Huang Xiaochun: The Original Contributions of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s Theory on Modern People-Centered Cities
Cities are the centers of our country's economic, political, cultural, and social activities, holding a pivotal position in the overall work of the Party and the state. From July 14 to 15, the Central Urban Work Conference was held in Beijing. General Secretary Xi Jinping attended the conference and delivered an important speech, summarizing our country's urban development achievements since the New Era, analyzing the situation facing urban work, and clarifying the overall requirements, important principles, and key tasks for performing urban work well. This provided the fundamental follow-through for further improving urban work on the new journey in the New Era. From ten years ago, when General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized "one respect and five coordinations" [1] at the Central Urban Work Conference, to this Central Urban Work Conference's emphasis on "one optimization and six constructions" [2], the ideological thread has remained consistent while advancing with the times.
Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, General Secretary Xi Jinping has profoundly grasped the laws of our country's urban development under new circumstances. He has issued a series of important discourses on urban work, clarifying the values and methodology of urban development, and scientifically answering major theoretical and practical questions such as for whom and by whom cities are developed, what kind of cities should be built, and how to build them. This has achieved an original breakthrough in Marxist urban theory in the New Era. Currently, our country is in a critical period of promoting Chinese-path modernization of cities. Profoundly grasping the original theoretical contributions contained in these important discourses is conducive to our construction of an independent knowledge system for the theory of modern people's cities, helpful for our correct understanding of the historical coordinates of our country's urban development, and instrumental for accurately understanding the goals and positioning of our country's urban development. It allows us to deeply grasp the basic direction and reform logic of urban work on the new journey in the New Era, enabling us to implement the Party Central Committee’s strategic deployments for urban work more consciously and firmly, and to build modern people’s cities with full confidence.
Creatively proposing the concept of the "people's city" and clarifying the basic value thread of the theory of modern people's cities
The "people's city" concept proposed by General Secretary Xi Jinping is an original theoretical achievement formed by inheriting the Marxist theoretical foundation of critiquing Western urban development while integrating the practice of socialist urban development with Chinese characteristics. It represents a value reshaping and paradigm shift of urban theory based on drawing lessons from Western theories of modern urban development.
From the basic trajectory of urban theory development, although Western urban studies have developed a large number of research topics involving urbanization, urban spatial structures, urban ecology, and urban networks, they generally possess three basic theoretical touchstones: first, emphasizing the logic of capital behind urban development and focusing on the link between urban development and the capitalist mode of production; second, emphasizing that structural inequalities exist within urban development, where urban space becomes a site of gamesmanship between capital and various interest groups, and where spatial differentiation and social exclusion between different groups are ubiquitous; third, emphasizing that the internal contradictions of the capitalist mode of production trigger numerous crises in urban development, with economic globalization and social informatization further exacerbating the social consequences of these contradictions. Based on these basic theoretical viewpoints, Western urban theory has produced a series of interpretations regarding the direction and path of urban development. However, at a deeper level, because Western urban theory implicitly contains the aforementioned basic theoretical orientations, it emphasizes power struggles based on multi-party games and a configuration of government, market, and social relations characterized by tension and checks-and-balances when discussing the future path of urban development. This further leads to conflict, competition, and zero-sum games becoming the norm in Western urban development.
General Secretary Xi Jinping’s concept of the people's city has an essential difference from the basic standpoint held by Western urban theory. This important concept inherits the Marxist critique of capitalist relations of production in Western cities and thoroughly changes the starting point of traditional Western urban theory, which is based on the dominant logic of capital and the contradictions and conflicts between interest groups. It emphasizes a people-centered approach and carves out a new path for Chinese-path modernization of cities. In 2015, at the Central Urban Work Conference, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "To do urban work well, we must follow the new situation of urban work, the new requirements of reform and development, and the new expectations of the masses; we must persist in the people-centered development philosophy and persist in the principle that 'the people's city is for the people.'" During his inspection of Shanghai in 2019, he proposed that "the people's city is built by the people, and the people's city is for the people." At the 2020 celebration of the 30th anniversary of the development and opening up of Pudong, he again emphasized "the necessity of maintaining the principal status of the broad masses of the people in urban construction and development." The recently convened Central Urban Work Conference emphasized "earnestly practicing the people's city concept" and "transforming the philosophy of urban development to focus more on being people-centered," and so on. General Secretary Xi Jinping’s series of important discourses on the people's city concept take the people-centered approach as the basic value follow-through and methodological logic for urban development. They emphasize that cities are places where people live in concentration, and urban construction must prioritize making cities livable and secure for the people, reserving the best resources for the people. The people's city concept has demarcated a value thread and a new direction for development rich in theoretical growth points for the theory of modern people's cities across multiple dimensions.
