The Ministry of Finance has recently announced the 2025 performance evaluation results for central government subsidies supporting urban renewal actions. Among the 35 cities evaluated nationwide, Hefei and Wuhu have both been awarded an A-grade rating.
This signifies that the urban renewal plans of Hefei and Wuhu have received national-level recognition and secured more policy space for pilot initiatives. They have become benchmark models for urban renewal across the country, providing crucial assurance for leveraging more social capital investment and continuously advancing the implementation of further renewal projects.
Hefei and Wuhu are two cities with distinct scales, characters, and cultural contexts. The reason both achieved the top A-grade, standing on equal footing in the exploration of urban renewal, is that each city has leveraged its unique advantages to forge a development path suitable for its own connotative growth.
Currently, urban development is transitioning from a phase of large-scale incremental expansion to one focused on improving the quality and efficiency of existing stock. "Transforming urban development models" has become an inevitable choice for urban construction and development, with urban renewal gradually emerging as a key pathway to activate new urban development momentum and promote connotative growth.
In late May this year, the State Council released China's first national-level urban renewal master plan, the "15th Five-Year Plan for Urban Renewal," which provides comprehensive arrangements for the distinctive development of cities and the cultivation of new growth drivers.
To date, Anhui province has established the nation's first provincial-municipal-county three-tier urban lifeline safety engineering system and has taken the lead nationally in achieving full coverage and closed-loop implementation of city health assessments. Over 80% of urban renewal projects directly address urgent public concerns identified through these health assessments, preventing "blind renovations and impulsive updates" detached from real-world problems from the outset.
The fact that Hefei and Wuhu have both received an A-grade rating this time is a powerful demonstration of this approach.
The current development stage of Hefei and Wuhu dictates that holistically advancing the simultaneous development of old and new urban areas remains an urgent priority.
By adopting the concept of urban renewal to holistically revitalize urban memories, highlight city characteristics, elevate urban quality, and unleash urban vitality, allowing cities to continuously generate a reputation that attracts both residents and visitors, every city has the potential to perform better.
From "Generation 1 Innovation" to "Generation N Innovation"
The 1986 Science and Technology Innovation Park area, located at the northwest corner of the intersection of Pihe Road and West First Ring Road in Hefei, is now bustling with young people. They gather in small groups, playing soccer on the courts or strolling and chatting, enjoying leisurely moments.
Pihe Road was once merely a branch road in Hefei, not even qualifying as a secondary urban artery. However, with national defense research institutes located here, it produced many "scientific innovation heroes." Years later, the old factory buildings where these "veterans of innovation" once toiled are being reborn with a new identity as the USTC Silicon Valley 1986 Science and Technology Innovation Park.
As a benchmark project for Hefei's exploration of the "urban renewal + sci-tech innovation" path, the 1986 Park integrates incubation and cultivation functions through urban renewal, establishing itself as a key innovation zone for the "USTC Silicon Valley." It encourages enterprises within the park to carry forward the innovative legacy of the "innovation veterans," highlighting the city's historical transition from "Generation 1 Innovation" to "Generation N Innovation" through a single innovation park.
"From the initial planning and design stage, the entire park was divided into two sections for planning," explained a relevant person in charge of the 1986 Park. "The northern area focuses on transformation and construction as a 'science and technology innovation park,' housing headquarters R&D and sales office spaces, pilot-scale acceleration facilities, etc. The southern area is positioned as a 'youth community,' providing relevant amenities for park workers and surrounding residents, offering tech-savvy youth a new experience of 'innovation upstairs, life downstairs.'"
Since its opening in September 2025, the 1986 Park has attracted 37 settled enterprises, with 102 projects in reserve and 33 key projects under negotiation.
The 1986 Park is just a microcosm of Hefei's urban renewal exploration. In recent years, Hefei has formulated its urban renewal action implementation plan and issued a three-year action plan based on its own circumstances, aiming to create a "urban renewal + sci-tech innovation" model with Hefei characteristics.
In 2025, Hefei actually commenced construction on 84 projects, with 41 projects already completed, involving an investment of approximately 4.5 billion yuan. Many of these urban renewal projects have been included in the central government's financial support program for urban renewal action city project database.
So, why has Hefei adopted the "urban renewal + sci-tech innovation" development path?
This is inseparable from Hefei's unique innovation DNA. As a national comprehensive science center, Hefei is home to a large number of universities like the University of Science and Technology of China and Hefei University of Technology. Its efficient, sustainable "talent pool" and science and technology enterprises provide crucial technological support for industrial transformation, upgrading, and connotative urban development.
Given Hefei's current development stage, simultaneous development of new districts and renovation of old urban areas remains an urgent task in urban construction, with neither aspect to be neglected. The "urban renewal + sci-tech innovation" development model bridges old city renovation and new district development, activating new momentum for urban growth.
This requires Hefei to leverage its scientific and technological innovation advantages, continuously exerting effort in advancing urban renewal projects, area planning, system building, and innovation characteristics to contribute further to the city's connotative development.
"Large-Area Comprehensive Renewal"
"Previously, the Three Lakes area had only over 10 enterprises like Chery. Now, around the lakes, 50 renowned enterprises have gathered," said Ding Minsheng, Deputy Director of the Wuhu Economic and Technological Development Zone Administrative Committee.
