In line with Green New Deal objectives, the document sets the targets of at least doubling the annual energy renovation rate of residential and non-residential buildings by 2030, and fostering deep energy renovations. One of key principles establised in the Renovation Wave is to ensure “affordability” by making sustainable buildings with good energy performance widely available, in particular for medium and lower-income households and areas, as well as vulnerable groups. In light of the COVID-19 housing crisis, the European Parliament Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL) report, Access To Decent And Affordable Housing For All, stresses the need to: · Create an Integrated Strategy for affordable housing by making investment in affordable, social and energy-efficient housing a priority for the EU budget and economic recovery. · Tackle the financialisation of the housing market by evaluating the impacts of EU rules on financialisation. This aims to ensure better transparency on real estate transactions and ownership. · Enact mechanisms to ensure that renovation processes financed by the Renovation Wave do not lead to increased housing costs or gentrification. · Set an EU goal to eradicate homelessness by 2030. Link https://audiovisual.ec.europa.eu/en/video/I-195844?&lg=EN

In 2021, China’s 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) started charting China's new journey towards building a fully modern socialist country. The Plan states that, “houses are not for speculation” and aims to “promote the balanced development of the financial and real estate sectors and the real economy”. These measures should ensure that quality become a primary focus, with more real estate built to be lived in and an increase in the supply of affordable housing and rentals. As consequence, it is now reported that China is entering a new era. One of its key goals is for affordable housing, starting in tier-1 cities. China has instructed the governments of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Fuzhou and Nanning to build more public housing rentals for low-income groups and young people, both of which have found it difficult to own a home in one of the world’s largest housing markets. Ni Hong, the country’s deputy housing minister, said, “Cities with large population inflows and soaring home prices have to strictly implement the policy of developing public rental housing, and adhere to supply targets. Housing for young people and new migrants is a top priority”.

The Lonely Places project, run by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre, studies how loneliness, which is usually associated with individuals, can be applied to places. It looks at the distribution of amenities in cities and how this can contribute to the number of people in a given area at a given time of day or week, and how this affects the vibrancy and vitality of cities. States, cities and regions across the EU have recognised the importance of inclusive, people-centered urban design that promotes diversity and ensures that marginalised groups – be it economically, culturally or technologically – have access to urban opportunities. The New European Bauhaus initiative connects the European Green Deal to our living spaces and establishes a creative and interdisciplinary platform to design new ways of living together. Its overaching goal is to test new sustainable, beautiful and accessible living solutions by bridging the world of science and technology with the world of art and culture. Link: https://europa.eu/new-european-bauhaus/about/about-initiative_en

Urban resident committees are bottom-level, autonomous organisations comprised of residents that provide assistance on public welfare, civil disputes and public order. These organisations also act as an intermediary with local authorities on matters that affect the local area, and provide a communication channel to those authorities for residents. During the COVID-19 crisis, these committees offered important public welfare assistance, and in the future, they could play an increasing role in enhancing social integration within the framework of urban planning and development of new neighbourhoods.

The EU is taking a fresh stance on migration, with the focus on solidarity and responsibility. Together with liveable, sustainable cities that foster social integration, this may prove to be the cornerstone to building a new, more inclusive sense of network between the EU’s inhabitants. In November 2020, the European Commission presented “The Action Plan on Integration and Inclusion for the Period 2021-2027”. The action plan promotes inclusion for all, and proposes four lines of action that address barriers to participation and inclusion of people with a migrant background, from newcomers to citizens: · Education – improved language programmes, educational participation and recognition of qualifications · Employment – increased labour market inclusion, promotion of migrant entrepreneurship and facilitation of assessment and validation of skills · Health – promote migrant access to health services and prevention programmes · Housing – ensure access to adequate and affordable housing and integration services, fight discrimination in housing markets, reduce residential segregation and support autonomous housing schemes for asylum applicants

China’s Ministry of Public Security announced that it had issued 28.9 million new urban residency permits in 2016 alone, however, the government recognised the need to deliver a range of supporting policies to achieve its final goal. The 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) continues and intensifies the previous reform of the household registration system (Hukou) and aims to elevate the status and incomes of migrant workers. Barriers within Hukou will aim to be lower, with urban social services more accessible—above all social security, healthcare and education. Some of the measures that will promote the citizenship of the rural population include: · Make the household registration system more liberal (excluding some areas) · Ensure access to basic urban services for long term residents – instead of only household registered citizens · Develop housing and empoloyment reforms to facilitate integration of migrants into urban life

The European Commission’s Renovation Wave aims to at least double the annual energy renovation rate of residential and non-residential buildings by 2030, with a target of 35 million building units renovated by 2030. The recent COVID-19 pandemic has reiterated the importance of protecting and restoring urban ecosystems and promoting balanced urban-rural delevopments. The European Commission’s Biodiversity strategy calls on cities with at least 20,000 inhabitants to develop an ambitious Urban Greening Plan by the end of 2021. The plans should include measures to create biodiverse and accessible urban forests, parks and gardens; urban farms; green roofs and walls; tree-lined streets; urban meadows; and urban hedges. To facilitate this work, the Commission will set up an EU Urban Greening Platform in 2021, under a new ‘Green City Accord’with cities and mayors, working in synergy with the European Covenant of Mayors. Urban renewal and urban greening plans could mobilise policy, as well as regulatory and financial tools. Communities, citizens and other external inputs are crucial to successful, socially integrated urban projects. However, there are still some challenges that need addressing, such as how to involve the broadest possible range of participants.

