Thinker | Sun Jianping: How to answer this essential question well in building a people's city? Grasping the Five "Newness" is the Key
Balancing development and security, enhancing awareness of potential risks, and being vigilant in times of peace and security are major principles of our party's governance. The report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China proposes to safeguard the new development pattern with a new security framework. In the process of Chinese path to modernization, how can cities achieve the overall planning of development and security? In the view of Sun Jianping, Dean of the Urban Risk Management Research Institute at Tongji University, this is a must answer question for building a people's city and building a city with good governance. The following is his speech at Pudong Cadre College in China.
Currently, changes in the world, times, and history are unfolding in unprecedented ways. Urban development faces many deep-seated contradictions that cannot be avoided or avoided, and it has entered a period where strategic opportunities and risks coexist. In the process of Chinese path to modernization, how can cities achieve the overall planning of development and security? This is a must answer question for building a people's city and building a city of good governance.
High quality development is the primary task of comprehensively building a socialist modernized country and reflects the new development concept. It must be recognized that safety is an important prerequisite for high-quality development, a basic goal of high-quality development, and runs through the entire process of high-quality development. It is the foundation that high-quality development cannot avoid. At the same time, high-quality development is an inevitable choice and effective path to actively respond to risks and challenges. Improving the quality of development, enhancing international competitiveness, enhancing comprehensive strength and risk resistance ability are necessary to continuously enhance the security and initiative of development. In today's speech, I will share my personal thoughts on how to coordinate development and safety in urban construction.
The risks and challenges faced by urban development in China
Urbanization is an important symbol of national modernization and a necessary path for modernization. Without the support and integration of urbanization, there can be no synchronous development of industrialization, informatization, and agricultural modernization. China's urbanization provides a huge platform for urban and rural residents to share the fruits of economic and social development, but while achieving tremendous development achievements, it also faces unique risks and challenges.
According to general research, the relationship between industrialization and urban risks can be divided into three stages: the first stage is the early stage of industrialization, with the leading industry being the light textile industry. The proportion of production accidents is relatively high, and the proportion of risks affecting the operation of the entire city is relatively small. The second stage mainly refers to the mid-term or expansion period of industrialization, where the dominant industries are heavy chemical industries such as steel, chemical industry, and machinery. At this time, population and industries are concentrated in cities, with excessive population concentration, heavy economic development and light environmental protection, heavy urban construction and light management services. The efficiency of urban management and operation needs to be improved, which can easily lead to "urban diseases" such as traffic congestion, housing shortage, and environmental degradation. Production accidents and urban operation risks coexist. The third stage is often the post industrialization period, especially with the global promotion of Industry 4.0, the essential reliability of production will be greatly improved. However, new risks will continue to emerge, and the proportion of risks that systematically affect the overall operation of cities will increase. The urbanization and industrialization process in Western countries has a relatively clear stage of development, so the risks they face often have clear characteristics.
Based on this uniqueness, the risks faced by Chinese cities in the development process are often a combination of risks at different stages of development in Western cities. Production accidents, urban operation risks, and various new risks continue to emerge, and they can also be transmitted, stacked, and even amplified. This is an important reason why urban development in our country is facing more severe challenges.
The advantages of Chinese cities in responding to risk challenges
The report of the Twentieth National Congress of the Communist Party of China clearly pointed out that Chinese path to modernization is a modernization with a huge population, a modernization of common prosperity for all people, a modernization that coordinates material civilization and spiritual civilization, a modernization in which people and nature coexist in harmony, and a modernization that follows the path of peaceful development. The distinctive characteristics and essential requirements of Chinese path to modernization fully reflect the value orientation of taking people as the core, which is the "bottom line" for our cities to achieve safe development.
