Video | A visual cue of "habitat" to build Chinese towers Why the motto of 2026 World Cities is "recreation; is it called "housing for all"? Housing Market Mitzpe: This video was published on the "Habitat" Instagram page on the occasion of World Cities Day. 1 Anna Claudia Resbach, CEO of "Habitat" and Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations, tried to explain 2 points about cities in this video.
First, the idea of urban renewal.
Second, "World Cities Slogan 2026" 2 In a part of this short film, when the director of "Habitat" refers to a "misinterpretation" of urban renewal, images of "dense towers built in Chinese cities" are shown. 3 He says, the renewal of the city does not mean "tear down and rebuild". 4 The story of China's housing and urban development model is being critiqued by a group of economic and urban experts. 5 During the last two decades, China's housing supply policy has mainly consisted of "increasing supply" with a model where instead of "financial attention to demand" the main facilities and incentives have been aimed at tower builders affiliated with the government. 6 One of the disadvantages of this model was a false pre-sale. 7 The development of housing in Chinese cities has been linked to a "contradiction"; High supply on the one hand and housing price increases on the other. 8 Some Chinese cities have become "urban villages"; Invalid settlements enclosed between modern towers, which marked residential and urban inequality. 9 As a result of the modernization of neighborhoods in some Chinese cities, older people have been forced to migrate to cheap neighborhoods. This model is the same model that the CEO of "Habitat" considers as a "misunderstanding of the true concept of renewal"; prioritizing buildings instead of "neighborhood identity and the need of the old residents of the neighborhood who need renewal". Read parts of Anna Claudia Rasbach's speech below: Cities do not end and neighborhoods cannot be destroyed. Buildings age and people leave them.
But every neighborhood has its own life and flow.
Some are flourishing but others are lagging behind. Meanwhile, urban renewal does not mean replacing "what remains of the past in the neighborhoods" with "new and new elements".