Press Release for Media Briefing of the Shanghai Municipal Government on August 28, 2025

2025.08.29

On the afternoon of today (August 28), the Information Office of Shanghai Municipality held a press briefing for the Shanghai Urban Space Art Season 2025 (SUSAS 2025). Wang Weiren, deputy secretary-general of the Shanghai Municipal Government, introduced the preparations for SUSAS 2025. Pang Chong, deputy director of the Territorial Spatial Planning Bureau of the Ministry of Natural Resources, introduced the Ministry of Natural Resources’ efforts in promoting the digital transformation of territorial spatial governance. Xu Mingqian, deputy director of the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Planning and Natural Resources, Jin Lei, deputy director of the Shanghai Municipal Administration of Culture and Tourism, Song Hui, deputy director of the Shanghai Administration of Sports, and Xu Jianhua, deputy chief of Yangpu District, attended the press briefing and answered questions from reporters.I.1. SUSAS: Concept and PracticeThe SUSAS is jointly organized by the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Shanghai Municipal People’s Government. Since its launch in 2015, it has been held biennially, with five successful editions to date. Guided by the philosophy that “culture shapes the city, art builds the city,” SUSAS has highlighted Shanghai’s proactive exploration of urban transformation and quality-of-life improvement. Landmark initiatives such as Urban Renewal and the 15-Minute Community Life Circle, together with exemplary cases like Xuhui’s West Bund and Yangpu’s Left Bund, vividly illustrate the city’s commitment to building a “people’s city” and driving high-quality development. Today, Shanghai is accelerating its ambition to become a science and technology hub with global influence. Applying artificial intelligence to the spatial governance of megacities is one of its pioneering responses to rapid technological change. On December 13 last year, the Shanghai Quantum City Space-Time Innovation Base was inaugurated on Fuxing Island, advancing its vision of becoming a “Digital Island, Design Island, and People’s Island.” Against this backdrop, this year’s SUSAS has adopted the theme “Quantum-Revive” and chosen Fuxing Island as its main exhibition venue. The program seeks to explore new paradigms of “AI + spatial governance” by integrating technology, art, and space, leading the city toward a future with greater technological depth and aesthetic excellence.2. SUSAS 2025 Event ProgramSUSAS 2025 will open on September 30 and run through December 13. Jointly hosted by the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Planning and Natural Resources, the Shanghai Municipal Administration of Culture and Tourism, the Shanghai Administration of Sports, and the Yangpu District People’s Government, this year’s edition will feature a “1+16” exhibition layout, designed as a citywide urban space art carnival that is both professionally distinctive and broadly participatory.The “1” refers to the main exhibition area, located in the Chuantai Park section of Fuxing Island. Through spatial design, artistic interventions, technology showcases, and live performances, it will spotlight four highlights: 1) Interpreting the “Quantum City” — using AI applications to present a vision of future smart governance; 2) Creating signature spaces — blending industrial cyber aesthetics with art and design to power urban renewal, including new landmarks such as Fuxing Plaza, Fuxing Axis, and a waterfront market; 3) Hosting diverse activities — integrating with the Shanghai Tourism Festival, the Shanghai Citizens Culture Festival, the second Shanghai International Light Festival, and popular IPs such as Bilibili to foster cross-sector synergy in culture, tourism, commerce, sports, and exhibitions; 4) Building creative legacies — inviting designers and artists from China and abroad for site-specific works, transforming the venue into a popular leisure destination and a new landmark of urban life.In addition, SUSAS 2025 will feature 16 sub-venues, including the Xuhui West Bund Sci-Tech Innovation Block, the Ji Art Space in Zhangjiang, Pudong, and the Digital Nomad Village in Caojing Town, Jinshan. These sites span diverse formats such as innovation districts, smart communities, digital venues, and Jiangnan-style rural spaces with a Shanghai touch, offering a comprehensive showcase of how spatial art drives urban innovation and development.As a convergence of technology and art and a dialogue between the city and the future, the SUSAS 2025 invites global creators, citizens, and visitors to actively participate and experience the vitality and allure of urban space art in Shanghai.II.In advancing Chinese modernization in the new era, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council have placed strong emphasis on harnessing digitalization to empower development and drive transformation. In 2023, General Secretary Xi Jinping, at the National Conference on Ecological and Environmental Protection, set forth the goal of building a digital governance system for a ‘Beautiful China’ and fostering a green, intelligent digital ecological civilization. The recent Central Urban Work Conference further underscored that modern cities for the people should be innovative, livable, beautiful, resilient, civilized, and intelligent.The CPC Central Committee has entrusted the Ministry of Natural Resources with two unified responsibilities: exercising ownership of all natural resources on behalf of the people, and overseeing territorial spatial use control as well as ecological protection and restoration. Over the years, the Ministry has leveraged its comprehensive surveying, mapping, investigation, and monitoring capabilities — spanning land, sea, air, and space — and applied digital technologies to build multiple platforms and information systems for geographic data, territorial spatial planning, land use control, ecological monitoring, and property rights registration. To advance the directive of ‘one base map, one set of standards, one plan, and one platform,’ the Ministry is promoting a unified ‘single map’ for natural resource management and territorial spatial planning. This initiative integrates diverse platforms, systems, and datasets — each with its own focus but limited overlap — into a consolidated base map and standards. The result will be a unified mapping of current conditions, plans, changes, and ongoing operations. This single map, dataset, and platform will provide a solid foundation for natural resource management, marking an important milestone in the digital transformation of territorial spatial governance.In line with the principle of integration and unification, the Ministry of Natural Resources on April 22 launched the new version of the National Platform for Common GeoSpatial Information Services, known as Tianditu. The platform overlays data from planning, oceans, forestry, grasslands, geological surveys, and more onto a single geographic base map, presenting them online. It visualizes resource management, spatial governance, and the concept of ‘lucid waters and lush mountains’ on the map, while providing society with richer and more comprehensive geographic information services.In addition, the Ministry of Natural Resources continues to monitor territorial space, tracking changes in various natural assets within cities. It analyzes total construction volume, land-use structure, infrastructure, and service functions, thereby supporting territorial spatial governance tasks such as planning assessments, stock land revitalization, and urban renewal. The Ministry is also advancing new basic surveying and mapping, along with real-world 3D modeling. To date, nearly 300 prefecture-level and higher cities have completed city-level 3D models, effectively bringing cities into digital three-dimensional space. This shift enables urban governance to evolve from two-dimensional and static to three-dimensional and dynamic, further advancing the development of smart cities.Shanghai has long been a pioneer in urban planning and spatial governance, and a forerunner in building a modern city for the people. The Ministry of Natural Resources will continue to support Shanghai in the digital transformation of territorial spatial governance and in advancing the development of innovative, smart cities. Shanghai is expected to maintain its leading role in setting standards, integrating data, and implementing intelligent governance, generating experiences and achievements that are replicable and scalable. Building on the ‘Quantum City’ initiative, Shanghai will continue to shape a modern people’s city that is innovative, livable, beautiful, resilient, civilized, and intelligent, guiding the high-quality, intrinsic development for cities.