Party Building Leads the Construction of Modern People’s Cities

The 2025 Central Urban Work Conference [1]1 The Central Urban Work Conference is a high-level meeting convened by the CPC Central Committee to set the direction and policy for urban development nationwide. pointed out that to build modern people’s cities, it is necessary to strengthen the Party’s overall leadership over urban work. The construction of people’s cities is a complex systemic project, and Party building is the fundamental guarantee for the construction of people’s cities. Only by consistently adhering to the Party’s overall leadership and consistently upholding a people-first outlook on political performance can we ensure that urban construction has clear direction and effective measures, can we fully gather the strong synergy of joint contribution, joint governance, and shared benefits, and build innovative, livable, beautiful, resilient, civilized, and smart modern people’s cities.

2025年中央城市工作会议指出，建设现代化人民城市，必须加强党对城市工作的全面领导。人民城市建设是一项复杂系统工程，党建引领是人民城市建设的根本保证，只有始终坚持党的全面领导，始终秉持人民至上的政绩观，才能确保城市建设方向明确、措施得力，才能充分汇聚起共建共治共享的强大合力，建设创新、宜居、美丽、韧性、文明、智慧的现代化人民城市。

The People’s City Concept Points Out the Direction of Development

人民城市理念指明发展方向

General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: “The city belongs to the people, and people’s cities are built for the people.” This important statement clarifies the fundamental purpose of urban development, namely, that urban construction must adhere to the principal position of the people, so that the fruits of development benefit all the people more and more fairly. The people’s city concept contains a scientific answer to major theoretical and practical questions such as for whom and by whom urban development is carried out. The Central Urban Work Conference pointed out that it is necessary to adhere to the goal of building modern people’s cities, take promoting high-quality urban development as the theme, take adhering to intensive urban development as the main line, and blaze a new path of urban modernization with Chinese characteristics. This series of deployments points out the direction forward for urban work in the New Era and also provides a fundamental guideline for implementing the people’s city concept.

习近平总书记指出：“城市是人民的城市，人民城市为人民。”这一重要论述明确了城市发展的根本宗旨，即城市建设必须坚持人民主体地位，让发展成果更多更公平地惠及全体人民。人民城市理念内含着对城市发展为了谁、依靠谁等重大理论和实践问题的科学回答。中央城市工作会议指出，要坚持以建设现代化人民城市为目标，以推动城市高质量发展为主题，以坚持城市内涵式发展为主线，走出一条中国特色城市现代化新路子。这一系列部署为新时代城市工作指明了前进方向，也为落实人民城市理念提供了根本遵循。

The core of people’s city construction in the New Era is to practice the value concept of “people first” under the leadership of the Party, and to advance a new pattern of urban governance featuring joint contribution, joint governance, and shared benefits. The Central Urban Work Conference emphasized that it is necessary to deeply grasp the target positioning of building modern people’s cities, and consciously practice the people-centered development thought. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that “the city belongs to the people,” requiring Party members and cadres at all levels to “comprehensively practice the people’s city concept,” “integrate whole-process people’s democracy into the modernization of urban governance,” and strive to create a livable and business-friendly environment, creating a happy life for the people. This means that the starting point and ultimate goal of urban work must both be the people: on the one hand, it is necessary to rely on the active participation of the people in urban construction and give full play to the people’s pioneering spirit; on the other hand, it is necessary to take seeking well-being for the people as the fundamental goal of urban development, and safeguard the people’s principal position and rights in urban construction by improving institutional mechanisms.

新时代的人民城市建设，核心是在党的领导下践行“人民至上”的价值理念，推进共建共治共享的城市治理新格局。中央城市工作会议强调，要深刻把握建设现代化人民城市的目标定位，自觉践行以人民为中心的发展思想。习近平总书记强调“城市是人民的城市”，要求各级党员干部“全面践行人民城市理念”，“把全过程人民民主融入城市治理现代化”，努力创造宜居宜业的环境，为人民群众创造幸福生活。这意味着城市工作的出发点和落脚点都必须是人民：一方面要依靠人民群众积极参与城市建设，发挥人民群众的首创精神；另一方面要把为人民谋福祉作为城市发展的根本目标，通过完善制度机制保障人民在城市建设中的主体地位和权利。

