Committed by the client of Qingdao Shibei Municipality, urbanDATA takes two years to fulfill the challenging urban design proposal for the RCEP pilot district, which the city takes as the base to further enlarge opening and transform to a new economy.

In an era of rapid technological advancement permeating every aspect of our lives, how do we assess the value of cities that carry our lives and dreams? How do we understand the relationship between a city's character, history, and innovation? What underlying forces sustain urban prosperity? Qingdao, a representative city in modern urban development history, has inspired us to systematically and carefully study its past and present, forming a foundational urban design framework to preserve its heritage while embracing opportunities and challenges brought by global and regional transformation.

On November 15, 2020, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) was formally signed by 15 member countries, marking the establishment of the world's largest free trade zone by population, economic scale, and development potential. Leveraging Qingdao and Shibei District's unique geographical advantages and resource endowments, the RCEP Qingdao Pilot Base was planned and deployed to seize this historic opportunity and enhance the utilization of existing urban resources. Located in Shibei District's core urban area, the project spans 34.2 square kilometers on the eastern shore of Jiaozhou Bay and serves as a key component of Qingdao's 14th Five-Year Plan for urban spatial layout.

After thorough research and analysis, government industrial departments and multidisciplinary teams identified five strategic significances for establishing the RCEP Qingdao Pilot Base:

• Elevating Qingdao's role as a national strategic node in the Belt and Road Initiative and a global maritime city.
• Accelerating its rise as a regional international hub in Northeast Asia.
• Strengthening its function as a gateway city in the Yellow River Economic Belt.
• Bolstering Qingdao's economic leadership in the Shandong Peninsula urban cluster.
• Forming a "Golden Triangle" development pattern around Jiaozhou Bay with the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Demonstration Zone and the China (Shandong) Pilot Free Trade Zone.

"To create an international free trade innovation zone that opens Qingdao to the world and leads the development of a high-quality, eco-conscious urban future."

Building on Shibei District's unique natural and cultural resources, Qingdao's modern historical legacy, and port transformation opportunities, the project aims to cluster new shipping, finance, trade, and technology industries. It integrates urban renewal with industrial upgrading to establish a high-quality district with comprehensive services and international appeal.

• Openness-Driven Leadership: A new gateway for international trade and cross-border collaboration
• Innovation and Shared Growth: A new highland for clusters of new shipping, finance, trade, and tech industries.
• Efficiency and Green Development: A demonstration zone for upgrading old industrial bases and transitioning to new growth drivers.
• Eco-Livable Excellence: A high-quality urban district with green ecosystems and complete amenities.

By leveraging Shandong Port's international trade ecosystem, the project fosters a new economic circle that balances global outreach and endogenous growth. RCEP-related functions—To-Organization (TO), To-Business (TB), and To-Customer (TC)—are allocated across five functional zones. The aggregation of RCEP core elements forms an industrial closed loop in talent-capital-technology-service-commodity circulation.

The integration of the bay-area and riverside new economic belts with five industrial zones gradually enhances economic quality and spatial efficiency. As organic components of the urban fabric, the five zones—RCEP Port Service Zone, RCEP Exhibition Service Zone, RCEP Commerce and Trade Zone, RCEP International Innovation Zone, and RCEP Industrial Upgrade Zone—leverage their spatial and resource advantages to refine their leading functions.

Through analyzing Shibei's historic urban characteristics, the team proposed an overall spatial structure for the district. Precise industrial and functional studies redesigned the relationship between ports, industries, and spaces, aligning the RCEP Qingdao Pilot Base's functions with traditional resource upgrades to construct a new economic ecosystem.

Industry is the cornerstone of urban development. This large-scale urban renewal design adopts a broader perspective, focusing on the sustainability of the district's economy and society, to optimize spaces for new economic growth. The pilot zone, and Shibei as a whole, aims to become a model for economic and spatial transformation in old urban areas, leading the integrated development of the Jiaodong Economic Circle.

Construction Units: Qingdao Guoling, Shibei Construction Investment, Shibei Urban Development

Design Units: Shanghai urbanDATA, Qingdao Beiyang