The Rippling Donghu Lake: A haven for migratory birds in winter

 Banks of Yangtze River and Hanjiang River to connect wonderful lives

In September 2024, the pioneering "Han Le Deng" all-in-one self-service terminal made its grand debut.

Surmounting obstacles, undergoing transformation and upgrading, and scaling new heights in history, Wuhan powered ahead throughout 2024.

The new stage of urban development will invariably usher in novel requirements. To elevate Wuhan's prominence in the new era, the city set up Wuhan Municipal Bureau of Natural Resources and Urban-Rural Development (hereinafter referred to as "the Bureau") in 2024, fully tasked with national land and space planning, natural resources management, ecological restoration, urban-rural development plans & project management, construction industry supervision, and rural development.

Aiming for the big picture while attending to the minute details, a single strategic move can enliven the whole situation. In the past year or so, by virtue of launching top-level planning to foster business interoperability, adopting a technological paradigm of integrated innovation, and pooling strengths to supercharge frontline services, the Bureau has been forging ahead, with a significant shift from "physical integration" to "synergistic fusion" underway. Numerous undertakings have already put Hubei and Wuhan on the national spotlight, radiating their prowess far and wide.

Launching top-level planning to transform underutilized & idle resources into new growth drivers

In March 2024, Qingshan Service Center of Wuhan Municipal Bureau of Natural Resources and Urban-Rural Development was ceremoniously unveiled, introducing the "branch + service center" and "front office + backstage" service paradigm to ensure that technical services are available locally and can be followed up closely.

"District bureaus work at the frontline, the municipal bureau provides guidance as a guarantee, and public institutions offer strong support." A leader of the service center noted that following its establishment, the staff concerned have swiftly completed the land title change registration for 119 parcels of Wugang Group, successfully revitalizing a vast swath of dormant land assets.

Behind this lies a close correlation with the municipal-level transformations.

How to uphold the rights and interests of resource assets, manage natural resource assets and realize asset value preservation and appreciation? The Bureau has embarked on a series of undertakings in pursuit of breakthroughs.

As one of the sole two sub-provincial cities in the national "City-wide Natural Resource Assets Inventory Pilot", Wuhan has spearheaded the establishment of a "unified surveillance network, holistic management atlas, exhaustive asset ledger and standardized statistical dossier" for its state-owned natural resources, underpinning the construction of the city's "macro-fiscal" framework. Additionally, it has innovatively launched the national pilot initiative of formulating natural resources asset allocation and implementation plans. On December 26, 2024, the city consummated the inaugural natural resource asset package transaction, effectuating high-level preservation, high-quality empowerment, high-efficiency utilization and high-potency governance of natural resources.

In the development of underutilized land, Xiangyang Education Industrial Park of Hanyang District has achieved a dual boost in land use efficiency and industrial added value by using the whole area planning based on local conditions. At the 2024 national pilot work review symposium, Wuhan, as an exemplary city, shared with the whole nation its experience in developing underutilized land. Moreover, its pilot practices were incorporated into the compilation of typical cases for revitalizing stock land across the province.

Confronted with the dual constraints of "scenic area + urban villages" in the Donghu Scenic Area, a novel paradigm of self-renewal and asset allocation transformation has emerged. It has resolved the financial conundrum and paved the way for the sustainable development of the villages therein.

A leader of the Bureau noted that the Bureau, following the institutional restructuring, was expediting the evolution of planning, expanding its business from a unidimensional scope to a multi-faceted scope, transiting from a static mode to a dynamic mode, and converting theoretical blueprint designs into actionable implementation schemes.

Adopting a technological paradigm of integrated innovation to forging new paths towards high-quality development

To achieve our set goals and overcome challenges, we need to carry out institutional reforms and harness innovative models simultaneously.