China's urbanization process has always adhered to its own value orientation. In the process of urbanization, in the process of realizing the transformation of people's material and cultural needs from "existence" to "good or bad", China's urbanization always revolves around people's needs in terms of value orientation. Our urban development has been achieved through various means at different historical stages to maximize the supply capacity of public services and avoid imbalances in public services. After years of rapid development, urban functions have become increasingly complete, and urban development has shifted from large-scale incremental construction to a stage where both stock upgrading and incremental structural adjustment are emphasized. In response to new challenges, various regions actively implement the new development concept, focus on improving the level and quality of urbanization, solidly promote the new urbanization strategy centered on people, and continuously improve urban scale and structure. The spatial layout of urbanization continues to be optimized, and the coordinated development of large, medium, and small cities and small towns has significantly improved the level of integrated development of urban agglomerations; The supply side structural reform of public services such as transportation continues to advance, and the functions of various infrastructure are increasingly improving; The urban renewal action is being carried out in an orderly manner, continuously improving the quality of urban living environment, people's living standards, and urban competitiveness.
Under the challenge, cities have also become a community with a shared future. The imbalance of urban infrastructure and public services can lead to more serious disasters, and higher quality and more comprehensive urban development can make our cities safer. In the process of responding to risk challenges, the value orientation of urban development in China has shown stronger resilience in resisting risks.
The new development pattern poses new requirements for urban safety
Building a new development pattern with domestic circulation as the main body and domestic and international dual circulation promoting each other is a major decision made based on the changes in China's development stage, environment, and conditions, especially the changes in China's comparative advantage, and taking into account the situation. Building a new development pattern is a systemic and deep-seated transformation that concerns the overall situation. It is a strategic plan that is based on the current situation and focuses on the long-term. Building a new development pattern must firmly adhere to the bottom line of safe development. This is an important prerequisite and guarantee for building a new development pattern, and it is also a necessary part of the smooth domestic circulation.
The orderly operation and rapid recovery ability of cities in dealing with chronic stress and acute shocks are crucial for shaping a new development pattern and promoting healthy development. Ensuring urban safety is a concrete manifestation of implementing the overall national security concept.
Cities accommodate over 65% of China's permanent population, and high-speed mobility and complex connectivity networks increase the uncertainty of cities. From a city perspective, various risk sources and points in urban development are intertwined and interact with each other. If the prevention is insufficient and the response is inadequate, it will transmit, stack, evolve, and escalate, turning small contradiction risk challenges into large contradiction risk challenges, and even developing local contradiction risk challenges into systematic risk challenges, which will bring huge challenges to the safety of people's lives and property.
Shanghai is a mega city that plays a crucial strategic role in building a new development pattern and serving the integrated national strategy of the Yangtze River Delta, as a hub for domestic circulation and a strategic link for international and domestic dual circulation. From the perspective of spatial location and urban service functions, Shanghai has a concentration of elements and strong development momentum, making it an important source of innovation. It plays a fundamental supporting role and has a crucial impact on the healthy development of a number of strategic industries. Building a solid foundation for urban safety is both a prerequisite and a guarantee for development.
People's pursuit of a better life poses new requirements for urban safety
Seeking happiness for the people and rejuvenation for the nation is the starting point and foothold of our Party's leadership in modernization construction, shaping a new development pattern, and achieving high-quality development. The greatest beneficiaries are the people, and the greatest driving force comes from the people. If there is no development or poor development, the people will not be satisfied and will not agree. High quality development is a development that can effectively meet the growing needs of the people for a better life. Only by adhering to the development concept of putting the people at the center can we have firm goals, persistently promote innovative development, coordinated development, green development, open development, and shared development, and truly make the achievements of development benefit the vast majority of the people.
Safety and other factors are related to people's well-being and are the basic services provided by cities to citizens. People's sense of happiness is largely determined by their sense of security. Socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era, and people's demands for safety are more specific and involve more diverse fields. This has put forward higher requirements for the management concepts and methods of urban safety. This requires us to adhere to the bottom line thinking, constantly seek the best solution among multiple contradictions, take practical steps forward, strengthen cooperation, achieve coordinated development and security, and always adhere to the value judgment of putting the people at the center in development.
