From February 7 to 13, 2018, the "9th World Urban Forum" (WUF9) hosted by the UN-Habitat was grandly held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. As the official exchange conference of WUF9, the "SUC Sustainable New City and New District Initiative & SUC Sustainable Cities and Communities Forum" were grandly held at the "New Urban Agenda Hall" of the Forum on the afternoon of February 11. At the Conference, the first list of "SUC International Demonstration Cities and Communities for Sustainable Development" was officially released. As a developing city, Yan'an, Shaanxi Province, was selected for the first batch of "SUC International Demonstration Cities for Sustainable Development".
In recent years, Yan'an City has made a lot of exploration and innovation around the transformation of resource-based economy, ecological and environmental restoration, and urbanization construction. The leaders of Yan'an City are far-sighted and have made the decision to use SUC Guidelines as the guide in Nanniwan and Yan'an New Area to create SUC international models for sustainable development, comprehensively promote green transformation and sustainability construction, and create an epitome of ecological civilization.
Nanniwan
Nanniwan Development Zone is located in the upper reaches of Fenchuan River, 45 km southeast of Yan'an urban area. It governs three towns, Nanniwan Town, Madongchuan Township and Linzhen Town, and belongs to the hilly and ravine area of the Loess Plateau. The planned control area is 1,347 km2 and the total population is 41,700. The forest coverage rate is 87%; the average altitude is 1230 m; the frost-free period is about 130 days throughout the year; the annual rainfall is 500-600 mm; the average temperature is 2-3°C lower than that of Yan'an urban area.
Nanniwan Development Zone follows the development strategy of “unified planning, foundation first, people’s living needs as center, ecology as focus, industry revitalizing the towns”, with the overall positioning of “red Nanniwan, like a good place south of the Yangtze River in Northern Shaanxi”, supported by military reclamation and agricultural reclamation cultures and natural resources, led by red education, cultural tourism, modern agriculture and characteristic towns, and builds Nanniwan Town as the core which drives the development and construction as well as economic and social development of surrounding areas, forming the core area, driving area and radiation area of Nanniwan Development Zone so that Nanniwan Development Zone is turned into an industrial cluster integrating the development of primary, secondary and tertiary industries combining cultural tourism, education and training, modern agriculture, health and aged care and modern technology.
Yan'an New Area
Yan'an New Area is located in the north of Qingliang Mountain, surrounded by mountains, facing the Yan River and overlooking the pagoda. It controls an area of 38 km2, with the planned construction land of 25 km2, and has a population of 200,000. The planning adheres to global vision, international standards, local features, and future-oriented goals. It mainly focuses on functions such as public services, finance and commerce, education and scientific research, and high-tech industries.
Since the start of construction in April 2012, 24,000 mu of land has been completed. The planning system has been formed; 6 new and old city connection lines, 28 municipal roads and supporting comprehensive pipe corridors have been completed; 5 schools have started operating; the Yan'an Grand Theater, Learning Academy, and People's Service Center have been completed and put into use; 13,000 units of government-subsidized housing, resettlement housing and commercial housing as well as supporting kindergartens and commercial streets will be gradually delivered for use in the second half of 2017; public service facilities and infrastructure supporting facilities such as comprehensive grade-A tertiary hospitals, Luyi Ecological Park, Cultural Park, People's Park and Mountain Park are being stepped up; projects such as the new campus of Yan'an University, Yan'an Big Data Industry Base, and mass entrepreneurship and innovation communities have been started one after another; water, electricity, gas, communications, etc. are all in place; the urban image of the New Area has begun to emerge.
The Yan'an government insists on using the Yan'an Spirit to build the New Area, strives to build a modern new city and ecological home that is suitable for living, working and traveling in five to ten years, and endeavours to make the people of Yan'an live a happier and better life!
