The Rich Connotation and Theoretical Contribution of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s Important Discourse on Urban Work

General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important discourse on urban work is a scientific theory with rich connotation, systematic completeness, and rigorous logic. Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, General Secretary Xi Jinping has profoundly grasped the general trend of urban development, discerned the laws of urban development, and published a series of important discourses on urban work, composing the “urban chapter” of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, providing a fundamental guideline for doing a good job in urban work in the New Era.

习近平总书记关于城市工作重要论述是内涵丰富、系统完整、逻辑严密的科学理论。党的十八大以来，习近平总书记深刻把握城市发展大势，洞察城市发展规律，围绕城市工作发表一系列重要论述，谱写了习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想的“城市篇”，为做好新时代城市工作提供了根本遵循。

General Secretary Xi Jinping creatively put forward upholding and strengthening the Party’s comprehensive leadership over urban work. He emphasized that urban work carries significant weight in the overall work of the Party and the state, that Party leadership must be strengthened and improved, the leadership responsibility of Party committees at all levels must be reinforced, the capacity to lead urban work must be enhanced, and the modernization of the urban governance system and governance capacity must be promoted; he emphasized that a pattern of urban work featuring unified leadership by Party committees and joint management by the Party and government must be established and improved, the training of a group of cadres who understand cities and are capable of management must be accelerated, and cities must be planned, built, and managed with a scientific attitude, advanced concepts, and professional knowledge. These important discourses clarify the fundamental guarantee for urban work in the New Era.

习近平总书记创造性提出坚持和加强党对城市工作的全面领导。强调城市工作在党和国家工作全局中举足轻重，必须加强和改善党的领导，强化各级党委领导责任，提高领导城市工作能力，促进城市治理体系和治理能力现代化；强调要建立健全党委统一领导、党政齐抓共管的城市工作格局，加快培养一批懂城市、会管理的干部，用科学态度、先进理念、专业知识去规划、建设、管理城市。这些重要论述，明确了新时代城市工作的根本保证。

General Secretary Xi Jinping creatively put forward the major concept that the people’s city is built by the people and the people’s city serves the people. He emphasized that the core of the city is the people, and the key is twelve characters: clothing, food, housing, transportation; birth, aging, illness, death; peaceful dwelling and happy work. [1]1 The twelve characters (衣食住行、生老病死、安居乐业) are a condensed Chinese expression covering basic necessities (clothing, food, housing, transport), life-cycle events (birth, aging, illness, death), and the ideal of a settled life with satisfying work. The people’s city concept must be fully implemented, the principal position of the broad masses of the people in urban construction and development must be upheld, whole-process people’s democracy must be integrated into the modernization of urban governance, and the goals of co-governance, co-management, co-construction, and co-sharing of the city must be truly realized; he emphasized that urban construction must prioritize making the people live in peace and comfort, leave the best resources for the people, provide the people with meticulous urban management and good public services, and enable the people to live more conveniently, more comfortably, and more beautifully in the city. These important discourses clarify the fundamental stance for doing a good job in urban work in the New Era.

习近平总书记创造性提出人民城市人民建、人民城市为人民的重大理念。强调城市的核心是人，关键是十二个字：衣食住行、生老病死、安居乐业。要全面践行人民城市理念，坚持广大人民群众在城市建设和发展中的主体地位，把全过程人民民主融入城市治理现代化，真正实现城市共治共管、共建共享；强调城市建设必须把让人民宜居安居放在首位，把最好的资源留给人民，为人民群众提供精细的城市管理和良好的公共服务，让人民群众在城市生活得更方便、更舒心、更美好。这些重要论述，明确了做好新时代城市工作的根本立场。

General Secretary Xi Jinping creatively put forward blazing a path of urban development with Chinese characteristics. In terms of urban development structure, he emphasized coordinating the three major structures of space, scale, and industry to improve the overall situation of urban work; in terms of urban development links, he emphasized coordinating the three major links of planning, construction, and management to improve the systematic nature of urban work; in terms of urban development impetus, he emphasized coordinating the three major driving forces of reform, science and technology, and culture to improve the sustainability of urban development; in terms of urban development layout, he emphasized coordinating the three major layouts of production, living, and ecology to improve the livability of urban development; in terms of urban development subjects, he emphasized coordinating the three major subjects of government, society, and citizens to enhance the initiative of all parties in promoting urban development. These important discourses clarify the basic thinking for urban work in the New Era.

