To implement the work arrangements of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on actively and steadily advancing the redevelopment of urban villages in mega and super-large cities, the Ministry of Natural Resources recently issued the "Notice on Launching the Pilot Program for Redevelopment of Inefficiently Used Land" (hereinafter referred to as the "Notice"), deciding to carry out a four-year pilot program for the redevelopment of inefficiently used land in 43 cities across 15 provinces (municipalities), including Beijing.

List of Pilot Cities for Redevelopment of Inefficiently Used Land

I. Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Urban Agglomeration

1. Fangshan District and Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area of Beijing Municipality.

2. Tianjin Municipality.

3. Tangshan City and Langfang City of Hebei Province.

II. Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomeration

1. Shanghai Municipality.

2. Nanjing City, Wuxi City, Changzhou City, and Suzhou City of Jiangsu Province.

3. Hangzhou City, Ningbo City, Wenzhou City, Shaoxing City, Jinhua City, and Huzhou City of Zhejiang Province.

4. Hefei City, Ma'anshan City, and Wuhu City of Anhui Province.

III. Pearl River Delta Urban Agglomeration

Guangzhou City, Shenzhen City, Foshan City, Dongguan City, Zhongshan City, Zhuhai City, Jiangmen City, Zhaoqing City, and Huizhou City of Guangdong Province.

IV. Chengdu-Chongqing Urban Agglomeration

1. Wanzhou District and Jiulongpo District of Chongqing Municipality.

2. Chengdu City and Luzhou City of Sichuan Province. 

V. Middle Reaches of the Yangtze River Urban Agglomeration

1. Wuhan City and Yichang City of Hubei Province.

2. Changsha City and Xiangtan City of Hunan Province.

3. Pingxiang City and Jiujiang City of Jiangxi Province.

VI. Shandong Peninsula Urban Agglomeration

Qingdao City of Shandong Province.

VII. Coastal Urban Agglomeration of Guangdong, Fujian, and Zhejiang

Fuzhou City, Xiamen City, Quanzhou City, and Zhangzhou City of Fujian Province (among them, Quanzhou City shall proceed in accordance with the already-approved pilot plan).‍

The "Notice" emphasizes adhering to the strictest farmland protection system, the strictest system for economical and intensive land use, and the strictest ecological and environmental protection system; taking territorial spatial planning as the guide, focusing on the redevelopment of urban villages and inefficient industrial land, and supported by policy innovation, to promote the redevelopment of various types of inefficiently used land, drive the transformation of urban and rural development from dependence on incremental expansion to tapping the potential of existing stock, and promote the formation of a spatial pattern, industrial structure, mode of production, and way of life that conserve resources and protect the environment.

The "Notice" specifies that pilot cities, under the premise of adhering to "partial piloting, comprehensive exploration, closed operation, and controllable results," shall explore and innovate policy mechanisms for revitalizing and utilizing existing land. They shall uphold the decisive role of the market in resource allocation, strengthen the government's role in spatial coordination, structural optimization, capital balancing, and organizational promotion, adhere to fair and open "net land" supply, and fully mobilize the enthusiasm of market participation. They shall persist in directing revitalized urban and rural spatial resources more toward the needs of people's livelihood and the development of the real economy, shore up weaknesses in infrastructure and public service facilities, improve urban and rural living environments, and ensure the implementation of industrial projects and their transformation and upgrading. They shall improve equal consultation mechanisms, refine benefit-sharing mechanisms, fully respect the wishes of rights holders, properly handle public demands, and promote the fruits of redevelopment to benefit the people more and more fairly.

Focusing on revitalizing and utilizing existing land and on the redevelopment of inefficiently used land, the "Notice" supports pilot cities in exploring and innovating in four key areas: in terms of planning coordination, strengthening the guiding role of planning, highlighting the orientation toward high-quality development, and guiding orderly implementation; in terms of land reserve support, improving the land reserve mechanism, expanding channels for reserve funds, and improving expropriation compensation methods; in terms of policy incentives, exploring combined supply of resources and assets, improving land supply methods, optimizing land price policy tools, refining benefit-sharing mechanisms, and improving mechanisms for converting and utilizing existing resources; in terms of foundational support, strictly conducting investigation, verification, and mapping into the database, properly carrying out real estate ownership confirmation and registration, and properly handling issues such as land left over from history.

In accordance with the requirements of the "Notice," pilot cities shall achieve three objectives through exploration and innovation: first, balancing multiple needs including economic, living, ecological, and safety considerations to promote a more rational territorial spatial layout, more optimized structure, more complete functions, and more fully equipped facilities; second, increasing the effective supply of construction land, substantially raising the proportion of existing land used and the floor area ratio of newly launched industrial projects, promoting the application of land-saving technologies and land-saving models, and significantly reducing the area of construction land used per unit of GDP; third, establishing a replicable and promotable policy system and institutional mechanism for the redevelopment of inefficiently used land, providing land system safeguards for promoting connotative, intensive, and green high-quality development of urban and rural areas.