The construction of a rail and road network in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region is in full swing, bringing the three neighboring areas closer.

Experts and scholars from renowned universities and research institutions called for building a world-class cluster of cities in the Beijing-TianjinHebei region during the 2017 China City 100 Forum.

Co-hosted by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE), it was held in Beijing on June 6 and themed “Coordinated Development in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region: Conception and Construction of a New-type Urban Cluster.”

Regional coordination and common development are a challenge for China and the world, said Zhou Ji, president of the CAE, adding that urban agglomeration has become a growing trend in the process of urbanization. Though it faces severe challenge of regional coordination and sustainable urbanization, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region has great potential to become a worldclass city cluster, he said. Zhou said an internationally competitive city cluster will help combat spatial imbalances in the area as well as a series of social problems in Beijing and Tianjin caused by a huge influx of people. It will facilitate China’s economic restructuring while laying the foundation for the whole country and the world to explore innovative patterns of regional development and new models of urbanization, he added.

Zhang Tao, vice-president of CAS, said city clusters emerge as cities reach a certain stage of development, undergoing rapid growth in the context of globalization and the new model of urbanization. The construction level of city clusters reflects the comprehensive strength of a country, he added.

In China, Zhang said, city clusters are positioned as strategic core areas for achieving exponential economic development and act as bellwethers for promoting the new model of urbanization. He said, a city cluster in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region should be based on a mutually beneficial and harmonious relationship between people and land while balancing economic, social, ecological, cultural and historical elements.

Moreover, Cai Fang, vice-president of CASS, pointed out the importance of raising labor productivity in advancing urbanization and building city clusters as well as developing the Xiongan New Area in Hebei Province to help transfer some functions of Beijing that are unrelated to its role as the seat of government power. The Central Economic Working Conference last year suggested enhancing labor productivity, total factor productivity and potential economic growth rate.

Raising the potential growth rate is the key for the Chinese economy to maintain moderate or high-speed growth in the future, Cai said. It should be noted that a higher potential growth rate depends on higher labor productivity while higher labor productivity relies on the increase of total factor productivity, he added.

Li Guoping, head of Peking University’s Beijing Development Institute, said in addition to strengthening the association between industries, it is important to shift to multicentric and networked cities from monocentric cities where people work in central business districts while living in the periphery.

Zheng Gongcheng, president of the China Association of Social Security, said integrated development will ensure long-term development in the region and provide experience for combating urban problems and establishing other city clusters. Furthermore, he pointed out that the elimination of barriers of social security and services is critical in the process of integrated development.