习近平总书记创造性提出走出一条中国特色城市发展道路。在城市发展结构上，强调统筹空间、规模、产业三大结构，提高城市工作全局性；在城市发展环节上，强调统筹规划、建设、管理三大环节，提高城市工作的系统性；在城市发展动力上，强调统筹改革、科技、文化三大动力，提高城市发展持续性；在城市发展布局上，强调统筹生产、生活、生态三大布局，提高城市发展的宜居性；在城市发展主体上，强调统筹政府、社会、市民三大主体，提高各方推动城市发展的积极性。这些重要论述，明确了新时代城市工作的基本思路。

In summary, General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important discourse on urban work runs through the Marxist stance, viewpoint, and method, embodies the new development concept, and has a distinct people-oriented, practical, contemporary, and creative character. It profoundly answers the fundamental questions of whom urban construction and development rely on and whom it serves, as well as the major proposition of what kind of city to build and how to build a city. It has very important guiding significance for us in promoting the modernization of the urban governance system and governance capacity, creating a new situation in the construction of the people’s city, and comprehensively advancing the building of a strong country and the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation through Chinese-path modernization.

总之，习近平总书记关于城市工作重要论述，贯穿马克思主义立场观点方法，体现新发展理念，具有鲜明的人民性、实践性、时代性、创造性，深刻回答了城市建设发展依靠谁、为了谁的根本问题，以及建设什么样的城市、怎样建设城市的重大命题，对于我们推进城市治理体系和治理能力现代化，开创人民城市建设新局面，以中国式现代化全面推进强国建设、民族复兴伟业，具有十分重要的指导意义。

General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important discourse on urban work systematically summarizes the historical experience and fresh experience of the Party in leading urban work, and with a series of new ideas, new viewpoints, and new judgments rich in the flavor of the times and national characteristics, it has realized the innovative development of Marxist urban thought in China in the New Era, and has made major original, historical, and global contributions to upholding and developing Marxist urban thought.

习近平总书记关于城市工作重要论述，系统总结党领导城市工作的历史经验和新鲜经验，以一系列富有时代气息和民族特色的新思想新观点新论断，实现了马克思主义城市思想在新时代中国的创新发展，为坚持和发展马克思主义城市思想作出了重大原创性、历史性、世界性贡献。

Speaking of the original contribution, it lies in the fact that this important discourse not only upholds the basic principles of Marxism but also articulates many new statements that the classical writers did not make. The classical Marxist writers, on the basis of an in-depth investigation of the relationship between the Industrial Revolution and urban construction, profoundly expounded the basic problems of industrial cities from the perspective of the development of human society as a whole, but they did not and could not provide ready-made answers to a series of major theoretical and practical issues of urban construction and governance in the present era. General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important discourse on urban work, based on the great practice of Chinese-path modernization, was formed and developed in the process of grasping the new situation of urban work, solving new problems in urban construction, and responding to new challenges in urban development on the new journey of the New Era, enriching and developing Marxist thought and theory on urban history, urban status, urban-rural relations, and the future of cities.

讲原创性贡献，就在于这一重要论述既坚持马克思主义基本原理，又讲了许多经典作家没有讲过的新话。马克思主义经典作家在深入考察工业革命与城市建设关系的基础上，从整个人类社会发展的高度对工业城市的基本问题进行了深刻阐述，但他们没有也不可能为当今时代城市建设和治理的一系列重大理论和实践问题提供现成答案。习近平总书记关于城市工作重要论述，立足中国式现代化的伟大实践，是在新时代新征程把握城市工作新形势、解决城市建设新问题、应对城市发展新挑战的过程中形成和发展的，丰富和发展了马克思主义关于城市历史、城市地位、城乡关系、城市未来等的思想理论。