The "Three Lakes" (Silver Lake, Fengming Lake, Dragonfly Lake) area Ding referred to was originally Wuhu's traditional manufacturing park. After years of development, imbalances in the "production, living, and ecological" spaces gradually emerged: factory areas were old and scattered, with an average industrial land plot ratio of only 0.89; urban villages were intermingled with industrial land, and municipal infrastructure was outdated; lake surfaces were encroached upon, water quality deteriorated, and the area's functional quality and development vitality needed enhancement.
What was the solution?
Wuhu Economic and Technological Development Zone adhered to a systematic planning approach that integrated people, industry, and the city as a whole. Focusing on leading industries and relying on large-area comprehensive renewal, it achieved mutual empowerment between urban spatial renewal and real economy industrial upgrading.
"Centering on the development needs of leading enterprises like Chery, we actively revitalized idle and inefficient land within the area, creating Chery's global R&D headquarters and the Chery International Park, Dragonfly Lake Technology Park, and Automotive Electronics Industrial Park—'one headquarters, three parks'—to build a complete automotive industry innovation ecosystem," Ding Minsheng stated. The area also closely addresses the development needs of automotive R&D talent, introducing youthful service resources like high-end hotels and sports centers to ensure talent can be "attracted and retained."
Furthermore, the area adhered to the concept of "operations-first," effectively leveraging social capital to directly participate in ecological management and innovation platform construction while coordinating fiscal and other funds. This formed a sustainable urban construction and operation investment and financing system, achieving a virtuous cycle of input and output.
Today, the proportion of industrial land in the Three Lakes area has decreased from 20.5% to 12.8%, yet tax revenue per mu has increased by approximately 38%. It has attracted nearly 100,000 high-end R&D professionals, successfully establishing itself as the "core area of a world-renowned automobile city" and a "global innovation center for new energy and intelligent connected vehicles." Ecological improvements have driven land value appreciation, with annual average revenue from the sale of commercial land increasing by 28%, achieving coordinated development of production, living, and ecology.
Such stories are not uncommon in Wuhu: After renovation, the Zhujiaqiao Tailwater Purification Ecological Park can purify 120,000 tons of tailwater daily, supplementing surrounding water systems with 43 million cubic meters of live water resources annually for free, saving 3.5 million yuan. Meanwhile, the Wuhu Old Shipyard 1900 project, a landmark born from urban renewal, has transformed into a "city living room."
Production, living, and ecology are not mutually exclusive choices but a shared challenge requiring delicate balance. The greatest insight from Wuhu's "large-area comprehensive renewal" path is enabling the city to find its coordinates for sustainable development through functional integration.
"Operations-First" Approach
"Faced with typical challenges of mining-industrial cities like large-scale inefficient land use and numerous idle building assets, we explored and formed a new 'self-generating' model for urban renewal based on local conditions: 'driving multi-scenario consumption upgrades through event operations to foster the transformation and development of mining-industrial cities,'" said a relevant person in charge of the Xitang area project in Ma'anshan City.
Reportedly, with the ROGT (Red Orange Green Tennis) Tennis Tournament Center as its core engine, the area precisely revitalized idle car exhibition and sales halls, completing a transformation from an idle vacant lot to an integrated complex of "sports events + leisure consumption + supporting hotels." It successfully explored a distinctive transformation path for mining-industrial cities from "external输血 (blood transfusion)" to "self-造血 (blood generation)."
Since 2025, the area has hosted multiple domestic and international top-tier events in phases, including ITF International Tennis Tour M15 (men's) and W15 (women's) tournaments. Participation and spectatorship exceeded 170,000人次, generating direct operating revenue over 60 million yuan, stimulating consumption exceeding 200 million yuan, increasing occupancy rates at surrounding hotels by 40%, and boosting commercial complex revenue by 25%.
It's not just the Xitang area. In advancing urban renewal, Anhui has explored differentiated renewal paths tailored to the unique endowments of different cities, forming a nationally unique multi-dimensional innovation paradigm.
For instance, Wuhu not only actively explored the "industrial upgrading + urban renewal" model, using area renewal to gather high-end automotive industry talent and achieve mutual empowerment between industry and city, but also fully considered residents' practical needs by revitalizing the grey space under elevated bridges, turning small spaces into circles of public well-being.
Facing challenges in old urban areas like extremely scarce land resources and prominent parking supply-demand conflicts, Chizhou City pioneered reforms in the stratified land use rights for urban underground spaces. Without altering the educational function of surface schools, it fully utilized the underground space beneath school playgrounds to build public parking lots, opening a new, low-cost, high-efficiency solution to the "parking difficulty" in old urban areas.
Where does the funding for urban renewal come from?
At the provincial level, Anhui innovatively introduced the "City Vitality Loan" fiscal interest subsidy policy, constructing a diversified investment and financing system of "special bonds + policy bank loans + market-based financing + REITs." It innovated a closed-loop model of "special bonds + bank loans + market-based exit" to break the long-standing dilemma of urban renewal relying solely on government funding.
"We will continue to optimize and improve the long-term implementation model of 'government guidance, market operation, public participation, operations-first,' focusing on four key tasks: perfecting the legal framework, planning formulation, project quality enhancement, and establishing long-term mechanisms. We will accelerate the improvement of a full-chain legal guarantee system, develop a high-standard provincial '15th Five-Year' urban renewal master plan, use exemplary cases to drive quality and efficiency improvements in renewal across the region, and polish the distinctive brand of Anhui's urban renewal," stated a relevant person in charge of the Anhui Provincial Department of Housing and Urban-Rural Development.