On November 22, 2024, the "Greater Bay Area Urban Design Academic Exchange Conference: Beautiful Greater Bay Area, A Shared Homeland" was successfully held at the Chuangzhi Cloud City in Nanshan District, Shenzhen. The event was supported by the Greater Bay Area Urban Designers Professional Alliance (hereinafter referred to as the "Alliance"), organized by the Urban Planning Society of Shenzhen, and co-hosted by the Society's Urban Design Professional Committee and the Shenzhen Urban Planning & Design Institute Co., Ltd.

Keynote Speech 1: Urban Design Focused on Abundance, Dimension, Warmth, Precision, and System - Deeply Cultivating a Harmonious and Livable Shenzhen
Li Qijun, Chief Planner of the Shenzhen Urban Planning & Design Institute Co., Ltd.
"Abundance" refers to the expansion of the objects, perspectives, and elements that Shenzhen's urban design focuses on, integrating elements such as "mountains," "seas," and "cities" into a holistic design through comprehensive spatial governance. "Dimension" indicates that urban design must address more comprehensive development needs, solving complex urban issues through multiple perspectives and entry points. "Warmth" means that urban design is increasingly focusing on the human perspective, promoting the creation of warm and inviting scenes. "Precision" involves utilizing new technologies and tools to accurately identify and solve problems, enhancing the scientific and creative aspects of design. "System" refers to ensuring the realization of design outcomes through legal processes and policy safeguards, establishing a design system. These multi-disciplinary and multi-faceted explorations have made Shenzhen's urban design more scientific, providing strong support for creating a beautiful Greater Bay Area and a shared homeland.

Keynote Speech 2: Beyond TOD: Getting the Best Outcomes for Value, Sustainability, and Community
Ian Ralph, Associate Director and Urban Design Team Leader at SOM
Ian proposed that when exploring the next generation of TOD projects, we should go beyond the traditional station-centric model and integrate transportation planning with broader urban design to create economically valuable, socially meaningful, and sustainable urban areas.
First, reshape regional value. The traditional TOD model centered around stations is facing challenges. Taking Hong Kong as an example, despite the high connectivity of its office buildings, vacancy rates continue to rise, necessitating a rethinking of the connection between stations and their surroundings to stimulate economic vitality.
Second, build a multi-modal transportation system. Modern cities have increasingly diverse transportation needs, and a single mode of transportation can no longer meet them. Taking San Francisco's Transbay as an example, the local government has enhanced land value, used tax revenue to build green streets, pedestrian and cycling networks, and created a multi-functional transportation hub in the central area, creating a more livable environment for the city.
Third, strengthen the spirit of place and local characteristics, enhancing regional uniqueness through innovative design. Taking the mega-covered public space at Tanjong Pagar Centre in Singapore as an example, the land originally planned for parking was transformed into an open "urban living room," becoming a vibrant, flexible, and multi-functional public space.

Keynote Speech 3: Shouldering the Mission, Promoting Competition and Cooperation, Leading the Resilient Development of the Greater Bay Area Urban Agglomeration - Guangzhou's Journey Towards Becoming a Central World City with Classic Charm and Contemporary Vitality
Li Jianjun, President of the Guangzhou University Architectural Design & Research Institute Co., Ltd. and Dean of the School of Architecture and Urban Planning at Guangzhou University
Based on an analysis of Guangzhou's urban nature, core functional positioning, and its strategic position within the country and the Greater Bay Area, Li Jianjun proposed the following suggestions:
First, strengthen Guangzhou's leading role as a national central city and a global value chain center. Guangzhou should continue to leverage its advantages in comprehensive functions, highlight its maritime characteristics, and promote the sustained development of science, technology, education, and culture to better carry the functions of an international business and trade center and a science and technology innovation center.
Second, build a competitive and cooperative relationship among cities in the Greater Bay Area to promote common development. Guangzhou should advocate and promote the establishment of a competitive and cooperative relationship among cities in the Greater Bay Area, seeking cooperation in competition and maintaining competition in cooperation, complementing the advantageous elements among cities, and enhancing mutual competitiveness to achieve coexistence and prosperity.
Third, enhance the resilience of the Greater Bay Area urban agglomeration and promote high-quality development. Guangzhou should work with other cities in the Greater Bay Area to jointly address challenges and enhance the resilience of the entire urban agglomeration. This will help promote high-quality development in the Greater Bay Area and provide solid support for the sustained prosperity of the regional economy.

Keynote Speech 4: Place Matters – Conceptual Masterplan for the Southern Inner Harbor Public Domain in Macau
Nuno Soares, Director of the Architecture and Design Department at the University of Saint Joseph, Macau, and Director of CURB - Centre for Architecture and Urbanism
Nuno pointed out that this project is Macau's first masterplan for the public domain, with significant implications. Its goal is to create a vibrant waterfront area that promotes Macau's historical and cultural heritage and fosters diversity.
Guided by the development plan for the Greater Bay Area and Macau's overall planning, the project has undergone comprehensive design from strategic vision to specific implementation. In addition to covering conventional design elements such as traffic optimization, street paving, urban furniture, and spatial layout, it has also conducted flood risk assessments, public participation, and street signage planning to enhance neighborhood usability, green coverage, and pedestrian space ratios, making it a model for Macau's future urban development. The project is currently in the stage of refining flood control strategies and plans to be gradually implemented in the coming years.

