities, and implant new business models and functions. Actively promote the transformation of urban villages, do a good job in the early stage of protecting historical and cultural features, avoid large-scale demolition and construction, adopt a “one village, one strategy” approach to carry out transformation through demolition and construction, renovation and upgrading, and a combination of demolition and reorganization, effectively eliminate safety risks and hidden dangers, and improve living conditions and environment. Accelerate the implementation of urban village renovation projects with strong public willingness, balanced urban funds, and mature expropriation and compensation plans. Promote the coordinated implementation of renovation and renovation of old railway stations and surrounding old neighborhoods.

（5） Improve urban functions. Establish and improve a multi-level, fully covered public service network, make full use of existing idle houses and inefficient land, prioritize filling the gaps in 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 public infrastructure that can be used for both civilian and emergency purposes. Improve the urban medical emergency service system, strengthen temporary resettlement and emergency material support. Promote the transformation of aging and child friendly facilities, and accelerate the construction and renovation of barrier free environments in public places. Increase the supply of inclusive childcare services and develop backup, inclusive, and diversified elderly care services. Adapt measures to local conditions to construct and transform national fitness facilities around the masses. Promote the transformation and upgrading of consumer infrastructure. Actively expand urban public spaces and scientifically layout new public cultural spaces.

（6） Strengthen the construction and renovation of urban infrastructure. Comprehensively investigate the risks and hidden dangers of urban infrastructure. Promote the coordinated development and comprehensive utilization of underground spaces. Accelerate the construction and renovation of underground pipeline networks and underground comprehensive pipe galleries for urban gas, water supply, drainage, sewage, heating, etc., and improve the long-term management system for construction, operation and maintenance. Promote the upgrading of urban water supply facilities, strengthen the construction and renovation of urban domestic sewage collection, treatment, recycling, and sludge treatment and disposal facilities, and accelerate the establishment of an integrated construction and operation mechanism for sewage treatment plant networks. Coordinate urban flood control and waterlogging management, establish and improve the operation and management mode of urban water systems, drainage networks, and surrounding rivers, lakes, seas, reservoirs, etc., accelerate the construction and renovation of drainage and waterlogging prevention facilities, build a sound urban flood control and waterlogging system, and enhance emergency response capabilities. Promote the renovation and upgrading of household waste treatment facilities. Strengthen the construction of public fire-fighting facilities and moderately advance the construction of disaster prevention projects. Improve urban transportation infrastructure, develop fast trunk transportation, residential distribution transportation, and green slow traffic, and accelerate the construction of parking facilities. Optimize the planning and design of urban freight network, and improve the hierarchical distribution facility system. Promote the construction of new urban infrastructure, deepen the application of Building Information Modeling (BIM) technology, and implement the construction of urban infrastructure lifeline safety projects.

（7） Restoration of urban ecosystems. Adhere to the integrated promotion of mountain, water, and urban governance, and build a continuous and complete urban ecological infrastructure system. Accelerate the repair of damaged mountains and coal mining subsidence areas, and eliminate safety hazards. Promote the construction of sponge cities, protect and restore urban wetlands, consolidate the effectiveness of urban black and odorous water treatment, and advance the construction of urban soil and water conservation and ecological clean small watersheds. Strengthen the risk control and remediation of soil pollution on construction land to ensure the safe reuse of contaminated land. Continuously promote the construction of urban green rings, green corridors, green wedges, and greenways, improve the application level of local plants, protect urban biodiversity, increase community parks and pocket parks around the public, and promote the opening and sharing of park green spaces.

（8） Protect and inherit the historical and cultural heritage of the city. Connect with the national cultural relics census and carry out a solid investigation of urban cultural heritage resources. Implement the requirement of ‘the old city cannot be demolished anymore’, conduct a comprehensive investigation of the old city and its historical and cultural blocks, identify the cultural heritage resources of old urban communities, old blocks, and old factory areas, and delineate the strictest protection scope. Carry out cultural heritage impact assessment and establish a sound pre protection mechanism of “investigation before construction” and “archaeology before transfer”. Strengthen the management of demolishing old houses, do not arbitrarily demolish old buildings and ancient dwellings with protective value, and prohibit the demolition of real buildings and the construction of fake ones. Establish a protection implementation mechanism with residents as the main body, promote the restoration of historical and cultural blocks and the repair of immovable cultural relics and historical buildings, and explore ways and paths to make rational use of cultural heritage. Protect place names that have important historical and cultural value and reflect the historical context of China, and prudently clean up non-standard place names. Strengthen the control of urban renewal in key areas and important locations, strictly manage super large public buildings and super high-rise buildings.