It places greater emphasis on the principal status of the people in urban development and construction, stressing that the masses of the people are both the subjects who build the city and the subjects who share in the fruits of urban development. Under the guidance of this value orientation, "whole-process people's democracy" and "primary-level mass self-governance" have become important reform practices in the process of urban development. Continuously realizing the organic integration of "built by the people" and "for the people" in urban development—and constructing a city governance community where everyone participates, everyone is responsible, everyone contributes, and everyone shares—has become a unique depiction and vivid picture of the development of modern people's cities.
It places more emphasis on the equitable and just allocation of public goods in urban development, which is also an important watershed distinguishing the theory of modern people's cities from Western theory. For example, while Western theory views urban space as a site for power games, the "people's city" transforms it into a "public product," emphasizing the realization of equity and justice in the allocation of urban space through extensive participation and efficient consultation. In practice, our country's new round of urban renewal generally possesses this characteristic; urban governance departments determine the content and scope of urban renewal through extensive democratic consultation to better satisfy the people's aspirations for a better life.
It attaches more importance to inclusion and sharing in urban development, emphasizing the search for the greatest common denominator of interests among the broadest masses of the people. This guides our country's urban development to focus more on constructing broad social interest coordination mechanisms and improving the comprehensive carrying capacity of cities for population, economic, and social development, so that different groups can develop through cooperation and achieve mutual benefits within inclusion.
Forward-looking planning of new ideas for urban development to explore a new path for Chinese-path modernization of cities
General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important discourses on carving out a new path for Chinese-path modernization of cities are predicated on respecting the laws of urban development. They persist in the people-centered development philosophy and profoundly grasp the orientation of intensive urban development, holding strategic guiding significance for comprehensively enhancing the momentum and vitality of urban development and systematically upgrading the functional level of cities. In the article "Basic Ideas for Performing Urban Work Well," General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "Urban development is a natural historical process with its own laws... We must recognize, respect, and comply with the laws of urban development, rectify our guiding ideology for urban development, and earnestly perform urban work well." Specifically and objectively recognizing the laws of urban development is an important prerequisite for forward-looking planning of urban development strategies. Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, General Secretary Xi Jinping has provided a series of in-depth interpretations of the laws of urbanization in our country, pointing out the special era-coordinates, distinctive features, and development challenges faced by our country's urbanization. It is precisely on the basis of this profound understanding of these laws that the Central Urban Work Conference held from July 14 to 15 provided a clear blueprint for the new path of Chinese-path modernization of cities. Compared to Western and traditional Chinese urban development ideas, the "newness" of this reform logic is highlighted in the following dimensions:
Establishing new goals for urban development based on a "parallel" reform process. As early as 2013, during an important speech at the ninth collective study session of the Political Bureau of the 18th CPC Central Committee, General Secretary Xi Jinping keenly pointed out the new situation facing our country’s modernization development. He emphasized: "For developed Western countries, it was a 'serial' development process where industrialization, urbanization, agricultural modernization, and informatization developed sequentially, taking over two hundred years to reach current levels. For us to catch up and surpass them, to 'recover the lost two hundred years,' it is determined that our country’s development must be a 'parallel' process where industrialization, informatization, urbanization, and agricultural modernization develop in an overlapping manner." This "parallel" development process is reflected in the urban development field by taking the reform issues encountered one by one by modern Western cities over their long history and proposing them as a whole through systematic integration. The Central Urban Work Conference held from July 14 to 15 proposed: "Aiming to build modern people’s cities that are innovative, livable, beautiful, resilient, civilized, and smart," and "vigorously promoting urban structural optimization, the conversion of growth drivers, quality upgrading, green transformation, the continuation of cultural lineage, and enhancement of governance efficiency, while firmly holding the bottom line of urban safety." The successful practice of these urban development goals will greatly assist the masses in profoundly feeling the effects of urban development and remaining distant from urban development risks.
