Why is Chengdu unique among first-tier cities?

First Financial New Tier Cities Institute ranked 338 cities above prefecture level in China in this latest 2017 City Business Charm Ranking follows the previous year's five indicators of business resource concentration, urban hubs, city people's activeness, lifestyle diversity, and future plasticity, but makes some adjustments in the analyzing algorithm: inviting the New Tier Cities Institute's expert committee to assign weights to the five indicators by expert scoring method into the scoring system; and analyzing the data below the secondary indicators using the principal component analysis method to objectively assign weights to the data. The weights of the indicators are assigned to the scoring system by the expert scoring method; and the data below the secondary indicators are analyzed by the objective assignment of weights using the principal component analysis method.

When I first arrived in Chengdu, I was impressed by the slogan at the train station: "Chengdu, a city where you don't want to leave"! The positioning of this city is still quite precise and special, and it is really hard to leave after staying for a long time.

Why is Chengdu so attractive?

Policy and economic support is of course indispensable. There are many places that are supported by the state, and it's not often that they can quickly seize the opportunity and develop their own unique attraction. Chengdu has not only succeeded in attracting many talented people to work in the city, but also many affluent people from the western provinces who have come to live and retire in the city, which is a reason worth exploring.

From the transportation point of view, the road to Sichuan is difficult, difficult to get to the sky, and now it is far less convenient than many areas, and coastal cities can not be compared to the logistics and transportation is not as good as the Yangtze River on the edge of the Chongqing has the advantage.

Geographically, next to Guizhou, Yunnan, Tibet, Shaanxi, Qinghai, the development of the city is better than a lot of developed provinces next to the central and eastern cities.

But Chengdu has an advantage that is huge and firmly grasped. This advantage is also something that major cities are now fighting for, but fighting for it in a different way from Chengdu.

There are probably two ways in which big cities develop.

One is to quickly build new cities, blossoming in the old city far away from the place to build new cities, expanding the size of the city, to engage in beautiful high new city, improve the city grade and image, attract factories and population to take advantage of the initial advantages of the preferential treatment to attract factories and enterprises to settle down, and to drive the development of industry. Most of this rapid city building is a rough, scattered points, the regions are far apart, the middle of the large open space left to build factories. The advantage is to be able to quickly expand the size of the city, if the development is good, to the point, connected to a large area, is used by most cities.

This approach also has a disadvantage, if the city itself is not attractive enough may not be able to form a cluster effect (most cities are now very difficult to succeed in this way, if it is the previous is very effective, the reasons will be described in future articles). Industrial zones are scattered, difficult to form industrial scale, and in the later stage, industrial zones are sandwiched between urban areas, and the logistics transportation of goods and city buses and private cars use the same road. Functional positioning is more different, the future will be with the development of the city contradictions will be more prominent.

What is the biggest disadvantage? Weakening the advantage that everyone is fighting for - the size of the population. Decentralized new towns will be artificially dispersed population, new towns and industrial zones between new towns to a certain extent, is to block the flow of population exchanges.

Most cities are in this mode. Seen a city of a certain town development, the same town was divided into three different points of resettlement, in the middle of the factory buildings, wasteland, public transportation forty minutes a trip, seven to seven. And then spread out the map of this city, between different districts with different sizes of industrial zones, industrial zones and industrial zones between the residential areas, residential areas and residential areas and separated from the industrial wasteland. The population is spread out, and many of the city's businesses are not popular enough, with most stores having few customers! Industrial and residential areas are mixed, logistics and transportation vehicles and private buses road use duplication rate is very high at the same time, resulting in traffic jams are most of the areas blocked. Commuting time from one district to another is very long, even if the same district is far away from each other, it is painful! Think of this situation as unfavorable for human mobility, you have a permanent residence in one district and changing jobs will become a hassle. This situation tends to drive people to buy private cars to save time, further exacerbating congestion.

It is not so easy to keep people or bring them in, and coastal economies are much more attractive! Many cities are trying to keep their population while also facing the problem of population loss!

Such a problem is also faced by Chengdu, its development is more like the second, first do a good job of the existing regional economy, the formation of competitiveness and attraction, to attract the population and then with the growth of the population of the natural outward expansion.

