Report on New Infrastructure and High-Quality Development of Urban Agglomerations Released

On January 16, 2023, China Development Research Foundation (CDRF) held a conference and expert seminar on "New Infrastructure and High-Quality Development of Urban Agglomerations" in Beijing. Yu Jiantuo, Deputy Secretary General of China Development Research Foundation, delivered a speech and released the report, Li Fan, Director of Research Department 1, hosted the conference. More than 20 representatives from the project team, experts and scholars, enterprises and media attended the conference and participated in the seminar.

"The 14th Five-Year Plan is a critical period for promoting the high-quality development of new urbanization and accelerating the construction of urban clusters. In the context of actively expanding domestic demand, investment in new infrastructure is growing. New infrastructure can contribute to the development of urban agglomerations with high efficiency and high quality, and urban agglomerations will provide a broader market space for the application of new infrastructure. To this end, the China Development Research Foundation (CDRF) has established a research group on "New Infrastructure and High-Quality Development of Urban Agglomerations" to explore the important role of new infrastructure in promoting the agglomeration, deep integration and high-quality development of urban agglomerations.

CDRF has completed executive report of "New Infrastructure and High-Quality Development of Urban Agglomerations". Relevant teams from National Information Center, China Academy of Urban Planning and Design, Investment Research Institute of National Development and Reform Commission, Institute of Financial Strategy of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, China Academy of Information and Communication Technology, China Industrial Internet Research Institute, Tsinghua University and Beijing Normal University took part to write topical chapters of the report.

According to the report, China's urban agglomerations have entered a period of intensive development. At present, the population of 12 large urban agglomerations in China exceeds 900 million, accounting for about 65% of the country's total population, and accounting for 3/4 of the current GDP. Urban agglomerations have strong advantages in improving economic efficiency and shaping industrial competitiveness, and play an important role in promoting the formation of a new development pattern with a major domestic circulation and a dual domestic and international circulation to promote each other. Urban agglomerations are the main centers for receiving middle-income groups in the future, and can drive regional economic development and lead coordinated development toward common prosperity.

The participating experts also discussed how new infrastructure can better enable the development of city clusters in the future.