In 2024, institutions including Wuhan Natural Resources Innovation and R&D Center and New Quality Productive Force Research Center were inaugurated successively, ceaselessly infusing new quality productive forces into the planning and construction of the three towns across the two banks of Wuhan.

Wuhan Natural Resources Innovation and R&D Center stands as a trailblazer among information technology innovation institutions in the national natural resource industry. It assembles top-notch talents specialized in IT R&D from Wuhan's natural resources and urban-rural development sectors. Through the integration of essential elements such as cutting-edge technologies, extensive data, and advanced platforms, it spearheads the R&D of crucial core technologies in related fields and facilitates robust exchange and cooperation. This serves as a formidable driving force behind the development of Wuhan's digital government and smart city initiatives.

In synergy with industry experts and strategic partners, the New Quality Productive Force Research Center under Wuhan Municipal Bureau of Natural Resources and Urban-rural Development has erected a novel platform for the implementation of industrial projects. It pioneers the attentive planning services in the whole process.

With strengths drawn from a slew of new models, a cascade of "first-of-its-kind across the nation" and "pioneering firsts in the province" have been successively taking shape in Wuhan.

In May 2024, the first carbon accounting data trade in China was sealed in Wuhan, pioneering paid use of spatio-temporal data for Hubei's geographical mapping. The Bureau also facilitated the construction of "Hanxin Mansion", the province's first AAA-rated prefabricated concrete building. Twelve of its practices were included in the List of Replicable Practices for Developing Smart Construction by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development. Based on the first AI large model in planning domain, planning of key projects like studies on Hubei's layout of major productive forces and the master plan for Chenhu Lake Wetland is speeding up.

In 2017, Wuhan was conferred the title of "A CITY OF DESIGN PORTAL" by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Over the subsequent seven years, the city's design sector has continuously spurred new and dynamic forces. "Since 2016, our array of collaborative projects with Wuhan have strikingly exemplified the advances in its urban and rural development," noted Odicea Angelo Barrios, a Programme Management Officer from UN-Habitat Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, at the 2024 Wuhan Design Day event in November.

Elevating service quality and providing worry-alleviating policies to benefit the people

On December 23, 2024, outside the Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, vehicles bustled and a constant stream of middle-aged and elderly citizens flocked in for medical consultations.

"To improve the medical experience for the elderly, our hospital has launched ward renovations in multiple buildings to enhance elderly-friendly services," said Hong Ye, an engineer from the hospital's logistics management department. With requisite licenses, the projects can start about half a year earlier than before.

The change stems from the newly revised Lists of Exemptions for Planning Permissions of Construction Projects in Wuhan City. In 2024, the Bureau hastened the integration of "planning-construction-governance" approvals. For the first time, it systematically combined the approval items of social investment housing, government-funded housing, and government-funded municipal infrastructure into an integrated "process diagram", achieving full coverage, overall process optimization and thorough streamlining. Compared to timing before the institutional reform, the approval timings have been cut by 41, 56 and 24 working days, respectively.

In terms of real estate registration, a nationwide innovation has launched on quantifying registration of construction land use rights by household units, facilitating enterprises to obtain 3.2 billion CNY in financing. Real estate transactions now enjoy "one-stop services". The "Han Le Deng" all-in-one self-service terminal, integrating "application, inquiry, certificate compilation, and printing", is the first of its kind across the country.

Registration service channels have also been made available on mobile terminals. Via live-streamed guidance and on-site services for enterprises, certificate application issues are being readily resolved. Meanwhile, ongoing endeavors have been made to untangle property registration conundrums stemming from historical legacy problems, bringing benefits to 83,600 households.

"In 2024, we set up a tracking service mechanism for key areas and a precise one for various projects. We prioritized ensuring rational land use for leading industries and major projects, providing broader development space for advantageous regions." said a leader from the Bureau. Following the principle of "delegating the authorities as much as possible", the municipal planning and land approval authorities in Wuhan's central urban areas have been delegated to districts, continuously boosting approval efficiency.