On 8 September 2020, the Workshop on the UNEP Guidelines for Sustainable Cities and Communities(SUC Guidelines) was held in Beijing. It aims to promote the SUC Initiative “Decade of Action for Sustainable Cities and Communities” and discuss how to better develop pilots by expounding on the SUC Guidelines to city planners, designers and architects. Keynote speakers of the workshop include UNCRD Technical Consultant and UNEP Reviewer of SUC Guidelines Robert Earley, Initiator of SUC Guidelines and Executive Director of SUC Programme Li Xiang, and Deputy Director of the Living Environment Research Center at Tsinghua University and SUC Senior Consultant Mao Qizhi.

Workshop on the UNEP Guidelines for Sustainable Cities and Communities held in Beijing on 8 September 2020

More than 50 professionals from renowned design institutes, top universities, scientific research institution and international enterprises attended the workshop, including China Architecture Design & Research Group, China Institute of Building Standard Design & Research, Architectural Design and Research Institute of Tsinghua University, THUPDI, Beijing Institute of Architectural Design, Huatong Planning Institute, Beijing Jiangong Architectural Design and Research Institute, Shenzhen Mobility Planning Institute, Hewei Group, China City Development Academy, Peking University, Tsinghua University, Renmin University, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, AECOM, Atkins and SPO.

UNCRD Technical Consultant and Reviewer of SUC Guidelines Robert Earley giving a presentation on SUC Guidelines

   The workshop was hosted by Dong Wenjun, Deputy General Manager of SUC Programme Management Center. He introduced the development process of SUC Programme and the preliminary results achieved. Robert Earley, Technical Consultant of the United Nations Regional Development Center and Reviewer of SUC Guidelines expounded on the performance evaluation criteria of the Guidelines as well as the indicators, management system, implementation pathways and technical guidelines based on international best practices.

Initiator of the UNEP SUC Guidelines and Executive Director of SUC Programme Li Xiang elaborating on SUC Guidelines

Li Xiang, Initiator of the UNEP SUC Guidelines and Executive Director of SUC Programme, introduced the current development, impact and related models for future promotion and application of the SUC Guidelines pilots.

Li Xiang said that after 4 years of preparation jointly by the United Nations Environment Programme and others sectors of society, SUC Guidelines was finally completed in 2019, which is of great significance. As the United Nations Environment Programme pointed out in the Preface of SUC Guidelines:This set of Guidelines is mainly applicable to developing countries and will first provide support for the promotion and implementation of sustainable development in China and directly help Chinese cities and government departments achieve the highest international standards for sustainable cities and communities. In 2020, the selection of pilot cities and communities in China for the completed SUC Guidelines will surely achieve greater development and outcomes with the support of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and other related ministries and commissions.

Deputy Director of the Living Environment Research Center at Tsinghua University and SUC Senior Consultant Mao Qizhi making a remark about SUC Guidelines and its pilot cities.

   Prof. Mao Qizhi reviewed the technical seminars and field exchanges related to the SUC Guidelines that he had participated in in the past two years, and highly recognized the SUC pilot City Quzhou that he personally provided guidance. He believes that there will be less compulsory standards and more recommended standards and group standards, which will be a great test for city leaders and community managers as to what kind of standards to use to guide the future construction of its city and community. SUC Guidelines is a set of international standards in the real sense by integrating with internationally advanced cases, concepts and innovative technologies that provides practical guidance for the development of Chinese cities and communities. He hopes to see more implementation of SUC Guidelines in the process of urban renewal and reconstruction of old towns and that in the planning and introduction process, SUC Guidelines will be further improved and updated to provide better guidance.

Planners, designers and architects expressing their suggestions and visions during the discussions.

   There were heated discussions on the application value, promotion, implementation and pilots of SUC Guidelines, with a number of visions and suggestions put forward. It is recognized that SUC Guidelines is highly operational and innovative with distinctive international features and the SUC Guidelines Promotion and Application Alliance should be established consisting of planning and design institutes as well as scientific research institutions; the first application of SUC Guidelines in China is of great impact with strong interests from local governments and the geographical distribution of pilot cities and communities should try to be even; more importantly, among the all sorts of standards on construction of sustainable cities and communities in China and with the lack of implementation pathways of those standards, SUC Guidelines differentiated itself by providing indicators, solutions, implementation process, monitoring, evaluation and certification.

   In 2020, the United Nations launched the “Decade of Action for Sustainable Development Goals”, encouraging countries to carry out actions at the global, local and civil levels to ensure the achievement of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. Chinese governments have responded to the initiative enthusiastically.

   As a pioneering force focusing on the implementation of sustainable development standards at the local and civil levels, SUC Programme Management Center will form close alliance with major renowned planning and design institutes, industrial institutions, scientific research and financial institutions to jointly launch the SUC “Decade of Action for Sustainable Cities and Communities”. With the support of relevant ministries and commissions, it is believed that this Action will effectively promote the extensive application of SUC Guidelines in Chinese cities and communities and help cities and communities to achieve high-quality and sustainable development.