11 Nov 2025
On 28 October 2025, Urban and Environmental Studies University Research Centre (UES) at Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University hosted a seminar themed Building Livable and Sustainable Industrial Parks with UN-Habitat. The event brought together representatives from government departments, university scholars, planning and design institutions, enterprises, and international organization experts. C
entering on the core topic of industry-city integration, it shared practical experiences from Suzhou Industrial Park and cutting-edge global approaches, establishing a high-level international exchange platform for the sustainable development of industrial parks in areas such as planning and construction, policy innovation, ecological protection, and community integration.
Professor Marc Aurel Schnabel, Dean of XJTLU Design School, extended a warm welcome to all guests. He pointed out that China is in a critical period of industrial transformation and upgrading, and the coordinated advancement of industrial development and urban livability has become an important issue. He expressed expectations that this seminar would pool wisdom from various parties to produce cooperative outcomes with both practical value and international influence.
Dr Bing Chen, Head of the Department of Urban Planning and Design at XJTLU, introduced that as a model of Sino-Singapore cooperation, Suzhou Industrial Park has accumulated rich experience in industrial complex construction. This seminar aims to gather wisdom from domestic and foreign experts, explore the future development direction of industrial complexes, and provide practical suggestions for park regeneration and sustainable development.
Dr Yunqing Xu, Director of the XJTLU Urban and Environmental Studies University Research Center (UES), hosted the keynote sharing session. She elaborated on the era background and practical significance of industry-city integration from multiple dimensions, including the growing international emphasis on ecological protection, the public’s escalating demand for a better life, the spatial characteristics of emerging industries, and reflected on the international applicability of Suzhou’s development experience.
Multi-dimensional perspectives on building livable industrial areas
In the first session of the seminar, six experts and scholars delivered keynote speeches on topics including industry-city integration, livable environment planning, landscape design, and global methodologies, presenting practical paths and theoretical insights that combine local characteristics with international perspectives.
Weiqi Shen, Director of System Innovation Bureau and Deep Reform Office, Suzhou Industrial Park Administrative Committee, delivered a keynote speech titled Development and Management Experience of Industry-City Integration in Suzhou Industrial Park, outlining the park's success as a model for China's development zones. He emphasized that industry-city integration, integrating urban functions with industrial development beyond traditional industrial zones, has enabled leapfrog growth via China-Singapore cooperation. Through 50-year forward-looking planning, balanced land use, and 15-minute living circles, the park has built a high-quality public service system, solving the talent bottleneck in industrial upgrading. It has also established a "2+4+1" modern industrial system, focusing on intensive resource use and open cooperation to drive industrial upgrading and new quality productive forces.
Ziqiang Wang, Chief Planner of Jiangsu Provincial Planning and Design Group Suzhou Innovation Research Institute, delivered a speech titled Planning and Practice of Livable Environment Construction in Suzhou Industrial Park. Citing examples like the development comparison of Jinji Lake's west bank, he demonstrated the SIP’s adherence to consistent planning and its advancement toward refined governance. He noted that the park has maintained a stable ecological framework and industry-city integration pattern, revitalizing existing spaces through projects such as the Northwest Gateway renovation and high-voltage corridor renewal. Drawing on Singapore’s Work-Live-Play model for mixed-function layout, it has improved living quality via digital and flexible governance, evolving from an industry-city integration benchmark to a world-class high-tech park and urban new center.
Anyi Zhou, Director of the Innovation Research Center, Suzhou Landscape Architecture Design Institute, shared insights on Domestic and International Design Experience of Garden-style Livable Environments. She noted that as a world cultural heritage, Suzhou gardens are not only artistic physical spaces but also carriers of traditional Chinese landscape philosophy. Through overseas projects like Ming Pavilion in New York and Lan Su Chinese Garden in Portland, as well as local ecological restoration initiatives such as the four-corner landscape wetlands, the design concepts and techniques of Suzhou gardens have achieved international dissemination and sustainable practice, endowing modern industrial parks with ecological and cultural connotations.
