On August 1, 2023, at the Beijing Municipal Planning Exhibition Hall, the Beijing Municipal Institute of City Planning and Design held the ceremony of the inauguration of the Capital Research Center of Urban Planning Strategy (hereafter referred to as “the Research Center”). Attendees who jointly inaugurated the Research Center were: Qiu Baoxing, IEAS (International Eurasian Academy of Sciences) Academician and former Vice-Minister of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, Cheng Changhong, Head of the Ninth Tour Guidance Group of the CPC Beijing Municipal Committee, Zhang Wei, Party Secretary and Director-General of Beijing Municipal Commission of Planning and Natural Resources and Director-General of Capital Planning and Construction Committee, Shi Xiaodong, member of the Party Leadership Group of Beijing Municipal Commission of Planning and Natural Resources, Chief Planner (concurrently) of Beijing Municipal Commission of Planning and Natural Resources, and Party Secretary and President of the Beijing Urban Planning and Design Institute. Comrade Zhang Wei chaired the meeting for the ceremony. Experts attending the meeting included: Shi Nan, Executive Vice-President and Secretary-General of the Urban Planning Society of China, Wu Tinghai, Professor of the School of Architecture and Director of the Department of Urban Planning and Design, Tsinghua University, and Lin Jian, Professor of the College of Urban and Environmental Sciences and Director of the Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Peking University. Hu Bo, Deputy Director-General of the Capital Planning and Construction Committee, alongside comrades from institutions including the Administrative Bureau of Institutions Directly Under the CPC Central Committee, the National Government Offices Administration, the General Office of the CPC Beijing Municipal Committee, and the Research Office of the CPC Beijing Municipal Committee, attended the meeting. As the Director-General of the Research Center, Shi Xiaodong introduced the background of its establishment and the visions of its future development. Experts were consulted on priorities including the 2022 Overall Urban Planning of the Beijing Municipality, the Detailed Plan of the Core Areas of the Capital, and the assessment of planning implementation for the Beijing Municipal Administrative Center. The attending leaders and experts expressed congratulations and applause to the Beijing Municipal Institute of City Planning and Design on the efforts to carry out theme-focused education, conduct in-depth research, and establish the Research Center.

Over a long period, the Beijing Municipal Institute of City Planning and Design (hereafter referred to as “the Municipal Institute”) has focused on the needs in the decision-making of the Beijing Municipal Government and the priorities of the Capital Planning and Construction Committee (hereafter referred to as “the Committee”) and the Beijing Municipal Commission of Planning and Natural Resources (hereafter referred to as “the Commission”) to carry out research issues in strategic urban development, plan implementation, patterns of development, and primary urban issues on an ongoing basis. Accordingly, the Institute has endeavored to enhance its capabilities regarding projects, technologies, and human resources to boost its strengths in investigations and research and urban planning. In so doing, it has produced a series of systematized and institution-based research findings. According to estimates, between 2020 and 2022, it has submitted over 120 research reports and groups of findings to the Beijing Municipal Government and relevant institutions. Forty of them have been applauded by leaders of the Municipality.

The Municipal Institute established the Research Center in accordance with the coordination and deployment of the Office of the Committee and the Commission. It was established in order to comprehensively implement the guidance and instructions as set out in General Secretary Xi Jinping’s major speech on capital planning and construction, deeply understand and implement Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, advance “The Work Plan of Vigorous and Extensive Investigation and Research across the Whole Party”, and implement the Overall Plan on the Beijing City 2016-2035, in order to enhance research issues of major significance, speed up the building of think tanks for the capital urban planning, and produce quality research findings on an ongoing basis. The Research Center will focus on strengthening the collaboration between the Commission, the Office of the Committee, and the Municipal Institute and boost close collaboration between the Policy Research Division of the Committee, the Research Office of the Commission, and the Research Office of the Municipal Institute. It will also provide support for the priorities of the Office of the Committee and the Commission. Accordingly, the Research Center will give priority to cross-departmental collaboration and incorporate the existing expertise. It will also be committed to mobilizing external intellectual resources, building partnerships, and bettering plan implementation in order to facilitate sophisticated decision-making.

The Research Center will focus on the following priorities. It will deeply understand Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and closely follow the instructions of the 20th National Congress of the CPC, dive into the issues of China’s development and capital planning, and boost quality urban development with extensive expertise and professional advice. It will focus on the issues identified in the course of implementing the overall plan, resolve challenges and obstacles that may hold up or block the plan implementation, resolve real issues, and research pathways of policy solutions to these challenges. The research center will act with a thorough understanding of the issues related to the city and the residents, capture the latest developments around the globe in this domain, act in accordance with the vision that Beijing is the national political center and centers of culture, international exchanges, and science and innovation. With a people-centered commitment, it will dive into the fundamental mechanisms of urban development, carry out extensive basic research, and research the mid-and long-term strategic planning of the capital. The research center will step up efforts to integrate data across institutions and boost applications of information technology. It will make better use of artificial intelligence, big data, cloud computing and other digital technologies as it researches strategies and conducts investigations. Drawing on platforms including think tanks for capital planning and construction, it will work with government institutions, institutions of higher education, institutions of research, and social groups in robust collaboration and advance the development of think tanks at higher levels and on new tracks.

In his speech to address the ceremony, Comrade Cheng Changhong said that the establishment of the Research Center is a move to implement Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and conduct vigorous and extensive investigation and research in the domain. As we conduct theme-focused education, we should not only deliver material and tangible results of reconfiguration through investigation and research but researches a range of issues of profound and guiding significance with a forward-looking perspective. The Research Center was established, Cheng said, as an institution that supports our efforts to better put into practice Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and advance the quality development of the capital. It also affords us strong organizational support for crafting a long-term blueprint for urban planning. We aspire to build a skilled and competent team for the urban planning of the capital with the help of the Research Center as we carry out investigations and research in the future. In so doing, it will foster the development of talents and leading think tanks, thus providing an immense pool of intellectual and human resources.

To conclude the ceremony, comrade Zhang Wei emphasized that the Research Center will step up its efforts to carry out strategic and forward-looking research issues of significance to the capital, conduct investigations and research with a focus on resolving issues in city development, and play a better role of coordinating and spearheading the work of planning. Meanwhile, we should make use of expert resources, Zhang said, to keep building on the investigation platforms and research into capital planning, and mobilize resources of all parties so as to provide robust support for the quality development of the capital.