Perhaps Chengdu's success is mainly due to two points of focus.

First: population density, the importance of population density is not less than the number of people, to a certain extent, the so-called population size is the population density. Henan has always been a lot of population, but the development has not been hot. In recent years, as the population has concentrated in Zhengzhou, the economy has developed rapidly.

Chengdu's population is already 16 million, and many cities with populations of around six million now have main urban areas expanding to about the same size as Chengdu's main city! With such a small population spread over such a large city area, it is easy to understand the lack of commercial popularity and few customers.

Now Chengdu has proposed that by 2030 the population size of the main urban area can not exceed 14.5 million people, and probably by 2030 many cities will have to struggle to break ten million.

People are concentrated together in order to form a scale effect, the wealth of opportunities will be revealed. To the rise of takeaway in recent years, with the Internet, with the app, if the population is scattered and not centralized, it is difficult to rise. Another example is the small stalls on the flyovers, there are very few people coming and going, and the stalls will naturally disperse in a few days. In downtown Chengdu, sometimes you will see several different stalls on a flyover, and there are also carts selling snacks on the side of the road under the bridge. A cell phone film maker on a flyover can earn a hundred dollars a night. With so many people, a non-essential item like cell phone stickers can still earn a lot of money, and often-needed services are even more likely to prosper. So if you get off a random bus stop in downtown Chengdu, you can walk a few steps and find something to eat, which is an opportunity presented by the concentration of population.

Ifs, which was completed in 2014, saw its highest single-day footfall reach 290,000 in 2015, making Chengdu a popular place to do business.

Chengdu's population density has been maintained well, and Chunxi Road is crowded with people on non-holiday days and even more so on National Day! The city's development is arching outward from the city center, or to be more precise, moving southward and expanding as the population grows.

Second: the flow of population, speaking of which must praise the traffic planning and public **** transportation system, bus priority, sidewalks, bike lanes, each in its own way, bus rapid transit, subway developed. Bus lanes make it easier and faster to take public transportation than to drive, with many trips, an average of ten minutes a trip, and a bus card that allows free transfers for 2 hours. The subway is one of the most convenient and comfortable in the country. Because of the fast and convenient (most routes are 6:30 am to 10:30 pm, some routes are 24 hours) population movement is very frequent, 10:00 pm may also want to squeeze the bus, squeeze the subway. The frequent movement of people brings about the rapid circulation of wealth. For example, a few friends can meet in Yulin to eat a skewer, and then go to the center of the city to watch a big movie, and then take a bus to go to the next karaoke stop, and then go back to their homes. Three times consumption can be in different areas, wealth mobility is very strong. By the same token, the businessmen who make money don't just make it in the neighborhood. A bigger market helps the scale to be bigger, the service industry to be developed, and the business to be more prosperous.

Business prosperity and happiness are closely linked. Living in Chengdu, weekend sleep a lazy to noon to be entangled in lunch is to choose the downstairs of the fat intestines powder, risotto, casserole, Chinese food, teppanyaki, barbecue or bean flower? And this kind of happy worry is actually not expensive, every day to consume affordable!

To maintain such a large population density at the same time so that the districts have frequent population flows at all levels of commercial prosperity and development is a relatively difficult thing to do, there are many people naturally have a great deal of management problems, especially a variety of different levels of group compatibility is very much a test of the level of the city administrator. Easier to do is zoning, people with groups, this piece of affluent areas, far away from the low-income neighborhoods.

Small traders and hawkers mobile stalls in many cities is a pain point, feel that these affect the city, impede traffic, etc., need to be strictly regulated. Chengdu is invaluable in its inclusiveness. Tolerance tolerance means to restrain themselves from interfering with others based on their own preferred values, and can not be arbitrary as to harm others. Tolerance so that people from different walks of life **** in one place can still get along.

The city does not have a clear division of rich and poor areas, the same area can see the high-rise buildings, can see the new resettlement areas, can also see the old low-rise neighborhoods a large area. Sichuan Yin near a piece of building area near the first ring road or a layer of low fly hall until the end of last year to demolish, a lot of cities should not allow so nb neighborhoods exist for so long, right?