Actively seeking new job opportunities and breakthroughs
At present, China's development has entered a period of coexistence of strategic opportunities and risks, with an increase in uncertain and unpredictable factors. Facing risks and challenges, passive response will only lead to a more passive situation. Reexamining the focus of work, finding new work levers and breakthroughs, actively responding, changing concepts, changing work methods, and enhancing abilities are both proactive actions and choices. To this end, we must grasp new directions, new approaches, new stages, new levers, and new windows.
Transforming towards a preventive approach is a new direction for urban safety work construction
The report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China proposed to "improve the public safety system and promote the transformation of the public safety governance model to pre prevention." This discourse is the bottom line thinking of "always anticipate, stand, and do not anticipate". It is a vivid embodiment of pre defense, forward-looking governance, front-end control, and pre disposal. It is also a new direction to play a proactive role in safety prevention and build good urban safety.
In recent years, Shanghai has revised the "Shanghai Safety Production Regulations" and issued the "Opinions of the Shanghai Municipal People's Government on Further Strengthening Urban Safety Risk Prevention and Control". Risk management and disaster prevention measures have been introduced in multiple fields such as transportation, meteorology, and material reserves, all reflecting the concept of full process risk management. The whole process risk governance is a dynamic process that includes risk identification, risk assessment, and then proposing risk control strategies and measures. It is a systematic, professional, scientific, and comprehensive work. It is necessary to establish a scientific, standardized, systematic, and dynamic risk management mechanism, based on the principle of equal emphasis on prevention and emergency, and the combination of normal and abnormal management. Starting from the source, gradually realize the strategic transformation of emergency management from passive response to active support, and achieve the transformation from "post event" to "pre event+post event".
Strengthening Co construction, Co governance, and Sharing is a New Approach to Urban Safety Work Construction
Urban safety work is a complex system engineering that requires the participation of diverse social forces. We need to establish a game of chess thinking, place our own development in the overall picture of coordinated development, achieve staggered development, coordinated development, and organic integration, and form an overall synergy. To promote the modernization of urban security and prevention systems and capabilities, we must adhere to the leadership of the Party committee and the leadership of the government, and also pay attention to the participation of social forces, advocating for cooperation and co governance among multiple stakeholders. Fully mobilize the enthusiasm, initiative, and creativity of social forces, actively absorb social organizations, civil society organizations, industry associations, volunteers and other forces to participate in it, transform from simple government leadership to government leadership and political and social coordination, open up policy channels for all parties to participate in risk prevention, emergency rescue, and recovery and reconstruction, improve the level of socialization, enhance people's sense of participation and responsibility in risk management, and build a new pattern of urban safety work that the whole society participates in together.
Enhancing Security Resilience is a New Stage in Urban Security Work Construction
The report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China proposes to strengthen urban infrastructure construction and create livable, resilient, and smart cities. To be prepared for the future and maintain the country's stability, we must not only engage in a prepared battle to prevent and resist risks, but also engage in a strategic initiative to turn danger into opportunity. Building a safe and resilient city is an effective measure to coordinate development and security.
To strengthen urban resilience construction, it is necessary to enhance the city's immunity to interference, impact, or uncertainty factors, not only by having physical barriers, but also by having a sensitive and effective immune system; To have healing power and minimize various risk losses to the greatest extent possible; We also need to have the resilience to cross risks. Like other mega cities, the requirements for urban safety and resilience construction have been included in the Shanghai Urban Master Plan. In 2022, Shanghai also released the "Shanghai Comprehensive Disaster Prevention and Reduction Plan", which constructed a spatial resilience pattern of "one body, two transformations, three levels, four categories, and multiple supports", clarifying the goals and paths for Shanghai to become a "more sustainable resilient ecological city" by 2035. In the future, it is necessary to further achieve diversity and modularization of infrastructure and management unit functions, and strive to achieve the transformation and structural adjustment of normal and abnormal functions with small investment. Empowering grassroots units from multiple dimensions such as management and technology, and improving the risk resistance of each grassroots unit.
