A heavy rainstorm can paralyze the entire city; a large concert, or even a promotional event at an IKEA store, can cause prolonged traffic congestion. Road congestion occurs almost every day and every hour. Population continues to pour into Beijing, and the city's carrying capacity is weakening.

　　This is not the situation that urban planners had hoped for.

　　Beijing Needs New Urban Sub-centers

　　In the impression of Lin Peng, general manager of Beijing Science and Technology Business District Construction Co., Ltd., Beijing once had many green belts, but they have been constantly encroached upon. Although relevant departments proposed the planning concept of "two axes, two belts, and multiple centers," in reality, Beijing's urban development increasingly resembles "spreading a big pancake," with flat expansion prevailing.

　　Lin Peng believes that disorderly sprawling development is not advisable. Beijing needs to clearly define new urban sub-centers, break away from old thinking, and re-sort out its urban functions. The new urban sub-centers should be truly benign self-circulating entities, active cells rather than pathological urban tumors. In fact, not only Beijing, but China's urban development has entered a new historical period, requiring innovative thinking to address and solve problems.

　　In an exclusive interview with a reporter from the 21st Century Business Herald, Lin Peng pointed out that from the development history of international metropolises, if a city, especially a mega-city, has only one center, "urban diseases" will become increasingly prominent as the city scale expands. Generally speaking, comprehensive metropolises mostly show a characteristic of developing from "single-core" to "multi-core." The practices of Tokyo and Paris are worth learning from for Beijing.

　　For example, Tokyo has implemented the "sub-center" strategy three times since 1958. Now it has a total of 7 sub-centers, each of which is not only a public activity center for its region but also undertakes certain functions of Tokyo as an international city. Among the 7 sub-centers, the most successful is Shinjuku. At present, finance and insurance, real estate, retail and wholesale, and services have become the main industries of Shinjuku, and the employment composition of the population is close to that of the three central wards of Tokyo.

　　La Défense in Paris is another classic case of sub-center construction. After nearly 30 years of construction, La Défense now has nearly 2.5 million square meters of business and office space, accommodating more than 1,600 companies, including the five largest French banks and 17 enterprises, 170 foreign financial institutions, and the headquarters and regional headquarters of more than 190 world-renowned multinational companies. The number of workers in the area currently exceeds 150,000.

　　New Urban Sub-centers Should Integrate Industry and City

　　In the past, Beijing also proposed building sub-centers, but the construction of sub-centers was hardly successful. Taking Tongzhou as an example, traffic congestion has become the primary problem plaguing Tongzhou. Moreover, the problem of lacking industrial support has never been solved, and the trend of separation of workplace and residence is becoming more and more serious.

　　Lin Peng believes that it is worth reflecting that past urban development was kidnapped by the "real estate model." Not only Beijing, but local governments' pursuit of short-term interests exists in almost all Chinese cities. Urban construction dominated by real estate development models pursues rapid construction, resulting in many sleeping cities and functional areas with separation of workplace and residence. However, industrial development takes time and requires a lot of effort. "However, Tongzhou's urban development has only gone through its first decade, and the road ahead is still long," Lin Peng said.

　　In the new historical period, Beijing needs to clearly define new urban sub-centers. It is understood that on January 22, 2013, at the first session of the 14th Beijing Municipal People's Congress, Acting Mayor Wang Anshun proposed in the government work report that Beijing should accelerate the construction of urban sub-centers and new towns, adhere to focusing on Tongzhou, plan scientifically, implement step by step, determine the starting area and related supporting policies, and strive for major breakthroughs in major infrastructure, public service facilities, and key construction projects. At the same time, it is necessary to accelerate the construction of new towns in Shunyi, Yizhuang, Daxing, Changping, and Fangshan, and create comprehensive new towns with complete functions and suitable for living and working.

　　Lin Peng suggests that innovative thinking needs to be introduced to build urban sub-centers. From a planning perspective, the concept of industry-city integration has been proposed in the past, and land was roughly divided into industrial areas and residential areas without any intersection or communication. How to truly integrate industry and city so that every cell in the region is vibrant is a problem that new developers need to solve. The new urban sub-centers should integrate industry and city.

　　In addition, under the background of new urbanization, the way to solve problems should also change. "Truly introduce market forces into urban construction," Lin Peng said. Not only does the concept need to change, but every detail should start from "people's needs" rather than from the perspective of political achievements. Institutional reforms are also needed, especially in land, taxation, and other systems.

　　As for what Beijing Science and Technology Business District Construction Co., Ltd. is doing, can Beijing form an urban sub-center in the northern Changping District similar to "Silicon Valley" based on the urban innovation economy?

　　Lin Peng's thinking is that on the one hand, it is necessary to create a good hardware environment: convenient transportation, developed communication networks, high informatization, and good production and living conditions. But more importantly, it is necessary to create a soft environment. Objectively speaking, the Changping TBD (Technological Business District) area has good conditions. Surrounding universities, research institutions, and venture enterprises may trigger the collection and exchange of knowledge and information, forming a high-tech industry cluster. But more importantly, whether the government or park management departments can provide high-tech companies entering the park with preferential policies in funding, taxation, and law. Whether the credit system is complete, whether it can advocate a special entrepreneurial spirit and create a unique cultural atmosphere. With these soft and hard environments, the new technology district can become attractive and continue to grow.

　　However, the road is long and the journey is far.