SHENZHEN/SINGAPORE, June 17 (Xinhua) -- Chinese tech hub Shenzhen on Tuesday officially launched the Urban Index of Shenzhen (UIS) during the 10th World Cities Summit in Singapore.
This marks UIS's second international appearance following the 13th World Urban Forum in Baku in May, as China's urban governance experience accelerates its global outreach.
Seeking to elevate "Shenzhen practices" and "Shenzhen experience" into a discourse system guiding global urban governance, the UIS represents an international public good contributed to the world under the Global Governance Initiative framework, offering a "China solution" for reference in sustainable urban development.
Unlike conventional urban indices that prioritize ranking competition, UIS has been designed from the outset as a governance instrument serving cities' sustainable evolution, according to Shan Liang, director of the Shenzhen Urban Planning and Land Development Research Center, who also heads the research center on UIS.
"The mission of a city index is not to score cities. It is to help cities understand themselves and learn from each other," said the director.
According to Shan, UIS employs a dynamic and open framework, focusing on six core dimensions of innovation, livability, aesthetics, resilience, humanism, and intelligence. It conducts systematic research and observation across 20 representative global cities at various development stages and scales, including established global hubs such as London, New York and Singapore, as well as rapidly urbanizing cities in developing countries such as Jakarta, Nairobi and Lima.
"UIS isn't here to tell cities who's 'better.' It's here to help cities become better. It is not a leaderboard; it is a navigation system. It is not an evaluative tool looking backward, but a governance tool oriented toward the future. It isn't designed for competition-it's designed for learning, collaboration, and shared progress," Shan said in an interview with Xinhua.
At the summit, Shenzhen also released the UIS Global Pilot Cities Observation Report 2026, covering 20 cities at different stages of development, including London, New York, Singapore, Jakarta, Nairobi, and Lima, to produce findings grounded in equality and mutual learning.
The report highlights how Shenzhen, as a case of a rapidly evolving megacity, offers replicable solutions for Global South cities grappling with informal settlements and traffic congestion: examples include its "acupuncture-style" micro-renewal of urban villages and measures that boost smart-transport efficiency by up to 30 percent.
Meanwhile, international practices, such as Singapore's public housing system, Nairobi's community self-governance models, and London's innovation-network building, have in turn enriched UIS's own indicator logic and substance.
"Shenzhen is one of the most remarkable cities in the world. I've watched it grow from what was once a relatively small city into a true global powerhouse. What matters even more is that, amid breakneck growth, Shenzhen hasn't just become bigger-it's become more livable," Nicholas Reece, lord mayor of Melbourne, told Xinhua after the forum.
He called UIS "a precious gift to cities everywhere" and expressed keen interest in applying the index in Melbourne.
Ben Simpfendorfer, a partner at the Hong Kong-based international management consulting firm Oliver Wyman, noted that UIS is "very outcome-focused" and a pragmatic governance instrument.
Drawing on 25 years of Shenzhen's development experience, he argued, the index carries strong reference and application value for cities worldwide, and predicted that shifting urban assessment from pure ranking toward diagnostic evaluation will define the field's future direction.
Moving forward, Shan said UIS will step up efforts in open-sourcing its methodology, co-building datasets, and deepening multilateral partnerships, adding that its core indicator system will be openly accessible globally, allowing cities to localize adjustments.
He said Shenzhen plans to launch a global repository of city practice cases and a shared data platform, pooling diverse experiences such as high-density community governance in Jakarta and grassroots self-governance in Nairobi.
The city will also deepen joint research with UN-Habitat on localizing Sustainable Development Goals, using the 20 pilot cities as the foundation for long-term partnerships to jointly tackle global challenges, from urban renewal to ecological restoration, according to Shan. Enditem
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