How can the new urbanization drive achieve the "three compliances"?
New urbanization is the only way to modernization, the greatest source of domestic demand potential, and an important livelihood project, and it has positive practical significance for China's economic development and social stability. The Central Urbanization Work Conference held in 2013 made important decisions and arrangements for the new urbanization drive. General Secretary Xi Jinping also stressed that new urbanization should be guided by the development philosophy of "innovation, coordination, green, openness and sharing," highlighting the Central Committee's great attention to new urbanization.
To advance the new urbanization drive, we should focus on the word "new" and have new concepts and new ideas to guide innovation in planning, systems and mechanisms. Such innovation cannot be arbitrary, nor can it be copied mechanically; it requires truly "complying with objective laws, complying with the times, and complying with public opinion."
Complying with objective laws can yield twice the result with half the effort; violating them will bring more loss than gain, or even total failure. Looking back, there were two tendencies in our urbanization efforts. One was artificially suppressing the urbanization process and strictly restricting the concentration of human resources, the most important and most active factor of production, in cities and towns, which caused China's urbanization rate to remain below its level of economic development for a long time and below that of foreign countries at the same level of development for a long time. The other tendency was an artificial "Great Leap Forward" in urbanization, excessively pursuing growth in certain urbanization indicators while neglecting improvement in the quality of urbanization. In choosing the path for the new urbanization drive, the key lies in adapting measures to local conditions. Only by fully grasping the rhythm and intensity of the urbanization process and the advancement of new rural construction, letting the market play a decisive role in resource allocation, better harnessing the role of the government, and promoting both the urbanization process and the construction of new rural areas and towns with equal attention, can we follow a path of new urbanization that suits China's national conditions.
To comply with the times, adapting measures to the times is crucial. The path of new urbanization cannot simply apply horizontally the model of a certain country or a certain region, because China's economic and social development is highly unbalanced. Although our cities are in the industrial age, agrarian civilization still exists, and the information civilization characterized by artificial intelligence in the future is arriving rapidly. In advancing the new urbanization drive, how to protect the traditions of the past, arrange the present well, and design the future well is of vital importance. Protecting tradition helps us understand and remember history. Today's agriculture is no longer a production model of "facing the loess with back to the sky" and relying on heaven for food, but agriculture's fundamental position will exist for a long time, and building a new type of "three rural issues" remains an important part of new urbanization. Arranging the present well means that the new urbanization drive needs great wisdom and bold moves to advance the upgrading and progress of industrial civilization. Building a more high-end, rich, refined, intelligent and green industrial system is likewise a core part of the new urbanization drive. Designing the future well means that the new urbanization drive needs a longer-term vision, keener sense of smell and more forward-looking concepts to respond to new situations in economic and social development and outline a new blueprint for future development. We should study and think harder and firmly grasp the new economic and social ecosystem in the Internet environment.
Complying with public opinion ultimately means seeking well-being for the people. The new urbanization drive is not for political achievements and glory, but for mission and responsibility. The people's expectations and demands for new urbanization are mainly concentrated on basic livelihood issues such as elderly care, medical care, education, housing and employment. Corresponding policies need to be formulated for different groups and different needs and effectively implemented. Education is "rigid demand" in economic and social development, and the new urbanization drive should give priority to education and satisfy the people's desire for high-quality education. Taking the new urbanization drive as an opportunity, we should promote employment and entrepreneurship for young and middle-aged people and provide the basic conditions for living and working in contentment. The elderly population pays more attention to elderly care and medical care, and we need to explore a new path integrating medical care and elderly care so as to truly ensure that the elderly are provided for and have access to medical care.