Facing the Challenges of Urban Development and Governance

直面城市发展和治理挑战

Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC [2]2 The 18th National Congress of the CPC was held in 2012, marking the beginning of the Xi Jinping era and the launch of comprehensive reforms., China’s urban development has achieved historic accomplishments. The level of new-type urbanization, urban development capacity, the level of planning, construction, and governance, the level of livability and business-friendliness, the level of historical and cultural protection and inheritance, and the quality of the ecological environment have all greatly improved. However, building modern people’s cities and further enhancing the people’s sense of gain, happiness, and security still face some problems and challenges.

党的十八大以来，我国城市发展取得历史性成就，新型城镇化水平和城市发展能级、规划建设治理水平、宜居宜业水平、历史文化保护传承水平、生态环境质量大幅提升，但建设现代化人民城市、进一步提升人民群众获得感幸福感安全感还面临一些问题和挑战。

The phenomenon of fragmentation in urban governance is prominent, and the mechanism for overall planning and coordination is not yet sound. Some cities have long followed models of territorial management and vertical-horizontal segmentation [3]3 “Vertical-horizontal segmentation” (条块分割, tiaokuai fenge) refers to the administrative division between central ministry-led vertical lines (条, tiao) and local territorial governments (块, kuai), which can create coordination problems., with various functional departments acting independently, leading to frequent overlapping or gaps in responsibilities, and disconnection and omissions in governance work. Departmental barriers also create information silos and redundant construction. The fragmented state of governance weakens the overall effectiveness of policy implementation and is detrimental to achieving the goal of coordinated development of people’s cities.

城市治理碎片化现象突出，统筹协调机制尚不健全。一些城市长期沿袭属地管理和条块分割的模式，各职能部门各自为政，导致职责交叉或空白地带频现，治理工作出现脱节和遗漏。部门壁垒还造成信息孤岛和重复建设，碎片化的治理状态削弱了政策执行的整体效能，不利于人民城市统筹发展目标的实现。

The momentum of grassroots governance is insufficient, and governance capacity urgently needs enhancement. Currently, many cities’ grassroots governance faces the dilemma of “a small horse pulling a big cart” [4]4 “A small horse pulling a big cart” (小马拉大车, xiaoma la dache) is a Chinese idiom describing a situation where a unit or person is given responsibilities far exceeding their capacity or resources.: grassroots units take on more and more tasks, but their resources, power, and professional capabilities have not improved synchronously. Units such as communities and subdistricts bear heavy burdens in areas like population management and community services, yet they have long faced difficulties such as personnel shortages, limited funds, and a lack of talent.

基层治理动能不足，治理能力亟待增强。目前，不少城市基层治理面临“小马拉大车”的困境：基层承担的事务越来越多，但资源、权力和专业能力没有同步提升。社区、街道等基层单位在人口管理、社区服务等方面任务繁重，却长期面临人手短缺、经费有限、人才匮乏等困难。

Coordination between government and society is not smooth, and the mechanism for social participation needs improvement. The construction of people’s cities requires pooling the strength of all parties for joint contribution and joint governance, but in reality, the problem of insufficient coordination between government and social forces remains prominent. On the one hand, the channels for social organizations and residents to participate in urban governance are not smooth enough, and social forces lack institutionalized avenues for participation. On the other hand, government departments have insufficient trust in and support for social forces, and cooperation mechanisms are imperfect.

政社协同不畅，社会参与机制有待健全。人民城市建设要求凝聚各方力量共建共治，但现实中政府与社会力量协同不足的问题依然突出。一方面，社会组织和居民参与城市治理的渠道不够通畅，社会力量缺乏制度化参与途径；另一方面，政府部门对社会力量的信任和支持不足，合作机制不完善。

Party building is the fundamental guarantee for urban development. Practice has proven that the above-mentioned problems and challenges can only be effectively resolved through Party building. More importantly, China’s urbanization is transitioning from a period of rapid growth to a period of stable development, and urban development is shifting from a stage of large-scale incremental expansion to a stage primarily focused on improving the quality and efficiency of the existing stock. In this new stage of intensive urban development, the systemic nature and complexity of urban work are higher, and the expectations and demands of the people are also higher. It is urgent to transform urban work methods, pay more attention to overall planning and coordination, which means that the Party’s overall leadership plays an increasingly important role in urban development and governance.

