The strategies for urban development concern the comprehensive and long-term planning in the light of how the city positions itself and what goal it is to attain. They serve as guidelines and roadmaps for the development of city.

The 9th Hangzhou Municipal Congress of the CPC had decided on 5 Major Strategies: Urbanization, Industrialization, Westward Movement of Tourism, Opening Policy and Eco-City Construction. Those strategies have proven to be instructive and operational and task-oriented, effectively stimulating the economic and social development of Hangzhou. However, they were made when the per capita GDP in Hangzhou was less than US $3,000. In 7 years of development, the figure will have grown to US$ 10, 000, soon to approach US$ 20,000 and Hangzhou will enter the threshold of “developed cities”. At the same time, our new tasks of implementing the “scientific outlook of development” and constructing a “city of quality life” require that our strategies be broadened, deepened, enriched and strengthened. Therefore the 4th Plenum of the 10th Municipal Committee put forward the Six Strategies of “Internationalization of the City”, “Bringing Prosperity to the City Through Industrialization”, “Giving Priority to Service Industry”, “Soft Power Enhancement”, “Eco-City Construction”, and “Improving People’s Livelihood through Democracy” These six strategies form a continuation, enhancement and improvement of their predecessors. 

The strategy of Urban Internationalization combines urbanization with internationalization, integrating and enhancing the previous strategies of “urbanization”, “westward movement of tourism” and “open policy”. For the moment, and for some time to come, Urbanization will remain the “bull’s nose” to be led in Hangzhou’s development, and Internationalization is Urbanization at its higher stage, the natural result of economic globalization and a strong drive to the growth of a modern city. To put the strategy of “Urban Internationalization” into effect, urbanization must be practiced in order to hasten industrialization, informationalization, market economy and internationalization. The key to success here is to accomplish the task of building “urban agglomeration”, “metropolitan economic circle”, “city”, “new town” and “urban complex”. Internationalization is to be given more prominent position to help promote urbanization, industrialization, informationalization, and marketization. An international vision is to be inspired and incorporated in the consideration of urban development of Hangzhou. International tourism is regarded as the starting point of the city’s internationalization in the areas of government, social service, economy and trade, municipal facilities, educational and cultural undertakings, living and inhabitation, and the citizens’ minds.

For the moment and some time to come, industry will remain a major support to Hangzhou’s economy, an important source of revenue, an employing sector of big capacity, and a chief driving force to promote urbanization and producer services. Therefore “Industrialization” is a strategy that still needs to be emphasized, and this is more so, considering Hangzhou’s imbalanced development in different districts. This strategy means efforts to both carry out an industrial development and quality improvement. Industrial development is to be secured by the determination to produce the largest total amount of revenue in Zhejiang and a larger increase in revenue than any other city in Zhejiang. It is also to be achieved by joint efforts of all parties concerned. Paces will be quickened in the construction of development zones and industrial function zones with national and provincial funding, and more efforts will be made to ease the relocation of large enterprises; efforts will be made to make and implement a Five-Year Plan to Foster Large-size Enterprises with Global Competitiveness and a Five-Year Plan to Foster Medium-and-Small Sized Growing Enterprises, with favorable taxing and financing policies to reduce their burdens, helping the businesses to survive the present “economic winter” and the city’s industry to enter another phase of fast growth. At the same time, quality improvement will be achieved by paying special attention to the adjustment of industry structure, updating industry and finding new ways of economic growth. The traditional industries will be further developed, new heavy chemical industries will be given proper degree of development and new high technology industry will be favored. This “trinity” way of industry development will be followed to create an advanced manufacturing center of the Yangtze Delta.

Service industry, particularly modern service industry, is the “new blue sea” and the new area of growth in the development of Hangzhou. It is of central importance in the task of improving the city’s function and raising its competitiveness. It is also a necessary way to practice the “scientific outlook of development”, to change the way of development and to assure Hangzhou’s leading position in China to enter the rank of developed cities and enter the post-industrial era. The strategy of “Priority in Service Industry” requires the modern service industry to be given strategic significance. The traditional idea of giving first priority to manufacturing industry must be changed. Eight types of modern service industry will be quickly developed, including that of culture and creativity, tourism in its broader sense, finance, trading and logistics, information service and software industry, intermediary service, real estate and community service. Strategic importance will be attached to cultural and creative industry. In short, service economy will be made the “priority economy” of Hangzhou.  

The soft power of culture, marked by cultural appeal and influence and the strength in culturally creative industry, is the core element in the soft power of a nation, and is an important element in the comprehensive competitiveness of a city. Supported by an 8000-year old civilization and a 5,000 years history as a city, Hangzhou enjoys a rich cultural heritage that can turn into a great advantage in its overall development. At the same time, the new era requires the task of enhancing cultural soft power to include not only cultural heritage, but also the advanced culture, building the culture of harmony and developing the industry of culture and creativity. Such actions are of vital significance to realization of a “City of Quality Life” that compares favorably with the world-celebrated cities. To increase this soft power of culture and make Hangzhou a “famous cultural city”, it is necessary to tap into the core value system of socialism, the socialist cultural orientations and cultural and creative industries. Public cultural service system must be perfected, development of culturally creative industry be sped up. New contents, forms and operation types of culture must also be found, and excellent young artists will be discovered in or attracted to Hangzhou, so that there is no lacking of human and material sources in the cultural development of the city. With advanced culture, the city will have better cohesiveness, the social creativity will be brought to exercise, and our people will be able to live a more satisfied spiritual life. By doing so, the city will enjoy higher level of civilization with more culturally refined citizens, and a stronger culturally creative industry will enhance the city’s core economic competitiveness. 

The attractive environment is the greatest strength and the most important resource of Hangzhou. Since the beginning of the new century, we have been adhering to the principle of Eco-city. Consequently the city’s development environment has improved and its value increased. We will firmly follow the concept that “environment is more important than policy” and “environment investment is the most efficient productive input” and always take “eco-city” as our core strategy of development, at any cost, to create a first class environment concerning facilities, institutions, laws, policies, government, culture, living as well as ecological conditions. In order to carry out this strategy, we must give prominent position to the improvement of eco-environment, enhancing city functions and maintaining social order. Green ways of producing and living must be advocated, including industrial transition and upgrading, recycling economy, “clean production”, energy saving and carbon reduction, low-carbon economy, low-carbon city and low-carton life. Our target is to make Hangzhou an ecologically livable city that is clean, quiet, green, water-friendly and visual-pollution-free. The frame structure of Hangzhou will be optimized by extending its room of development, with each district being given its own functions and types of industry according to its industrial background, resources and environment capacity. Modern system of infrastructure will be set up to guarantee the space extension, layout optimization, and function reconstruction of the city. The maintenance of social order will be emphasized as the precondition for a new leap in the city’s development. Hangzhou will find its way into The Safest Cities in China by establishing a sound system of striking, preventing, controlling and dissuading in the face of criminal actions, exercising a better control of the migrating population and inflicting heavier strikes on all types of wrongs and offenses.      
  
Last but not the least, the fundamental purpose of our development is to improve people’s livelihood, which is the essential requirement in a human-centered and harmonious society. Such a society must be sustained both by people’s livelihood and democratic politics, the one complementing the other. To create a harmonious society, the strategy of “Improving People’s Livelihood through Democracy” asks us to actively explore the possibility of establishing an institution that improves people’s livelihood by the exercise of democracy through the joint efforts of the government, citizens and media. Our ultimate goal is to work on a development that is “for the people, through the people, shared among the people and tested by the people”.