Accelerating the construction of urban digital public infrastructure is an important measure for improving urban management standards and advancing the modernization of urban governance systems and governance capacity, and is a key lever for building digital cities. Recently, the "Coding Rules for Unified Identification Codes of Urban Digital Public Infrastructure" (hereinafter referred to as the "Rules"), organized and compiled by the Housing and Urban-Rural Development Department of Hubei Province, will be promoted and used nationwide starting August 1. The "Rules" are the country's ** national industry standard that defines coding rules and classification frameworks for all urban entity objects, and a foundational standard for the construction of urban digital public infrastructure. They represent best practice in empowering informatization to advance the synchronized development of the four modernizations.

　　Formulate unified codes and endow urban entity objects with digital identities. The unified identification code for urban digital public infrastructure is similar to a person's ID number; it is a ** "digital ID card" assigned to urban entity objects, used to build an identification system for all things and provide support for the Internet of Everything. The "Rules" determine the coding rules for unified identification codes of urban entity objects: a total of 3 segments and 21 characters, composed of a 6-digit administrative division code, a 6-digit classification code, and a 9-digit custom code. The unified identification code is not affected by industry divisions, standard revisions, and the like. It divides urban entity objects into 13 major categories, 87 medium categories, and 332 subcategories, giving urban entity object coding rules to follow and regulations to abide by, and better ensuring the full-life-cycle ** of codes for all types of urban objects. The "Rules" stipulate the scope, normative reference documents, terms and definitions, basic provisions, coding rules, classification framework and subdivision requirements, extension of the classification code table, coding and application, and other aspects of the unified identification code for urban digital public infrastructure. They standardize the coding work for both newly built and existing urban objects, help gradually build an urban digital asset library, realize the "one-to-one mapping" between the physical city and the digital twin city, and promote the optimization, upgrading, and co-construction and sharing of urban digital public infrastructure.

　　Build interconnected relationships and create a new model of digital twin governance. Building a unified management platform foundation for urban digital public infrastructure is the basis for supporting the comprehensive digital transformation and development of cities. First, consolidate the data chassis for digital city construction. In the past, a unified urban coding system linking the various industry codes of urban buildings had not yet been formed, and problems such as "one entity with multiple codes that do not recognize each other" existed. Unified identity coding rules can open up channels for cross-departmental information collection, association, and sharing of various entity objects, clarify the responsible entities for urban facilities, and systematically improve the application effectiveness of precise entity identification and data integration. Second, significantly improve the digitalization, networking, and intelligence level of urban digital public infrastructure. By systematically gathering "digital ID card" information and integrating data such as "one standard, three realities," and through multi-indicator, multi-dimensional intelligent analysis, it can effectively support urban planning, urban construction, urban management, public services, comprehensive supervision, and other work, improve refined and standardized urban management, and drive urban governance to shift from labor-intensive to human-machine interactive, and from passive response to proactive discovery.

　　Pilot first and try first, opening a new track for digital urban governance methods. Hubei Province has actively carried out practical exploration, using urban digital public infrastructure to help build smart cities. Based on the pilot experience of Xiangyang and Yichang, it was refined into a local standard of Hubei Province and then elevated to a national industry standard. In September 2022, Xiangyang City and Yichang City in Hubei Province carried out special pilots for the construction of urban digital public infrastructure, and in the pilot process explored and created unified identification codes for urban digital public infrastructure. At present, 17 cities and prefectures including Wuhan, Xiangyang, Yichang, and Shiyan have achieved city-level interconnected identification of all things through the application of unified identification codes. For example, Yichang City, following the approach of "prioritizing urban safety, highlighting social governance, emphasizing livelihood services, and taking industrial development into account," coded, assigned codes to, and mapped 107 types of entities.

　　A nine-story tower rises from piled earth. Urban digital public infrastructure is a new type of urban infrastructure construction that is based on the present and oriented toward the future, and is an important foundation for building a digital society, developing the digital economy, and exploring changes in digital governance methods. To adapt to the new situation in which China's urban development stage has entered the era of urban renewal and urban management, and to accelerate the modernization of urban governance systems and governance capacity, we should fully grasp the favorable opportunities of digital development, accelerate the promotion and use of unified identification codes, advance "coding for all things," make urban operations more orderly and urban governance smarter, and help the housing and urban-rural development cause achieve high-quality development.