On May 22, the fourth Urban Innovation Forum was held in Guangzhou Library. Liang Guiquan, president of the Guangzhou Institute for Urban Innovation, was invited to share the story of how Christchurch (New Zealand) rebuilt and renewed itself after being struck by an earthquake and how Melbourne (Australia) transformed itself into a climate-resilient and prosperous city. 

In his speech, Liang focused on issues such as civic participation in urban transformation, sense of belonging to the city and construction of a sponge city. He also pointed out that during the urban development, we should not take the government as a “babysitter”; we should, instead, integrate all sorts of social forces to solve the existing problems and encourage everyone in the city to cherish their own community. 

The forum was hosted by Guangzhou Foreign Affairs Office, Guangzhou Institute for Urban Innovation and Guangzhou Library.