3、 Strengthen support and guarantee

（1） Establish and improve the implementation mechanism for urban renewal. Innovate and improve the urban renewal system and mechanism that is demand-oriented and project driven. Comprehensively carry out urban physical examination and evaluation, establish a work path for discovering problems, solving problems, evaluating effectiveness, and consolidating and improving. Based on the national spatial planning and combined with the results of urban physical examination and evaluation, formulate and implement a special plan for urban renewal, determine the goals, key tasks, construction projects, and implementation sequence of urban renewal actions, and establish a comprehensive planning and implementation system of “special planning area planning project implementation plan”. Strengthen the guiding role of urban design in the implementation of urban renewal projects, and clarify the design management requirements for different scales such as housing, residential areas, communities, urban areas, and cities. Continuously improve the implementation and management system of engineering projects that adapt to urban renewal.

（2） Improve land use policies. Adhere to the principle of “projects following plans and land elements following projects”, strengthen land security, establish and improve a comprehensive and unified land use control and planning permit system that covers the entire area and types, and coordinates new and existing construction land. If it involves adjustments to land use planning, it shall be handled in accordance with procedures and laws. Promote the mixed development and utilization of land and the legal and reasonable conversion of land use, clarify the positive and negative lists and control requirements for land use conversion and compatible use, and improve the transition period policy for land use conversion. Revitalize the utilization of existing and inefficient land, improve the mechanism for reclaiming idle land use rights, optimize the centralized transformation of sporadic land use, transfer of plot ratio or reward policies. Support the use of existing and inefficient land to construct affordable housing, develop industries, and improve public service facilities. Except as stipulated in the contract for the transfer of state-owned land use rights or in the land allocation decision, where the government is required to reclaim the land use rights and unauthorized transfer is prohibited by laws and administrative regulations, state-owned land use rights holders are encouraged to update and transform low efficiency land through procedures such as transfer, shareholding, joint venture, etc. Optimize the land price collection rules. Promote the establishment of construction land use rights on the surface, above ground, or underground of the land. Improve the real estate registration system related to urban renewal.

（3） Establish a safety management system for the entire life cycle of housing use. Implement the main responsibility and regulatory responsibility for the safety of housing use, strengthen daily inspections and physical examinations of housing safety, and promptly discover and dispose of safety hazards. Explore innovative mechanisms for ensuring housing quality and safety through market-oriented means. Improve the policy of special maintenance funds for residential buildings, and promote the establishment and improvement of public fund collection, management, and utilization models for existing housing safety management.

（4） Establish diversified investment and financing methods. We will increase support for investment within the central budget, and support eligible projects through ultra long term special treasury bond. The central government should support the implementation of urban renewal actions. Local governments should increase financial investment, promote the integration and coordinated use of relevant funds, and support eligible urban renewal projects by issuing local government special bonds under the premise of controllable debt risks. Illegal and irregular borrowing and financing are strictly prohibited. Implement tax and fee reduction policies related to urban renewal. Encourage various financial institutions to actively participate in urban renewal and strengthen credit support on the premise of legal compliance, controllable risks, and commercial sustainability. Improve market-oriented investment and financing models, attract social capital to participate in urban renewal, and promote the issuance of infrastructure real estate investment trusts (REITs), asset securitization products, corporate credit bonds, etc. for eligible projects.

（5） Establish a sustainable urban renewal model guided by the government, operated by the market, and with public participation. Give full play to the role of street communities and mobilize the enthusiasm of the people to participate in urban renewal. Carry out urban management into community work. Encourage property owners to update independently, support enterprises to activate idle and inefficient stock assets, and better leverage the driving role of state-owned capital. Guide business entities to participate, support professional forces and service institutions from multiple fields to participate in urban renewal, and improve the system of expert participation in public decision-making. Establish a sound system and mechanism for construction, operation, and governance that adapts to urban renewal. Strengthen the construction of social risk assessment and conflict resolution mechanisms for urban renewal.

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

4、 Strengthen organizational implementation

Under the centralized and unified leadership of the Party Central Committee, all regions and relevant departments should implement this opinion in accordance with their actual situation. Provincial party committees and governments should determine the goals and tasks of urban renewal actions in their respective regions, and ensure smooth coordination between the upper and lower levels. City party committees and governments should effectively fulfill their responsibilities, establish a work pattern of city level coordination, departmental linkage, and hierarchical implementation, strengthen policy coordination, enhance funding and other guarantees, implement urban renewal actions in a steady and orderly manner, guard against formalism, and eliminate the practice of “empty talk”. The Ministry of Housing and Urban Rural Development should play a leading role, strengthen overall guidance and coordination support with relevant departments, and improve institutional policies. Support local exploration and innovation based on local conditions, and establish a sound and sustainable urban renewal mechanism.