Excellent urban planning shared in Guangzhou

The eighth Urban Innovation Forum, an event focusing on sharing excellent urban innovation with Guangzhou citizens was held at Guangzhou Library on Sept 16.

The forum series was organized by the foreign affairs office of Guangzhou municipal government, Guangzhou Institute for Urban Innovation and Guangzhou Library and was first held in January last year.

The eighth Urban Innovation Forum is held in Guangzhou Library on Sept 16. [Photo/gzcankao.com] 

Li Xiaohui, a senior city planner from the Guangzhou Urban Planning and Design Survey Research Institute was invited to the forum and shared community reconstruction experiences from foreign countries. 

When a downtown area of the Belgian capital Brussels was reconstructed, locals hoped to retain a slaughter house and so the government followed the people's voice and upgraded it into a place integrating meat processing, local culture, education and entertainment.

"Combining tradition with modernization is also one of the goals for Guangzhou's city planning," Li said, adding that numerous local cultures have been preserved while renovating Liede village in Guangzhou's Tianhe district.

Li Xiaohui, a senior city planner from Guangzhou Urban Planning and Design Survey Research Institute is invited to the forum to share successful city reconstruction cases. [Photo/gzcankao.com] 

Li also illustrated an urban planning project in Copenhagen, Denmark where the government, urban designers, city builders and residents held more than 100 sessions to ensure that voices from all sides were heard with regards to the city's renovation.

"The city planning and reconstruction idea in the two cities resemble greatly the philosophy Guangzhou put forward at the 2016 Guangzhou International Urban Innovation Conference which said the city's urban planning and construction should put people and people's need first," Li said. 

Recently, the Guangzhou Urban Renewal Bureau called on the whole city to contribute their ideas on reconstructing old communities, with numerous students and designers to participate in the event and offer their designs or suggestions.

"It is a good practice to give full play to people's initiative and creativity in urban planning and reconstruction," Li said.

With a new round of comprehensive urban planning for Guangzhou's next 20 years just around the corner, we wish more Guangzhou citizens could join in, Li said.