The FYP also calls for the elimination of major demolition and construction, which is a significant source of primary material extraction, energy consumption, and carbon pollution. Instead, it favours the renewal of older neighbourhoods, and previous approaches related to urban expansion, population densities and spatial structures could also be reconsidered. City renewal programmes are being promoted on a nationwide scale in China. In 2017, the government chose 58 pilot cities to trial a transformed approach to urban renewal, with the goal of building enhanced quality – and sustainability. Renewal strategies could help to enhance historical and cultural preservation, and offer opportunities to revitalise old urban residential areas and neighbourhoods. The FYP recognises the need to make cities more resilient to climate change, and it supports ecological restoration and the adoption of nature-based solutions, such as restoring the natural flow of rivers to reduce urban flood risk. Reforms to the public finance system should help reduce dependency on land auctioning as a revenue base for local authorities.

More than 10,000 cities have signed the European Covenant of Mayors and implemented strategies to reduce GHG emissions by 40% by 2030, and the EU Horizon2020 Programme, Join URBACT III programme, and the Joint Programming Initiative Urban Europe have all financed smart city projects. The H2020 Lighthouse Programme, which asks cities to demonstrate clean mobility solutions, energy-efficient districts with a high share of renewables, and ICT-enabled, smart-integrated infrastructures, has deployed 17 projects backed by EUR 18-25 million in funding. To ensure subsequent replication and scaling-up, a small number of “lighthouse cities” are closely followed by three to five fellow cities. Five years into the programme, there are now a total of 46 lighthouse cities and 70 fellow cities. The EU Mission Board on cities has raised the bar for the next decade, setting the goal of creating 100 Climate-Neutral cities by 2030 – by and for citizens. The aim is for these cities to be experimentation and innovation hubs setting examples for all cities, and leading on the European Green Deal to become climate neutral by 2050. In order to achieve the mission, a multi-level and co-creative process will be formalised in a Climate City Contract. Citizen participation is recognised as crucial, and cities are invited to catalyse and support bottom-up initiatives and new forms of governance.

In line with these, 14thChina’s Five-Year Plan (FYP) sets out several important commitments, which are also relevant for urban development: · Mandating a national standard for energy efficiency that covers products and equipment. This should lead to a 40% reduction in energy related GHG emissions over the next two decades; · Setting national renewable energy at 20% of total use; · Prioritising mitigation efforts to reduce non-C02 GHG emissions, notably methane and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). These targets will also impact the urban landscape. In the last decade, there have been a total of 1,028 smart city and eco-city construction pilot projects in China, distributed over 193 cities in 31 provinces. 527 of these pilot programmes are closely related to Smart City development, whereas the remainder relate to eco-city development, including the National Garden City, the National Ecological Garden City, the National Climate-Smart City, the National Sponge City and the National Low-Carbon City. Building on this, the FYP puts forward multiple actions to promote green urbanisation, including electrification of public transport, expanding urban green spaces, building green corridors, and mandating green building material. Technology and digitalisation will play a key role in the road towards urban carbon neutrality. City councils are also making significant investments in technology – in 2017, pilot projects were launched in more than 500 cities, all of which leveraged digital innovation and intelligent design to help drive sustainability and high quality living. And for cities, going digital is not just about collecting data. Enhancing the way existin urban data is used can provide opportunities for new tools and services that will enhance the way cities are run.

According to a recent Eurobarometer survey, the growing amount of waste is a top three environmental concern for citizens. The plan foresees the introduction of measures for waste prevention and reduction, increasing recycled content and minimising waste exports outside the EU. In addition, a EU model for separate collection and labelling of products will be launched. The plan has identified the sectors and measures with the highest potential for circularity, which include electronics and ICT, plastics, textiles, construction and buildings, water and nutrients, and food. In 2020, major cities including Budapest, Copenhagen, Helsinki, Ljubljana, Oslo, Prague and Tirana signed the European Circular Cities Declaration, which recognises the EU’s need to accelerate the transition from a linear to a circular economy. Cities and regions that sign commit to act as ambassadors and champion a circular economy that will lead to a resource-efficient, low-carbon and socially responsible society, in which resource consumption is decoupled from economic growth. In 2021, the European Commission set the circular cities and regions initiative as part of its new circular economy Action Plan. It will fund demonstration projects and circular solutions at local and regional scale and help deliver on the European Green Deal and the EU bioeconomy strategy.

The law was primarily focused on traditional 3R solutions (reduce, reuse, and recycle), such as municipal waste management, further use of industrial by-products (industrial symbiosis), and reducing emissions from production processes. The 2017 Circular Development Leading Action Plan builds on this, proposing important steps towards systematically tackling the root causes of environmental and societal externalities. China’s Five-Year Plan demonstrates its will to accelerate a transition from an export-led growth model towards a domestic, consumption-based model. The Plan aims to “boost the modernisation of industrial chains and supply chains, and maintain a stable proportion of the manufacturing sector”. China could become a manufacturing powerhouse, leveraging innovation, technologies, research and connectivity within the manufacturing industry to promote high-quality economic development. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation report, “The circular economy opportunity for urban and industrial innovation in China”, identifies opportunities across five focus areas: built environment, mobility, nutrition, textiles and electronics, showing that applying circular economy principles at scale could save businesses and households approximately CNY 70 trillion by 2040 – 6% of China’s projected GDP. This would enable more of China’s urban dwellers to enjoy a middle-class lifestyle, while at the same time, by 2040, see China’s cities reduce emissions of fine particulate matter by 50%, emissions of greenhouse gases by 23%, and traffic congestion by 47%.