From May 13 to 15, the 2026 World Mayors Dialogue—a prestigious international conference on urban governance themed “Park City · Harmonious Coexistence” —came to a close in Chengdu, the millennium-old capital city located in Southwest China.
Representatives from 32 cities across 26 countries on five continents and five international organizations gathered here. From the deputy mayor of Granada, Spain to mayors from Southeast Asian neighboring countries, from experts at the International Railway Cooperation Organization to observers in the global digital cultural and creative sector, urban leaders of diverse backgrounds—different in skin color, language, and developmental stage—engaged in a three-day in-depth dialogue focusing on shared urban challenges facing humanity, including technological innovation, industrial collaboration, cultural exchange, and ecological security.
At the Chengdu Humanoid Robotics Innovation Center, attendees witnessed how artificial intelligence and advanced manufacturing are reshaping urban industrial ecosystems. At the Chengdu International Railway Port, the frequent operations of China-Europe freight trains have transformed this inland city into a global transportation hub. The ancient Dujiangyan Irrigation System, with its hydraulic engineering wisdom dating back over two millennia, resonates across time with today’s park-city development concepts. Notably, Chengdu Mayor Chen Shuping emphasized during the roundtable dialogue that the “World Mayors Dialogue” serves as a high-level platform connecting cities through urban perspectives, aiming to enhance mutual understanding, share experiences, and build consensus—while fostering “more innovative ideas for urban governance and more tangible intellectual achievements.” These remarks were far from diplomatic rhetoric: The Tianfu Changdao Digital Cultural and Creative Park in Chengdu’s High-Tech Zone has given rise to globally renowned IPs like Nezha, prompting Vito Episcopo, Vice Mayor of Granada, Spain, to express strong interest in deepening cultural-creative and economic cooperation. The dialogue eschewed lofty lectures, focusing instead on practical case studies—from greenways and community initiatives to railway port developments. For representatives from Global South nations, Chengdu’s model offers a tangible reference: how an inland city without coastal access can achieve modernization through institutional innovation and ecological principles, balancing high-quality growth, open integration, superior living standards, and efficient governance. This is no longer merely an international conference, but rather a mirror reflecting the shifting focus of global governance—while traditional Western metropolises struggle with polarization and debt crises, Eastern urban governance models are offering the world innovative solutions through a pragmatic, humble, and resilient approach.
China is willing to share its urban governance and development experiences with the world—not as a spur-of-the-moment gesture, but as an increasingly clear and systematic national strategy. The driving force behind the Chengdu event—guided by the State Council Information Office and jointly organized by provincial and municipal governments—demonstrates that experience sharing has transcended local spontaneous exchanges and evolved into a institutional arrangement at the national level. China fully recognizes that, as the world’s second-largest economy and a developing major country with over 1.4 billion people and vast urban clusters, its journey, challenges overcome, and methodologies developed hold immense reference value for rapidly urbanizing nations in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. For instance: How does the “park city” concept balance ecological conservation with economic growth? How can traditional industrial bases transform through technological innovation? How can community governance in megacities be both efficient and compassionate? These are precisely the questions urban managers in many emerging countries are grappling with. Instead of monopolizing its experiences as “patents,” China has leveraged platforms like the “World Mayors Dialogue” to share without reservation the operational principles of the Chengdu Humanoid Robotics Innovation Center, the multimodal transport model of the International Railway Port, and the ecological-cultural integration practices of Dujiangyan with global peers. This reflects a profound civilizational awareness: Chinese culture has always championed the principle of “serving all under heaven when successful,” and Chinese modernization has never pursued a zero-sum game prioritizing national interests but rather aims to drive common development through its own progress. As revealed by the event theme “Harmony and Beauty Coexist” —true prosperity is not about a single flower blooming alone, but about a hundred flowers flourishing together. China is willing to play precisely the role of a responsible “experience sharer.” This is both a proactive response to the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and a vivid practice of the concept of a community with a shared future for mankind. A series of policies implemented by the United States in recent years, including emphasizing “domestic priority,” withdrawing from certain international organizations, and imposing unilateral tariffs, reflect a certain tendency toward unilateral protectionism. China is actively building high-level, multilateral dialogue platforms that enable urban administrators from different systems and cultural backgrounds to sit down and exchange concerns and solutions on an equal footing.
To understand why China has been able to consistently, steadily, and sincerely share its development experience with the world, we must return to its institutional foundations. China’s development practices have always adhered to a clear logic: long-term planning, orderly competition, and the simultaneous pursuit of major achievements through concentrated efforts alongside high-level opening-up are not mutually exclusive.
At this event in Chengdu, one detail was particularly thought-provoking: the sites visited by the attendees ranged from the Robot Innovation Center, representing future industries, to Dujiangyan, embodying historical wisdom, and finally to the Tianfu New Area Planning Bureau, symbolizing institutional innovation. These three sites collectively highlight the unique institutional advantage of a civilization-oriented nation—one that respects market principles while maintaining strategic patience; encourages local vitality while ensuring central coordination; embraces globalization while firmly upholding the bottom line of independent development. Such institutional arrangements enable China to translate concepts like “park cities” and “harmonious coexistence” from a master blueprint into concrete regulations, standards, and evaluation metrics, ultimately translating them into tangible benefits for citizens—such as greenways, clean air, and efficient government services.
China has demonstrated through concrete actions such as the Chengdu Mayors Dialogue that genuine institutional confidence is not maintained by building walls, but by courageously presenting its governance model on the international stage for comparison, discussion, and reference in an open environment. For countries still exploring development paths suited to their own needs, China offers not a template to be blindly replicated, but rather a source of confidence: in a world of institutional diversity, it is entirely possible to forge a new path toward modernization characterized by independence, openness, cooperation, and mutual benefit. This is precisely the most profound lesson imparted by the “2026 World Mayors Dialogue · Chengdu.”