There is such a place, is a large area of the old neighborhood floors are seven floors or less, housing is also relatively old. Surrounding the food gathering, a variety of small selling vegetables flow concentration, fruits and vegetables cheap price, single room rent eight or nine hundred, this place you think is in the city which a corner it? In fact, this place is located in Chengdu between the first ring road and the second ring road, the name is called Yulin, is the song Chengdu inside the tavern is located in the area, the center of the city, food, life, low prices, public transport is developed, the rent is also cheap is a lot of young people settled in the ideal area. A city center can leave such a large area for young people to pursue their dreams or quite gratifying.

The term "fly tavern" is derogatory, but in Chengdu it actually refers to those inexpensive, narrow restaurants, describing them as small and cheap. Fly museums are many throughout the city, we do not mind, is very popular, individual restaurants are very popular, and can even be seen with a long queue waiting to eat.

Many places can see a group of people gathered, a large group of people in line, do not think that there is something lively to see, maybe just for a meal, a pound of snacks. Don't be surprised to see white-collar workers in and out of cbd and ordinary laborers sitting in the same fly shop for lunch, don't be surprised to see brightly dressed beautiful women eating snacks at the roadside mobile stalls without much pretension.

The culture is also diverse, Jinli and KuanNarrow Alley will give you a different feeling, even if next to Taikoo Li and ChunXi Road you can smell the different breath of youth. Many parks have their own characteristics, give you a different feeling, can appreciate the atmosphere of the Raccoon River Park, can see the delicacy of the Baihuatan Park, can be immersed in the quiet of the Wangjiang Tower, can look at the Tazishan Park Lantern Festival of the bustling, may also want to go to the People's Park to listen to the hustle and bustle of the blind date meeting. If you are tired, you can sit in the Broad and Narrow Alley, order a cup of tea and bask in the sun for a while.

Cultural diversity comes from cultural inclusiveness. Passing through a tunnel, you will see students' graffiti on the walls. Parks can see young hip-hop songs, next to the square dance in the dance, each other in peace, personality of the building murals may be a few students overnight to complete. A good number of business parks to build the shape of the light strange, many office decoration personality flamboyant!

Life needs to be comfortable, eat to be appropriate!

There are many people who attribute this to Chengdu people's consumerism, which is highly regarded! This explanation doesn't make much sense! According to the now popular supply-side economic view, effective supply creates demand. In the end, it is the concept of consumption that leads to business prosperity, or is it a good business environment that promotes consumption, which is the question of whether there is a chicken or an egg first! The two sides of the same coin promote each other! So much food, so many delicious, will not rub a few more meals to taste all? Crowded and lively, the atmosphere of the festival is so strong, close and convenient, will not and who will watch more movies? So good spring, not to Longquan enjoy the peach blossoms, not to Sanshingxiang fishing, fighting a landlord Nongjiale? The grass is so green, the flowers are so beautiful, the sun is just right not to ride on the car to go to Wenjiang Bicycle Avenue to pedal? Four Girls Mountains, Bipeng ditch, four people with the viewing platform, Inacheng Aden, at least to go to see, right? When you are in such a developed and prosperous service industry, so good consumer environment you will not be able to resist consumption. This is based on the density of the population, high population density brings a huge demand for services, promoting the service industry, the rapid development of tertiary industry.

Is this all pre-conceived by the Chengdu government? Has Chengdu's development been implemented step by step according to the plan?

No, Longquan, Sanshengxiang if according to the plan should be built developed automobile industry area, rather than the current agro-industrial economy famous for Nongjia tourism economy! Wenjiang become a piece of industrial area instead of the current backyard.

In fact, the first way to Chengdu is to try, but also had envisioned everywhere to create a new city, the North Railway Station is more chaotic before, has been trying to manage. Many years ago pushed through the northern reform program. Fortunately, the government did not do it forcibly, see the effect is not good on the slow down. In the past few years, as the population continues to influx, developers have the will to develop, a lot of high-rise buildings rise, the government this time to follow the trend for the transformation, road expansion, subway construction.

With the trend, not brutal, I hope that Chengdu in the past few years, the money is not arbitrary brutal, to maintain this tolerance, for the sake of the majority of the population to build the city, to be able to accommodate the different classes.