China's Characteristic Town project gains international recognition

China.org.cn　|　October 31, 2018

More than 500 senior officials of international organizations, diplomats, government representatives, and city mayors attend the Plenary Session of the 2018 annual session of the Global Forum on Human Settlements (GFHS) at the U.N. Conference Center in Bangkok on October 30. [Photo courtesy of CFLD]

Dachang Movie Town project, one of the signature projects of China Fortune Land Development Co., Ltd (CFLD), was selected as the Global Model of Characteristic Town at the Awards Ceremony of the 2018 annual session of the Global Forum on Human Settlements (GFHS-XIII) at the United Nations Conference Center in Bangkok, Thailand, on October 30.

This is the first time the concept of a sustainable operation of CFLD's Industrial Town project has been recognized by an international mainstream industry organization.

The two-day forum, co-hosted by the GFHS and the U.N. Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), was attended by more than 500 senior officials of international organizations, diplomats, government representatives, and city mayors, including Hongjoo Hahm, acting executive secretary of UNESCAP, Anwarul K. Chowdhury, chairman of the GFHS, former under-secretary-general and high representative of the United Nations, as well as Arab Hoballah, former director of the UNEP Sustainable Consumption and Production Branch.

This year's forum focused on strengthening urban innovation, building inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable cities and human settlements.

At this year's Awards Ceremony, 36 awards under seven categories were issued. Among the winners, China's industrial zone developer and operator CFLD was awarded "2018 Global Model of Characteristic Town" by virtue of its Dachang Movie Town project.

A man reads the poster of CFLD's Dachang Movie Town project outside the meeting hall of the 2018 annual session of Global Forum on Human Settlements (GFHS) at the U.N. Conference Center, Bangkok, Thailand, on October 30. [Photo courtesy of CFLD]

Dachang Movie Town is located on the northern side of Dachang New Industry City along the Chaobai River, 30 kilometers east of Beijing Guomao Central Business District. It is eight kilometers from the new administrative center of Beijing.

Stressing "incubation + industrialization" as a two-pronged development strategy, and focusing on a "movie plus" development strategy, the project is designed to promote the integrated development of culture, science and technology, thus building a complete chain of film and television creative industries and a new ecological circle.

The assessment team of the award believes that the Dachang Movie Town project is gaining wide recognition for its commitment to the creative integration of the film and television industry with the tourism sector. In terms of spatial planning, with the river passing through the town center and main public space, and a carefully designed pedestrian-friendly multi-functional neighborhood, it fully embraces the integration of industrial and city life.

In landscape design, the project works to highlight cultural elements and themed film and television scenes, providing a lively component of real life.

The Secretary-General of GFHS Lyu Haifeng highly praised the significant contribution of the Dachang Movie Town project to the sustainable urban development. He said the project has fully integrated industries with urban life while making space planning.

CFLD Executive President Chen Huaizhou said that, with the core concept of "Each Industry Town has a characteristic industry" based on an efficient PPP model, the company is closely cooperating with governments to create a new type of industrial town.

Based on the leading industry of the region, CFLD's professional team closely studies the region's industrial base and provides tailor-made service covering the whole industry chain from industrial development planning, global resource integration, investment management services, to smart operation, so as to make sure that "every Industry Town operates sustainably", Chen said.

Dachang Movie Town has six international top studios, three world-leading 4K studios and three landscape workshops operating. The project has signed with more than 100 Chinese and foreign film and television cultural and creative enterprises, with a contracted investment of more than 16.5 billion yuan.

Among the famous companies involved, Jin FX produced realistic simulated wolves for the film "Wolf Totem", while Base FX wonderful late stage visual effects for "Captain America 3" and other films.

GFHS was established in New York in 2008. The non-governmental, non-profit international organization is committed to building sustainable cities and human settlements.

The Forum so far has hosted 12 annual conferences around the world. Other GFHS winners of Sustainable Cities and Human Settlements Awards this year included Bilbao City of Spain (Global Green City Award) and the Smart City Barueri, Brazil (Global City Innovation Award).