冯奎专栏丨现代化城市体系需要更多制度创新

Core Viewpoint - The recent Central Urban Work Conference marks a significant shift in China's urban development strategy, emphasizing the optimization of a modern urban system as a key task for achieving socialist modernization by 2035 [1][2]. Group 1: Key Tasks and Trends in Urban Development - The conference identified seven key tasks for urban work, with the optimization of the modern urban system being the foremost priority, highlighting its role in coordinating various urban developments and addressing imbalances [1][2]. - The construction of modern urban systems is seen as crucial for supporting stable development and addressing issues of unbalanced and uncoordinated growth [1][2]. - The urbanization rate in China has surpassed 66%, transitioning from "incremental expansion" to "stock quality improvement," indicating a critical phase for urban system construction [2][3]. Group 2: Development Trends in Urban Systems - There is an accelerated development of group-style and networked modern urban clusters and metropolitan areas, which are now recognized as essential for efficient resource allocation and innovation [3]. - The role of county towns in urbanization has become more prominent, with 1,866 county towns accommodating 250 million people, serving as key nodes for urban-rural connections [3]. - The concept of coordinated development among large, medium, and small cities has evolved to focus more on human-centered approaches, ensuring that different city sizes contribute effectively to the urbanization of the agricultural population [3]. Group 3: Deepening Urban-Rural Integration - Urban-rural integration is gaining more attention, with a focus on achieving mutual empowerment through multi-dimensional integration beyond just the flow of resources [4]. Group 4: Institutional Innovations for Urban Development - There is a need for flexible and diverse urban classification standards that go beyond traditional population metrics to include economic density and ecological capacity [5]. - Innovative fiscal support mechanisms are required in light of declining land revenues, with a focus on developing new tax sources from digital and green economies [5][6]. - The establishment of a unified national standard for basic public services is essential to accommodate the increasing frequency of inter-regional population movement [6].