Forming new ideas for systematic urban transformation to adapt to new circumstances. At the 2015 Central Urban Work Conference, General Secretary Xi Jinping systematically elaborated on the fact that our country's urban development has entered a new period. On this basis, the Central Urban Work Conference held from July 14 to 15 further proposed: "Our country's urbanization is shifting from a period of rapid growth to a period of stable development; urban development is shifting from a stage of large-scale incremental expansion to a stage dominated by improving the quality and efficiency of existing stock." Facing the new development situation, "urban work must profoundly grasp and actively adapt to situational changes, transforming the philosophy of urban development to focus more on being people-centered; transforming the mode of urban development to focus more on being intensive and efficient; transforming the drivers of urban development to focus more on characteristic development; transforming the focus of urban work to focus more on investment in governance; and transforming the methods of urban work to focus more on overall coordination." These "five transformations" mean that our country's urban development will enter a new development cycle of intensive reform, which will surely bring more dividends of urban reform and development and a new pattern of achieving intensive development.
Constructing a new institutional guarantee system for the construction of modern people's cities. To do urban work well, the leadership of the Party must be strengthened and improved. The Central Urban Work Conference held from July 14 to 15 pointed out: "To build modern people’s cities, the comprehensive leadership of the Party over urban work must be strengthened. We must further improve leadership systems and working mechanisms, increase the synergy of urban policies, and strengthen execution across all sectors. We must establish and practice a correct view of performance (政绩观), establish and improve a scientific evaluation system for urban development, and strengthen the building of quality and capability within the urban work force, encouraging the broad masses of Party members and cadres to start businesses, take responsibility, and act. We must persist in seeking truth from facts and being pragmatic, resolutely opposing formalism and bureaucratism." These institutional guarantees are conducive to using holistic thinking to promote reforms in different fields of urban development to form systemic synergy, and to better stimulating the endogenous motivation and vitality of city builders to better devote themselves to the reform process of high-quality development of cities.
Focusing on the modernization of urban governance to deploy systemic reforms, realizing both order and vitality in urban development
Focusing on the modernization of urban governance, General Secretary Xi Jinping has scientifically planned and systematically deployed reforms to holistically improve urban system governance capabilities from multiple dimensions. This helps to form the unique institutional advantages of our country’s governance system in the new stage of economic and social development, ultimately achieving a dynamic balance between order and vitality in urban development. The Central Urban Work Conference held from July 14 to 15 emphasized: "shaping the focus of urban work to focus more on investment in governance." The modernization of urban governance is an important component of promoting the modernization of the national governance system and governance capability. Since the New Era, along with our country's rapid economic and social development, urban social structures have become increasingly complex and mobility has intensified. Simultaneously, the rapid development of the platform economy and digital technology has profoundly changed the organization and operation modes of traditional society. In this context, orderly urban governance is facing unprecedented pressure. General Secretary Xi Jinping attaches great importance to the issue of urban governance, proposing a systemic reform plan for the modernization of urban governance from multiple dimensions, effectively solving many governance dilemmas commonly encountered in global urban development.
