The Workshop for Thought Leaders on “Urban Regeneration: The way to a Vibrant City” kicked off in Guangzhou on December 3rd. It has attracted more than 40 representatives from 25 cities of 19 countries and international organizations such as the World Association of Major Metropolises.

On the theme of urban regeneration, the three-day Workshop will shed light on multiple topics including metropolitan governance, development of the Bay Area, new technology & emerging industry, micro transformation and women & children’s well being.

[Photo provided to Newsgd.com]

It invites participants to share case studies from their own cities and join study tours to local library, hospital and urban regeneration projects to learn from Guangzhou’s own experience.

Pan Jianguo, Secretary General of the CPC Guangzhou Municipal Committee, welcomed the participants from different cities worldwide and hopes the Workshop will provide a platform to share experience and foster partnership.

“Guangzhou has enormous opportunities because of the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and neighbouring Shenzhen being the national demonstrative district. The city is seeking to improve the capacity of modern governance and revitalize its old communities with an emphasis on putting people first,” said Pan.

Octavi de la Varga, Secretary General of the Metropolis [Photo provided to Newsgd.com]

Octavi de la Varga, Secretary General of the Metropolis, said Guangzhou is a dynamic city with a long history and it has profound achievements in urban development. He hopes the Workshop will boost communication between cities and share solutions for urban regeneration in the context of a fast-changing environment.

Thomas Mxolisi Kaunda, Executive Mayor of Durban (South Africa), said the Workshop topics is extremely relevant to urban development. He hopes to learn from the experience of Guangzhou through dialogue with scholars and experts, and inject more vitality into the development of Durban.

In addition, an unveiling ceremony of the Metropolis Regional Secretariat for the Asia Pacific region was held at the opening ceremony of the Workshop.

The Workshop is an important component of the Guangzhou International Award for Urban Innovation (the Guangzhou Award). It was held in 2015 and 2017, which gathered a batch of city governors and representatives of international organizations from Belt and Road countries.

This year’s Workshop is being held by Guangzhou Institute for Urban Innovation, the UCLG-ASPAC Standing Committee Women in Local Governments (SCWLG) and the Metropolis Regional Secretariat for the Asia Pacific region. It was supported by the World Association of the Major Metropolises (Metropolis), the Asia Pacific Region of the United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) and the Guangzhou municipal government.

 

Reported by Jasmine Yin

Edited by Simon Haywood