The Urban Renewal 15th Five-Year Plan was issued in May and moves the nationwide urban renewal effort into the implementation stage. The plan sets out targets including: starting renovation of 115,000 old urban residential communities, carrying out complete community building and renovation in 5,000 communities, renovating and upgrading 300 historical and cultural blocks, upgrading 20,000 hectares of urban park green space, adding 15,000 pocket parks, building and upgrading 20,000 km of urban greenways, and constructing and upgrading 770,000 km of urban underground pipelines.
Local authorities are turning the plan into concrete actions. In Beiyuan Community, Xuanwu District, Nanjing, Jiangsu, the renovation of Beiyuan Second and Third Villages started in July last year. Adopting an approach of "inspect first, then consult, then renew," the local government collected residents' needs through community meetings and surveys and carried out a series of improvements: reapplying external wall waterproofing, tidying unused corner plots to create 20 parking spaces and two non-motorized vehicle sheds with charging piles, and building a one-stop service center. Renovation of Beiyuan First Village is also planned, covering facility repairs, smart security, landscaping, and using idle land to build a small square and service space.
In Wenjiang District, Chengdu, Sichuan, the Wenmiao Yinxiang Intangible Cultural Heritage Living Block recently opened, optimizing space while preserving historical sites and introducing intangible cultural heritage experience spaces and artists' workshops to counter business homogeneity. In Baiyun District, Guangzhou, Guangdong, a 40-km forest trail opened this year, turning previously overgrown marginal woodland into a safe and accessible green corridor, providing ecological public goods for residents.
On Huakai Road in Jiulongpo District, Chongqing, a "minimally invasive" pipeline repair is underway underground. Using trenchless technology, a soft tube wrapped in special resin is inserted into the old pipe, and high-temperature steam expands and cures it to form a new liner, addressing corrosion and leakage problems of sewage pipes in the central urban area and reducing flood and overflow risks. The plan specifies about 200,000 km of gas pipelines, 175,000 km of drainage pipelines, 175,000 km of water supply pipelines, 100,000 km of sewage pipelines, and 120,000 km of heating pipelines to be built or upgraded.
The Urban Renewal 15th Five-Year Plan was reported by the People's Daily on July 14, 2026.