Showcasing best practices – How China’s mega-cities respond to the challenge By Jianguo Shen   In 2003 the GDP of China was over 1.4 trillion US dollars, with per capita GDP reaching 1,090 US dollars. This is an increase of 9.1% over 2002 and the highest growth since 1997. The high and steady economic growth of China’s national economy has continuously fueled the development of cities. Today, about 660 cities accommodate more than 500 million people, which is about 40 per cent of China’s 1.29 billion population. Given the magnitude of the urban population and important role Chinese cities are playing in domestic and international arenas, UN-HABITAT has intensified its cooperation with Chinese cities in a range of areas since the Habitat II conference in Istanbul in 1996. Sharing best practices between UN-HABITAT and Chinese cities is a two-way street. While Chinese cities have accesses to technical information about human settlements development through UN-HABITAT publications and meetings, UN-HABITAT has disseminated best practices and good policies made by Chinese cities through its Habitat Scroll of Honour and Best Practice programmes. It has presented Habitat Scroll of Honour and Best Practice Award to 10 cities for their great progress in human settlements improvement and development as shown in the tables below. Habitat Scroll of Honour to Chinese Cities Year City Achievements 1990 Tangshan Post-earthquake redevelopment 1992 Shenzhen Innovative provision of housing for low-income families 1995 Shanghai Redevelopment of slum areas 1998 Chengdu Comprehensive revitalization of Fu and Nan rivers 2001 Hangzhou Great improvement in housing and infrastructure 2002 Baotou Improvements in shelter and urban environment 2003 Weihai Improvements in shelter and urban environment Dubai International Award to Chinese Cities 1998 Zhuhai Comprehensive improvement of the urban environment 2000 Chengdu Comprehensive revitalization of urban settlements 2002 Guangzhou Action plan for sustainable development               UN-HABITAT has implemented a number of projects and programmes in cooperation with major cities in China. It has also extended its Water for Asian Cities Programme to China. This includes: the Urban Management Programme in Leshan, the sustainable Cities Programme in Shenyang and Wuhan, a semi-aerobic landfill system in Weifang, an urban Indicators Project in Guiyang and Shenyang, and a water for Asian Cities Programme in Nanjing. These programmes and projects have been organized to provide technical assistance to local authorities for improving their capacity and promoting efficient and effective city management. They have also offered alternative and cost-effective ways to deal with water and infrastructure management for the sustainable development of cities. Apart from holding the World Habitat Day Observation in Dalin in 1999, UN-HABITAT has recently cooperated with the Ministry of Construction of China and local authorities in organizing four international conferences in different cities of China. The international City Construction and the Environment for the 21st Century conference was held in Chengdu in October 2000. The Regional High-Level Meeting in Preparation for Istanbul +5 for Asia and the Pacific was convened in Hangzhou in October 2000. The International conference on financing Social Housing was held in Baotou in August 2002. The International Conference on Sustainable Urbanization Strategies was organized in Weihai in November 2003. These conferences, with financial contributions from the local municipal governments and the participation of a large number of Chinese cities, have strengthened the collaboration between UN-HABITAT and Chinese cities, and promoted city-to-city cooperation among the Chinese cities and with foreign partners. UN-HABITAT has purposely chosen these venues to show-case good examples available in Chinese cities in the fields of urban planning, housing development, environmental protection and infrastructure improvement. The UN-HABITAT Liaison and Information Office in Beijing, set up in 1992, has continued to work with the Ministry of Construction of China to facilitate the information exchange and dissemination between UN-HABITAT and cities in China. This office translates main UN-HABITAT publications into Chinese and publishes them in a quarterly magazine “Human Settlements”. It disseminates UN-HABITAT news and programmes through its Chinese website. It also transmits news and information regularly to UN-HABITAT to be disseminated to other cities around the world. For example, the office distributed copies of “An Urbanizing World – Global Report on Human Settlements 1996” in Chinese at World Habitat Day observation in Dalin in 1999. Jianguo Shen is Inter-Regional Adviser, Technical Advisory Branch, UN-HABITAT.