Speaking of the historical contribution, it lies in the fact that this important discourse upholds the Two Integrations, realizing the creative transformation and innovative development of the thought on urban construction in fine traditional Chinese culture. China’s five-thousand-year-long civilization has the city as a major carrier. China’s ancient urban construction contains extremely rich and highly wise ideological concepts, theoretical principles, and technical methods, which still have important reference significance today. General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important discourse on urban work fully absorbs the essence and nutrients of ancient Chinese urban construction thought, such as the unity of heaven and man, the coexistence of all things, following the laws of nature, and the harmony of the mean, [2]2 These four phrases (天人合一、万物并育、道法自然、中和泰和) are classical Chinese philosophical concepts drawn from Confucian and Daoist traditions, emphasizing harmony between humanity and nature, the coexistence of all beings, following the natural way, and achieving balance and peace. prominently emphasizes “seeing the mountains, seeing the water, and remembering the nostalgia,” [3]3 This phrase (望得见山、看得见水、记得住乡愁) is a well-known formulation by Xi Jinping, first used in 2013, calling for urban planning to preserve natural landscapes and cultural memory, so that residents retain a sense of attachment to their hometown. attaches great importance to the protection of urban historical culture, continues the urban context and cultivates the urban spirit in the unity of history and reality, culture and value, and deeply cultivates the profound historical and cultural heritage of China’s urban construction.

讲历史性贡献，就在于这一重要论述坚持“两个结合”，实现了中华优秀传统文化中城市建设思想的创造性转化、创新性发展。我国五千多年的悠久文明，城市是一个主要载体，我国古代城市建设蕴藏着极为丰富且极具智慧的思想观念、理论原则、技术方法，至今仍具有重要借鉴意义。习近平总书记关于城市工作重要论述，充分吸收我国古代城市建设思想中天人合一、万物并育、道法自然、中和泰和等养分精华，突出强调“望得见山、看得见水、记得住乡愁”，高度重视城市历史文化保护，在历史和现实的结合、文化和价值的统一中延续城市文脉、涵养城市精神，厚植了我国城市建设厚重的历史文化底蕴。

Speaking of the global contribution, it lies in the fact that this important discourse has insight into the process of human urban civilization and contributes Chinese wisdom and Chinese solutions to global urban construction and management. The Western-dominated “capital-first” path of urban development has been proven to be a dead end that cannot be followed. Traffic congestion, environmental pollution, “sprawl-style” development, urban slums, and other “big city diseases” have become worldwide problems. To this day, modern urban construction is still at a crossroads of where to go. General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important discourse on urban work profoundly reveals the laws of urban development under socialism with Chinese characteristics, draws on the experience and lessons of the urbanization process of various countries, bases itself on the forefront of the development of the times, responds to the common concerns of the people of all countries, and points the direction for jointly seeking the prosperity and development of global cities.

讲世界性贡献，就在于这一重要论述洞悉人类城市文明进程，为全球城市建设和管理贡献了中国智慧和中国方案。西方主导的“资本至上”城市发展道路已经被证明是一条走不通的死胡同，交通拥堵、环境污染、“摊大饼”式发展、城市贫民窟等“大城市病”成为世界性难题。时至今日，现代化城市建设仍处在向何处去的十字路口。习近平总书记关于城市工作重要论述，深刻揭示中国特色社会主义城市发展规律，汲取各国城市化进程经验教训，立足时代发展前沿，回应各国人民普遍关切，为共谋全球城市繁荣发展指明了方向。

The Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the CPC made strategic deployments for further deepening reform comprehensively and advancing Chinese-path modernization, including major deployments such as deepening the reform of the urban construction, operation, and governance systems, and accelerating the transformation of the urban development mode. As a pacesetter in the national reform and opening up and a pioneer in innovative development, Shanghai has the responsibility and the ability to take the lead and set an example in strengthening the construction of the people’s city and improving the level of modernization of urban governance. It is expected that Shanghai will forge ahead towards the goal of accelerating the building of a socialist modern international metropolis with world influence, and explore and form more experience that can be referenced and promoted in the field of urban construction and governance.

党的二十届三中全会对进一步全面深化改革、推进中国式现代化作出战略部署，其中就包括深化城市建设、运营、治理体制改革，加快转变城市发展方式等重大部署。作为全国改革开放排头兵，创新发展先行者，上海有责任也有能力在加强人民城市建设、提高城市治理现代化水平上走在前、作表率。期待上海朝着加快建成具有世界影响力的社会主义现代化国际大都市奋勇迈进，在城市建设与治理领域探索形成更多可借鉴、可推广的经验。

Source of the article: *People’s Daily*, November 14, 2024

文章来源：《人民日报》2024年11月14日

Online editor: Jing Mu

网络编辑：静穆