As I reflect on the last few days of ICMA’s inaugural International Regional Summit, a few key highlights about China stand out to me:

• City to City Partnerships are valued and emphasized as strategic steps towards finding creative solutions.  It was interesting to hear that in a city with so many rivers, Yangzhou has conducted a study tour to the City of San Antonio, Texas to learn about their canal system and how they might integrate shops and stores to promote economic development.
• Strong emphasis on ecology and the importance of ‘social capital’.  I heard the term ‘social capital’ mentioned several times and realized that the emphasis in China is to try to involve citizens and get them enthusiastic about eco-friendly urbanization.
• Emphasis on city identity.  As China continues to urbanize, an emphasis was placed on maintaining local characteristics. In Yangzhou, you can see this by the number parks and outdoor spaces they have provided to their citizens while also trying to rebuild historic areas to have low-carbon footprints.
• Challenges faced in the US are the same in China, just in a different context.  China is facing a challenge in how cities are competing against each other to entice developers to come to their city through providing incentives.  This has sometimes been in the form of selling land at zero cost.  One Chinese official, Mr. Li Tie from the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) warned that if this continues, you will see cities going into financial crisis.
• Culture and tradition are incredibly important to how the country operates.  I have enjoyed witnessing ‘east meeting west’ in all sense of the concept!  I have enjoyed the importance on traditions in order to maintain the countries social fabric.  It is incredible to me that we may speak different languages but through the help of translation, we have been able to interact and learn from each other about issues that are extremely relevant no matter where you find yourself in the world!

I want to say a final note to thank CUPL, ICMA China Center, and the Yangzhou government for making my trip to China an unforgettable one!

MOU Signing of Friendship and Cooperation between ICMA and the Yangzhou City Government

John Garvey Scholarship participants, Melissa Stephens (Cedar Hill, Texas) and Maureen Lu (LGMA-Australia) pose with ICMA's Executive Director, Bob O'Neill

Posing with ICMA's Climate Change Professional Fellow (2011), Chen Pu of Changsha, at the Yangzhou Old Town Low Carbon Community Demonstration Project