Urban digital transformation is a new lever for urban safety work construction
The construction of resilient cities and smart cities can mutually promote each other. Resilience capacity building, as a systematic project, will encounter various challenges, and the application of new technologies is an important breakthrough and lever.
From 2012 to 2021, the scale of China's digital economy increased from 11 trillion yuan to 45.5 trillion yuan. At the same time, the construction of smart cities in China has entered a fast lane, and in recent years, the digital transformation of Shanghai's city is deepening into various fields of urban development.
From a security perspective, digital technology is widely used. Urban safety management is gradually shifting from "experience" to a balance of "data+experience", enriching the construction methods of urban safety work. In May 2021, the Emergency Management Department put forward clear requirements and overall layout for the construction of emergency management informatization, with a focus on planning guidance, intensive development, coordinated construction, and flat application, consolidating the foundation of informatization development, filling the gaps and weaknesses in network, data, security, standards, and other aspects, promoting the formation of a complete, clear, and technologically advanced emergency management informatization system, comprehensively improving monitoring and early warning, regulatory law enforcement, auxiliary command and decision-making, rescue practical operations, and social mobilization capabilities. The "14th Five Year Plan" for the National Emergency System issued by the State Council in 2022 also pointed out the need to strengthen information support and guarantee, widely attract various forces to participate in the construction of emergency management informatization, intensively build information infrastructure and information systems, continuously strengthen the application of digital technology in disaster and accident response, and comprehensively improve monitoring, early warning, and emergency response capabilities.
In the future, we will continue to increase investment in public safety technology research and development, continuously strengthen cutting-edge basic research and breakthroughs in key technologies, strengthen the application of cutting-edge basic research results in key technology research and development and technology system construction, establish a relatively complete technology research and development system and standard specifications, and form a new model of improving urban safety resilience system driven by technological innovation.
Urban renewal is a new window for enhancing urban safety management capabilities
A city is an organic organism, and urban development is a process of continuous renewal and transformation, full of metabolism and innovation. Implementing urban renewal actions is an important measure to promote high-quality urban development. Urban renewal is not only a planned urban renovation and construction behavior, but also a regulatory mechanism for urban development. In 2021, the Shanghai Urban Renewal Regulations were promulgated, and in March of this year, the Shanghai Urban Renewal Action Plan was announced, further emphasizing that Shanghai's urban renewal should "adhere to the people-centered approach, fully consider the needs of various special groups such as children, the elderly, and people with disabilities, strive to fill the gaps in people's livelihoods, pay more attention to job and housing balance, provide higher quality services, and continuously improve the sense of gain, happiness, and security of the people.".
From a security perspective, urban renewal, enhancing functionality, and optimizing layout are new windows for enhancing urban risk defense capabilities. The process of public participation in urban renewal is a process of co construction, co governance, and sharing, which can further improve community governance. It is also a window period for eliminating accumulated shortcomings, establishing new regulations, and innovating grassroots safety governance.
Urban safety governance does not have shortcut keys, it is a continuous improvement process, and even many safety issues will repeatedly occur in unexpected forms. In the long iterative process, many risks are resolved or in a controllable state. However, on the road to achieving safe development, facing increasingly complex challenges, it is necessary to constantly seek the optimal solution amidst various contradictions, continuously gather strength in the process of multi subject participation, and always adhere to the principle of putting people first and life first in complex challenges. A city that gives people a sense of security is a well managed city, friendly to vulnerable groups, and full of a culture of safety and resilience.
Biography of Thinkers
Sun Jianping, Dean of the Urban Risk Management Research Institute at Tongji University. I have been engaged in frontline management work in urban construction, urban operation, transportation and other fields for a long time, and have conducted extensive research and exploration in theoretical research, system construction, platform application, mechanism innovation, and other aspects of urban risk management. The editor in chief has published works such as "Quality and Safety Risk Management of Construction Projects", "Traffic Safety Risk Management and Insurance", "Introduction to Urban Safety Risk Prevention and Control", and "Urban Risk Management".