Keynote Speech 5: Enhancing Rural Landscape Standards to Support the Creation of High-Quality Living Circles in Cities - Exploring the Practice of Rural Landscape Planning and Management in Zhuhai
Xiang Shouqian, Chief Engineer of the Planning and Design Branch of the Zhuhai Planning and Design Institute
Xiang Shouqian mentioned in his report that Zhuhai focuses on the coordinated development of urban and rural areas in the construction of beautiful villages, continuously improving the rural landscape. In response to issues such as disorderly building选址 (site selection), poor environmental conditions, and dilapidated historical and cultural buildings, Zhuhai has adopted a phased planning approach, improved the planning formulation and implementation system, introduced landscape enhancement regulations, and gradually established a control system from village planning to specific house design to strengthen the management of rural architectural landscapes.
In recent years, Zhuhai has focused on creating model villages, combining natural geographical characteristics and historical and cultural resources to promote village environmental improvement, architectural landscape optimization, and economic development. For example, by enhancing the village living environment and introducing rural tourism, both the village collective economy and the quality of life of villagers have been improved. The government provides support in terms of systems, funds, and technologies, including establishing village service centers, optimizing the construction application process, promoting the "planners going to the countryside" system, and enhancing villagers' architectural aesthetics.
The Zhuhai experience shows that enhancing rural landscapes requires combining ecological protection, improvement of the living environment, and the creation of characteristic villages. Through policy, technological, and financial support, villagers are encouraged to actively participate, ensuring the sustainability of landscape enhancement and rural development.

Keynote Speech 6: Urban Design Driving the Strengthening and Quality Improvement of Dongguan
Huang Haobin, Director of the Planning and Urban Design Institute of the Dongguan Urban Construction Planning and Design Institute
In recent years, Dongguan has actively explored in the field of urban design, using urban design as a core tool to promote the improvement of public spaces and the optimization of urban quality. In the early stages of rapid urbanization, Dongguan expanded its urban framework through the "New City Construction" initiative, creating a number of landmark projects such as the Administrative and Cultural Center and the Songshan Lake Science and Technology Industrial Park. However, with the development model dominated by industrial economy, the city gradually became fragmented, and the phenomenon of low-quality sprawl became increasingly severe, with Dongguan being dubbed a "bulk city" by outsiders.
To address this challenge, Dongguan launched the Central Urban Area Quality Improvement Initiative five years ago. The core of this initiative is to improve public spaces and the natural environment. So far, about 20 projects have been completed, covering various aspects such as waterfront transformation, three-dimensional slow-moving system construction, street space optimization, and the revitalization of historical and cultural blocks. By reconnecting mountain and water resources, Dongguan has provided more opportunities for citizens to come into contact with nature. Transforming parking lots into public activity spaces and restoring and utilizing historical buildings have further enhanced the city's cultural atmosphere.

During the roundtable discussion, guests engaged in a comprehensive and in-depth exploration of various topics centered around the conference theme, including rural construction, management, and design innovation, the competitiveness and coordinated development of urban agglomerations, and the responsibilities of designers. From the insightful perspectives of various experts, it is deeply felt that although cities in the Greater Bay Area face different development issues due to their different stages of development, their experiences and innovations undoubtedly have mutual reference value.

Zhou Jin, Chief Architect of the Shenzhen Planning and Land Development Research Center and the host, summarized the event with the three "professions" of urban design: profession, occupation, and career. He emphasized that urban design is not an independent profession, and although it does not have the professional certification of registered urban and rural planners like the planning profession, it does not mean that urban design is not an independent occupation. On the contrary, urban design may have the broadest employment prospects, as it requires cross-disciplinary and cross-professional cooperation and integration. At the same time, urban design is also a great cause. It requires the efforts of the entire society, government, enterprises, citizens, and society to jointly promote the sustainable development of cities. Therefore, urban designers should not only play the role of technical experts but also become social activists, mobilizing all parties to contribute to a better future for cities.

Looking ahead, as the industry enters a new era and stage, it is expected that more talents engaged in fields such as business management, financial investment, and others will join the urban design family, injecting new vitality and momentum into urban design from the perspectives of urban operation, economics, etc., and promoting cities to develop towards a more prosperous and sustainable direction.

About 30 design peers from cities in the Greater Bay Area such as Hong Kong, Zhuhai, Dongguan, and Shenzhen participated in the inspection and research activities arranged by the conference on the morning of the same day. The inspection group visited Qianhai Stone Park, the Bao'an Central District Waterfront Corridor, and the under-construction Shenzhen "Internet+" Future Technology City (Penguin Island), gaining insights into representative planning and design projects in Shenzhen and the design thinking behind them from aspects such as park cities, sponge cities, three-dimensional cities, and innovative cities.