Recently, the Seminar on Urban Renewal for Division-level Cadres, co-organized by the Organizational Department of Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of Chinaand Shanghai Party Institute (SPI), was successfully held at SPI. Forty-nine division-level cadres from the various districts, townships, sub-districts, departments, committees, offices, and bureaus of Shanghai received one week of training.
　　The course design centers on fundamental affairs. In this seminar, we focused on the fundamental affairs of the Municipal Party Committee and ShanghaiMunicipal People’s Government and revolved around the subject “Urban Renewal.” In line with the work arrangement and requirements from the Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government, the Organizational Department of the Municipal Party Committee played a leading role in the initial phase of the course design while the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Housing and Urban-Rural Development took part in and theDepartment of Sociology, Civil Servant Training Division, and Foreign Affairs Divisionof SPI jointly drafted the course by contributing ideas in policy-interpretation, construction of people’s city, urban planning, coordinated implementation mechanism, old urban areas upgrade, etc. Through special lectures, case analyses, field-teaching, student forums, etc., they succeeded in creating a synergy between teaching and learning and among different disciplines.
　　The faculty introduced advanced practices from overseas. After multiple discussions with the Organizational Department of the Municipal Party Committee, the seminar continued the feature from the past courses jointly run by Chinese and international institutes. The online courses given by foreign lecturers helped the students broaden their vision and learn from international practices. With the support from the Foreign Affairs Division of SPI, the seminar invited experts and scholars from Oxford University, Centre for Liveable Cities (CLC) in Singapore, and Josai University of Japan who gave lectures and discussed their experience and practices in urban renewal with the students.
　　Experience-sharing through interactions and exchanges. Considering that the students were front-line workers with abundant experience, the seminar included two group discussions and one student forum on the same subject. At the student forum which focused on experience and inspirations from real practices, students were able to learn from other disciplines in interactions and exchanges. Some students said that, through this seminar, they acquired a deeper understanding of urban renewal and the importance of the Party building in guiding practical work. They had more in-depth reflections on their duties and responsibilities as Party members and gained a clearer awareness of the people-oriented working philosophy.