Maintain the leadership of Party building in grassroots governance. General Secretary Xi Jinping has emphasized the need to "build grassroots Party organizations into strong combat bastions for effectively realizing the Party's leadership" and to "vigorously promote Party building as the leader of grassroots governance," further clarifying that Party leadership is the fundamental guarantee for advancing the modernization of the grassroots governance system and governance capacity. Practice has proven that Party building leadership has become an important institutional arrangement for promoting collaborative co-governance among diverse subjects in urban governance. By utilizing Party building networks, Party organizations at all levels can establish cross-organizational coordination mechanisms between different government departments and various governance actors, thereby achieving the goal of "holistic governance" in modern society under the guidance of Party building. In an increasingly open and diverse social context, utilizing Party building leadership to shape a social governance community where "everyone is responsible, everyone does their duty, and everyone enjoys the benefits" has shown significant results in resolving difficult problems in urban governance. Facing the "fluid society" formed by the platform economy, internet economy, and building-based economy in cities, Party organizations at all levels have constructed new types of governance networks relying on the Party building work network through the expansion of organizational and programmatic coverage, effectively absorbing new employment groups into urban governance. Urban governance must take the strengthening of grassroots Party building and the consolidation of the Party's governing foundation as the "red thread" [6] running through social governance and grassroots construction; this has become the key institutional guarantee for the "Chinese experience" in urban governance.
Build an urban grassroots governance structure where the center of gravity shifts downward. General Secretary Xi Jinping noted: "If the grassroots is strong, the country is strong; if the grassroots is secure, the world is at peace. We must handle the foundational task of grassroots governance modernization well," and "the 'last mile' of urban governance is in the community." Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, China's urban governance system has promoted the "sinking" of functional departments to the front lines to better provide public goods to the grassroots; improved the community governance system to resolve contradictions and disputes at the grassroots and in their embryonic state; and deeply stimulated the vitality of grassroots autonomy to realize a benign interaction between government governance, social regulation, and resident autonomy. These reforms have effectively enhanced the capacity of the grassroots governance system to resolve conflicts, construct social order, and foster social identification, providing an important guarantee for the orderly operation of urban society.
Develop whole-process people's democracy. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "The people are the subjects of Chinese-path modernization. We must rely closely on the people, respect the people's creative spirit, and pool the wisdom and strength of all the people to continuously drive Chinese-path modernization forward." Whole-process people's democracy possesses rich and diverse democratic forms, smooth and orderly democratic channels, and complete and reliable participation practices. It can powerfully mobilize the masses to develop a "sense of ownership" [7] and also helps to achieve effective social mobilization and orderly political participation. Practice proves that whole-process people's democracy plays an important role in reaching consensus among multiple parties and constructing social identity in urban governance, serving as an important method for promoting the fair and elective allocation of urban public goods.
Promote the intelligent transformation of urban governance. The Central Urban Work Conference [8] deployed the key tasks of "one optimization and six constructions," among which "striving to build convenient and efficient smart cities" is a priority. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: "Urban management should be as delicate as embroidery," and we must "be adept at using modern technological means to achieve intelligence, while also improving the level of refinement through embroidery-like care, patience, and ingenuity, to embroider the quality and brand of the city." Based on the concepts of refined and intelligent urban governance, cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, and Shenzhen have created intelligent governance platforms such as "Single Window" [9] for urban public services and "Unified Management through One Network" [10] for urban management, effectively improving the agile response and refined governance capabilities of the urban governance system. In recent reforms, many cities have further explored the use of new-generation digital technology and artificial intelligence to build digital governments, realizing a shift in urban governance from human-intensive to human-machine collaborative, from experience-based judgment to data-driven analysis, and from passive response to proactive discovery. These reforms are gradually constructing the vital foundation for the effective governance of a digital urban society, providing crucial support for the construction of modernised People's Cities.
Strategically promote integrated urban-rural development to achieve coordinated development and common prosperity.
