Opinion

Leveraging digital and intelligent technologies for urban renewal

Urban renewal plays a crucial role in driving high-quality urban development and meeting people's needs. The State Council has issued the 15th Five-Year Plan for Urban Renewal, which outlines priorities including fostering new growth drivers, delivering quality living spaces, and enabling a green and low-carbon transition. Urban renewal is now becoming a multifaceted effort spanning industrial upgrades, cultural protection, resilience enhancement, ecological improvement, and livelihood advancement.

Improving decision-making efficiency with data support. Urban renewal calls for decisions spanning spatial analysis, data integration, value judgments, and trend predictions. Smart digital technologies can offer data support and simulation tools for spatial evaluation and decision-making, enabling a fuller picture of urban realities and trends for more precise decisions.

Optimizing spatial layout with smart planning. Urban design underpins renewal. AI is playing a growing role in spatial planning, offering new design tools. By building algorithms, generating spatial data, simulating cities, and identifying functions, AI boosts both accuracy and efficiency. Digital twins, building information modeling (BIM), city information modeling (CIM), and geographic information systems (GIS) can deliver 3D planning visualization, helping balance space, nature, and built forms for more scientific, forward-looking designs that optimize layout and functions.

Advancing refined management through intelligent systems. Several Chinese cities have deployed intelligent urban renewal management platforms that consolidate data across planning, construction, and maintenance. They monitor infrastructure in real time, track environmental shifts, quickly spot road damage or pipe leaks, identify congestion or aging zones, and forecast risks. This powers the shift to more precise and intelligent urban renewal management.

Policy

1. China has moved to open its value-added telecommunications sector to foreign investment, with 166 overseas-funded enterprises receiving approval to operate in key pilot zones, since the first batch of pilot licenses for value-added telecom services was issued in February last year, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said. The approvals allow these companies to provide services such as internet data centers, internet access services and information services in line with Chinese laws and regulations.

2. The Express Delivery Service Subcommittee under the ISO technical committee on innovative logistics was set up on June 2 in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, marking the first international standards body for the express delivery industry, the State Post Bureau said.

3. Five departments led by the National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration have issued the trial guidelines for accounting non‑fossil energy electricity consumption. The move lays the groundwork for a dual-control system covering both the total amount and intensity of carbon emissions.

Data

1. SAIC Motor on May 28 became the first Chinese carmaker to surpass 100 million cumulative vehicle sales and production, a milestone for the country's auto industry as it expands its global footprint and accelerates a push into electric vehicles. The company marked the occasion in Shanghai by delivering its 100 millionth vehicle -- an IM LS9 Hyper extended-range sport utility vehicle from its electric vehicle subsidiary IM Motors -- to its client.

2. From January to April, China's total online retail sales of goods and services reached RMB 6.53 trillion, up 6.6 percent year on year, with online retail sales of goods contributing 72.2 percent to the growth of total retail sales of consumer goods, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

3. The research and development (R&D) investment of China's state-owned enterprises (SOEs) directly administered by the central government exceeded one trillion yuan for four consecutive years in the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025). Central SOEs raised their basic research spending from RMB 56.5 billion (about USD 8.29 billion) in 2021 to RMB 102.4 billion in 2025, with its share in total R&D investment climbing from 6 percent to 9.4 percent, according to the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council.

4. Data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology showed that in the first four months of the year, China's software business revenue reached RMB 4,668.6 billion, a year-on-year increase of 10.9 percent. The total profit of the software industry increased by 2.2 percent year-on-year. Software exports reached USD 20.65 billion, a year-on-year increase of 13 percent.

5. China's Ministry of Finance (MOF) has recently issued RMB-denominated green sovereign bonds at a scale of up to RMB 6 billion (about USD 877.5 million) in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, with RMB 3 billion each for 3-year and 5-year maturities, and issuance interest rates of 1.42 percent and 1.56 percent, respectively. The bond issuance saw enthusiastic subscription from international investors, with total subscriptions reaching RMB 62.4 billion, 10.4 times the issuance amount.

6. From January to April this year, the sales revenue of the national manufacturing industry increased by 6.9 percent year-on-year, with sub-sectors such as computer and communication equipment manufacturing and electrical machinery and equipment manufacturing achieving double-digit growth, according to the invoice data released by China's State Taxation Administration.

7. The annual export volume of China's electric two-wheelers exceeded 26.7 million units, with an export value of USD 6.829 billion in 2025, showing steady year-on-year growth, according to data from China Customs.

8. According to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, by the end of 2025, there were 16,994 A-level scenic spots nationwide, directly employing 1.739 million people. In 2025, these scenic spots received 7.51 billion visitors, generating tourism revenue of RMB 554.49 billion.

9. According to Shanghai Customs, in the first five months of this year, Shanghai ports processed 201,000 tax refunds for departing tourists, involving taxable sales of RMB 1.92 billion, a year-on-year increase of 300 percent and 62 percent, respectively. Both the number and amount accounted for about 40 percent of the national total, ranking first nationwide.

10. Water began flowing through the final sections of the Pinglu Canal on June 3, bringing the long-awaited shortcut to the coast in south China a step closer to opening for navigation. As water was pumped into the canal, the 134.2-kilometer waterway has now achieved full-channel connectivity and entered the final phase ahead of its expected inauguration in September. Stretching from the Pingtang River in Hengzhou City, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, to the Beibu Gulf in the South China Sea, the Pinglu Canal is the backbone of the country's New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor, a key initiative enhancing global trade connectivity for China's western inland regions.

(Source: Economic Daily)