Smart cluster aims for global stage

Wu Yiqing, vice-president of Hebei University of Economics and Business and a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, said the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region will provide a model and help other areas to pursue coordinated development. Hungchih Liu, senior vice-president of infrastructure consultancy company AECOM Asia-Pacific, said the smart city construction in the Xiongan New Area will become a new driving force and opportunity for development in the region.

"Through urban upgrading driven by coordinated development, the noncapital functions of Beijing can be relieved, driving industrial transformation and urban-rural integrated development of the whole Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region," Liu said.

AECOM has been extensively involved in multiple construction projects across the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, and it has won a prize in an international urban design competition for the Mobilization Area of Xiongan New Area. "We've seen huge growth opportunities in the region, and we will continue to bring cutting-edge concepts of ecocity, humanistic and smart city into the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region," he said.

In recent years, China has been actively speeding up coordinated development of key regions, looking to boost connectivity and fuel its prodigious economic growth. Many regional development strategies have also been unveiled over the years, including the Yangtze River Delta region and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay area.

Experts and entrepreneurs argue that while the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region has made steady progress, it still lags behind the Yangtze River Delta and the greater bay area in terms of innovation-driven development.

They expect the capital area to catch up in future, with more efforts needed to improve diversified development and the cooperation mechanism. Other areas that can be further refined include offering more favorable public services for locals and promoting and the urbanization of the migrant population.

Wu Xiaohua, vice-president of the Academy of Macroeconomic Research at the National Development and Reform Commission, said the integrated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region is part of China's ongoing efforts to create a more vibrant regional economy and to pursue a more balanced development in the nation.

Liu noted that while development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region will serve as a model for China's new socialism urbanization, it still faces challenges.

"As the top city in the region, Beijing is developing rapidly, but the whole city cluster is relatively lagging. This means the siphon effect is greater than the radiation effect in the region," Liu said. "The cooperation and division of labor among cities in the region are insufficient, and the problem of homogeneous competition is prominent."

Liu added that the connotation and cultural competitiveness of the city cluster are weak links that may hinder future development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region to move toward international city clusters, and the construction of cultural soft power must be in sync with the construction of hardware.

"The opportunity and challenge of the integrated Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei development should not only compare or rank the development competitiveness of each city in the region, but should also dig out the common quality of the city cluster in the future," he said. "The coordinated or integrated development of city clusters is a top-down strategic proposition. It is not to build a booth for more star cities, but to bring in more developing cities and create a bright future with mutual added value."

Zhang Yu contributed to this story.