党的建设是城市发展的根本保证。实践证明，上述问题和挑战，只有通过党建引领才能得以有效解决。更重要的是，我国城镇化正从快速增长期转向稳定发展期，城市发展正从大规模增量扩张阶段转向存量提质增效为主的阶段。在这一城市内涵式发展的新阶段，城市工作的系统性复杂性更高，人民群众的期待和要求也更高，亟待转变城市工作方法，更加注重统筹协调，这意味着党的全面领导在城市发展和治理中的作用日益重要。

Strengthening the Party’s Overall Leadership over Urban Work

加强党对城市工作的全面领导

The Party’s leadership is the fundamental guarantee and greatest advantage of people’s city construction, and must run through the entire field and entire process of urban construction. This advantage is reflected in various links such as grasping direction, coordinating the overall situation, and promoting implementation. Specifically, it means integrating the Party’s political leadership, ideological guidance, and organizational advantages into all aspects of urban planning, construction, and governance. It means embodying strategic height in top-level design, clarifying urban development direction and policy orientation; giving play to organizational advantages in overall planning and coordination, ensuring the organic connection of various policies, resources, and forces in space, time, and objectives; and, in the implementation link, promoting policy implementation and solving practical problems through a strong grassroots Party organization network. The more complex the development situation a city faces, the more it must rely on the Party’s leadership to unify ideological understanding, consolidate reform consensus, overcome practical difficulties, ensure that the development direction does not deviate and the implementation path does not go astray, and always advance high-quality development along the people-centered development track.

党的领导是人民城市建设的根本保证和最大优势，必须贯穿城市建设的全领域全过程。这种优势体现在把握方向、统筹全局和推进落实等各个环节。具体而言，就是要把党的政治领导、思想引领和组织优势贯穿于城市规划、建设、治理各个方面。在顶层设计上体现战略高度，明确城市发展方向和政策导向；在统筹协调中发挥组织优势，确保各项政策、资源和力量在空间、时间和目标上的有机衔接；在贯彻落实环节，通过强有力的基层党组织网络推动政策落地、解决实际问题。城市越是面临复杂的发展局面，越要依靠党的领导统一思想认识、凝聚改革共识、克服实践困难，确保发展方向不偏移、执行路径不走样，始终沿着以人民为中心的发展轨道高质量发展。

Improve the leadership system and working mechanism to enhance policy coordination. With Party building as the core, efforts should focus on perfecting the urban governance system of unified leadership by the Party committee, specific responsibility by the government, and coordinated cooperation among departments, promoting joint implementation across departments and levels, avoiding policy fragmentation and implementation obstacles, enhancing the integrity and synergy of urban governance through the systemic nature of the institutional mechanism, and ensuring that various decisions and deployments can be effectively connected and implemented.

健全领导体制和工作机制，增强政策协同。要以党建引领为核心，着力完善党委统一领导、政府具体负责、部门协同配合的城市治理体系，推动跨部门、跨层级联动落实，避免政策碎片化和执行障碍，以体制机制的系统性增强城市治理的整体性和协同性，确保各项决策部署能够有效贯通、落地见效。

Strengthen the construction of grassroots Party organizations and consolidate the foundation of governance. Grassroots Party organizations are the fighting fortresses of the Party in urban work, and their organizational capacity, cohesion, and combat effectiveness must be strengthened. Optimize the organizational system, promote the “subdistrict–community–grid” three-level Party building linkage, and achieve full coverage of the Party’s organization and work; enhance service capabilities, create brands such as “Red Property” [5]5 “Red Property” (红色物业, hongse wuye) refers to property management companies that are established or guided by grassroots Party organizations to improve community services. and “Party Member Pioneer Posts” [6]6 “Party Member Pioneer Posts” (党员先锋岗, dangyuan xianfeng gang) are designated positions or roles where Party members are expected to set an example in their work., promote Party members going down to communities, and solve the people’s urgent, difficult, and anxious problems; promote joint contribution and joint governance, and guide residents, enterprises, and social organizations to jointly participate in community governance through mechanisms such as Party building joint meetings and community councils.