General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important expositions and strategic measures on integrated urban-rural development are rooted in the new pattern of China’s urbanization. They systematically answer the fundamental question of "how to integrate" urban and rural areas in the New Era, pointing the way for the construction of a theory of integrated urban-rural development with Chinese characteristics. The relationship between urban and rural areas in China is deeply rooted in our long historical tradition and possesses distinct characteristics different from Western societies. Western urbanization is a kind of "uprooted" urbanization—influenced by the operating mechanisms of capitalism, it results in the rise of the city and the decay of the countryside. However, for Chinese society, the harmonious unity and benign interaction between urban and rural areas have deep historical roots. Since the Reform and Opening-up, China has actively sought new paths for urbanization. General Secretary Xi Jinping has reflected deeply on the trend of China’s urban-rural relations, emphasizing that "in building a modern socialist country in all respects, we must build both prosperous cities and flourishing rural areas," and "we must realize that towns and villages promote each other and coexist. Whether we can handle the urban-rural relationship well concerns the overall situation of socialist modernization," and "from the beginning, we did not propose 'city-ization' (chengshihua), but rather 'town-ization' (chengzhenhua) [11], the purpose of which is to promote urban-rural integration." Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, against the background of rapid urban development and the swift flow of resources and labor to cities, General Secretary Xi Jinping has strategically proposed a series of new measures for integrated urban-rural development, continuously promoting coordinated development and common prosperity.
Advance urbanization construction with the county seat as an important carrier in a classified manner. The Central Urban Work Conference proposed: "Advance urbanization construction with the county seat as an important carrier in a classified manner." As the key link connecting cities and villages, the county seat is the critical node for realizing the equalization of basic urban-rural public services and promoting the coordinated agglomeration of industries. It plays an irreplaceable and important role in promoting integrated urban-rural development. In recent years, China has continuously promoted reforms for the equalization of basic public services using the county seat as a carrier, leveraging its role in connecting cities and serving the countryside to promote the coordinated development of large, medium, and small cities as well as small towns. This reform measure constructs an important support mechanism for integrated urban-rural development and is conducive to promoting the mutual circulation of urban-rural populations and resources in terms of spatial structure.
Continue to promote the urbanization of the agricultural transfer population. The Central Urban Work Conference proposed: "Continue to promote the urbanization (citizenization) of the agricultural transfer population." General Secretary Xi Jinping attaches great importance to this work, emphasizing the need to "improve supporting policies for land, household registration, and transfer payments, increase the carrying capacity of city clusters, and promote the stable settlement of the migrant population," and "the migration of farmers to cities for work is a major trend; we must open the 'city gates' that should be opened and promote the citizenization of the agricultural transfer population." To continuously promote this process, the "Plan for Comprehensive Rural Revitalization (2024–2027)" explicitly proposes "implementing a new round of action for the citizenization of the agricultural transfer population," aiming to promote the free flow of urban and rural factors, which is of great significance for narrowing the urban-rural gap and achieving integrated development. The citizenization of the agricultural transfer population is the key to shifting urbanization from "scale expansion" to "quality improvement." This reform helps promote the two-way flow of factors such as land and labor between urban and rural areas. In recent years, various regions in China have continuously deepened the reform of the household registration system (hukou), increased the supply of basic public services, and protected the land rights of farmers entering cities, providing important public policy support for integrated urban-rural development.
Promote the coordinated development of large, medium, and small cities as well as small towns. The Central Urban Work Conference proposed: "Promote the coordinated development of large, medium, and small cities and small towns, and promote integrated urban-rural development." Forming an urbanization spatial pattern with complementary functions and a division of labor can effectively prevent the coexistence of "big city disease" and "small town decay." This reform measure promotes the free flow and efficient allocation of factors between urban and rural areas, while also promoting the extension of urban industries to the countryside and providing deep support for urban development through rural resources, forming a new development pattern of urban-rural interdependence and mutual promotion.
The city is the carrier of civilization. On the new journey in the New Era, we must deeply study and implement General Secretary Xi Jinping's important expositions on urban work, continuously explore a new path for urban modernization with Chinese characteristics, and vigorously build modernised People's Cities that are innovative, livable, beautiful, resilient, civilized, and smart. We shall compose a "city chapter" for the promotion of Chinese-path modernization and contribute "Chinese strength" to world urban development.
(The author is a professor at the School of Sociology, Shanghai University) Source: People's Daily, July 21, 2025, Page 9 Online Editor: Tong Xin