Dr Remy Sietchiping, Chief of Policy, Legislation and Governance Session at UN-Habitat, and Dr. Fan Li, UN-Habitat Project Expert and Vice President of the International Society of City and Regional Planners, delivered a joint speech on UN-Habitat's Global Approaches and Tools for Livable Industrial Parks. Dr Remy Sietchiping emphasized that industrial park planning must go beyond single economic functions, adhere to the core principles of integration, inclusiveness and mixed functions, and align with the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the New Urban Agenda framework. Through multi-scale planning and multi-stakeholder participation, it should realize the transformation from Isolated Parks to Integrated Communities. Dr. Fan Li, citing Suzhou Industrial Park and Germany’s Ruhr Region as examples, highlighted the importance of compact spatial layout, mixed land use, and multi-sector collaboration between government, enterprises and academia, underscoring education and innovation as key drivers for the sustainable development of industrial parks.
Dr Yunqing Xu, Senior Associate Professor at XJTLU, proposed in her presentation Experience Iteration and Knowledge Transfer in Suzhou Industrial Park that universities serve as hubs for bridging knowledge and practice. A key feature of Suzhou Industrial Park lies in the systematic China-Singapore knowledge transfer. It covers not only explicit knowledge such as policies, data and standards, but more importantly, tacit knowledge rooted in practice, experience and judgment—attained through systematic knowledge transfer and flexible local innovation.
Panel discussion: addressing challenges, seizing opportunities, and charting a blueprint for cooperation
The thematic discussion session was hosted by Dr Wang Xuefeng, Associate Professor at XJTLU. He noted in his remarks that there is no one-size-fits-all solution for building livable and sustainable industrial parks, and we need to balance the foundation of local practices with an international perspective. The purpose of gathering forces from all sectors to focus on core issues today is to spark practical solutions that not only address current challenges but also contribute to long-term development. Concluding the discussion, he summarized that from practical challenges to future pathways, everyone’s insights have clarified the implementation logic of 'industry-city integration'. Moving forward, it is even more crucial to translate these consensuses into actionable frameworks, enabling industrial parks to truly become a community where industrial development and people’s well-being coexist and thrive.
The guests participating in this thematic discussion come from diverse backgrounds and a wide range of fields. They include representatives from local policy-making and planning implementation institutions, experts from academic arena and international organizations, as well as practitioners from Chinese and foreign planning, design, construction and operation enterprises. Most of the guests have long been engaged in areas such as park planning and construction, industrial development, and international cooperation. Some have even been involved in the entire process of Suzhou Industrial Park from its establishment to its upgrading, thus possessing a profound understanding of the development pain points and transformation needs of the park.
The participating experts unanimously agreed that the core of industry-city integration lies in people-centered development, which requires balancing multiple key elements such as spatial scale adaptation, balanced land use, industrial planning guidance, improved infrastructure, institutional innovation guarantees, talent attraction and cultivation-driven development, and community atmosphere building. Regarding the current development status of China's overseas industrial parks, the experts pointed out that some overseas parks are currently facing challenges including inadequate integration with the local social economy, long investment return cycles, high risks, and difficulties in model replication. There is an urgent need to shift from a focus on "hardware construction" to a long-term operational mindset centered on "software empowerment".
Dr Yunqing Xu stated in her summary that through keynote speeches and thematic discussions, the seminar has reached a number of consensuses with practical value. In the future, XJTLU will continue to leverage its advantages as an international platform, collaborate with high-level international organizations such as UN-Habitat and partners from all sectors to build a knowledge hub. It will empower the construction of international livable industrial parks, the implementation of technical assistance projects, and the conduct of interdisciplinary research, translating the meeting's consensuses into concrete actions.
This seminar not only demonstrated Suzhou Industrial Park's leading practices in industry-city integration but also built a bridge for two-way exchange between Chinese experience and global wisdom. Going forward, all parties will take this meeting as a new starting point, deepen pragmatic cooperation, jointly explore new paths and methods for building livable and sustainable industrial parks, and contribute more wisdom and strength to the coordinated development of global cities and industries.
Story and part of the images provided by UES
Photos by Yi Qian
11 Nov 2025