强化基层党组织建设，夯实治理根基。基层党组织是党在城市工作中的战斗堡垒，必须加强组织力、凝聚力和战斗力。优化组织体系，推动“街道—社区—网格”三级党建联动，实现党的组织和工作全覆盖；提升服务能力，打造“红色物业”“党员先锋岗”等品牌，推动党员下沉社区，解决群众急难愁盼问题；推动共建共治，通过党建联席会议、社区议事会等机制，引导居民、企业和社会组织共同参与社区治理。

Innovate urban governance models to enhance governance efficiency. Vigorously promote the construction of “smart Party building + smart city,” use technologies such as big data and artificial intelligence to build a “city brain,” achieving precise and intelligent governance; establish and improve “Party building + grid” management, integrating Party building into grid governance, achieving “small matters not leaving the grid, big matters not leaving the community”; strengthen Party building-led grassroots consultative democracy, and through forms such as “Resident Councils” [7]7 “Resident Councils” (居民议事厅, jumin yishi ting) are community-level deliberative bodies where residents discuss and decide on local issues. and “Democratic Deliberation Meetings” [8]8 “Democratic Deliberation Meetings” (民主恳谈会, minzhu kentan hui) are consultative meetings, often at the grassroots level, where officials and citizens discuss policies and public affairs., let the people participate in decision-making and improve governance transparency.

创新城市治理模式，提升治理效能。大力推动“智慧党建+智慧城市”建设，运用大数据、人工智能等技术，构建“城市大脑”，实现精准化、智能化治理；建立健全“党建+网格化”管理，将党建融入网格治理，实现“小事不出网格，大事不出社区”；加强党建引领基层协商民主，通过“居民议事厅”“民主恳谈会”等形式，让群众参与决策，提高治理透明度。

Develop whole-process people’s democracy and strengthen the principal position of the people. People’s cities emphasize the people as the main body, meaning that citizens should be deeply involved in the entire process of urban construction and governance; it is necessary to improve the grassroots democratic consultation mechanism, allowing the public to widely participate in urban planning decisions and the allocation of public resources, ensuring that decisions reflect public opinion; improve channels for feedback on public opinion, so that various public policies always align with the real needs of the people; establish a democratic supervision system, and improve the transparency and credibility of urban governance through mass supervision and feedback mechanisms.

发展全过程人民民主，强化人民主体地位。人民城市强调以人民为主体，意味着要让市民深度参与城市建设和治理的全过程；要完善基层民主协商机制，让公众广泛参与城市规划决策和公共资源配置，确保决策反映民意；健全群众意见反馈渠道，使各项公共政策始终贴合民众真实需求；建立民主监督制度，通过群众监督和反馈机制提高城市治理的透明度和公信力。

Establish and practice a correct outlook on political performance, and establish and improve a scientific urban development evaluation system. Adhere to a people-centered development outlook and outlook on political performance, abandon the tendency to unilaterally pursue the speed of growth, and take the masses’ sense of gain, happiness, and security as important criteria for evaluating urban development; strengthen the quality and capacity building of urban work teams, improve the cadre assessment and incentive mechanism, guide cadres to enhance their professional competence and governance capabilities, and stimulate the enthusiasm, initiative, and creativity of the vast number of Party members and cadres in the modernization of cities.

树立和践行正确政绩观，建立健全科学的城市发展评价体系。坚持以人民为中心的发展观和政绩观，摒弃片面追求增长速度的倾向，将群众获得感、幸福感、安全感作为评价城市发展的重要标准；加强城市工作队伍素质和能力建设，完善干部考核激励机制，引导干部提升专业素养和治理能力，激发广大党员干部在城市现代化建设中的积极性、主动性和创造性。

(The author is a Distinguished Researcher of the Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and Deputy Director of the Institute of Sociology.)

（作者系中国社会科学院习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想研究中心特约研究员、社会学研究所副所长）

Online Editor: Tongxin

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