This morning, the Municipal Government Information Office held a press conference for the 2025 Shanghai Urban Space Art Season. The preparations for the 2025 Shanghai Urban Space Art Season were introduced, and relevant information on promoting the digital transformation of territorial space governance was shared. Officials attended the press conference and answered questions.

（一）

1. The Concept and Practice of the Shanghai Urban Space Art Season

The Shanghai Urban Space Art Season is a collaborative project that has been held biennially since 2015, with five successful editions to date. Past editions have adhered to the core concept of “revitalizing the city through culture and building the city through art.” Through key achievements such as “urban renewal” and the “15-minute community life circle,” as well as outstanding practical cases like the Xuhui West Bund and Yangpu Riverside, the event has vividly demonstrated Shanghai’s active exploration of urban transformation and quality improvement, providing a vivid illustration of efforts to build a “people’s city” and achieve higher-quality development.

Currently, Shanghai is accelerating the construction of a globally influential hub for technological innovation. Empowering megacity spatial governance with artificial intelligence is an innovative measure to proactively adapt to technological iterations. On December 13 last year, the “Quantum City Spacetime Innovation Base” was unveiled on Fuxing Island, steadily advancing toward the goal of building a “digital intelligence island, design art island, and people’s city island.”

Against this backdrop, this year’s Shanghai Urban Space Art Season has chosen “Quantum City · Reviving the Future” as its theme, with the main exhibition area located on Fuxing Island. It aims to explore new paradigms of “AI + spatial governance” through the deep integration of technology, art, and space, leading the city toward a future with greater technological sophistication and aesthetic quality.

2. Event Arrangements for This Edition of the Shanghai Urban Space Art Season

The 2025 Shanghai Urban Space Art Season will open on September 30 and close on December 13. This edition is jointly organized and will rely on “1 + 16” exhibition areas to create an urban space art “carnival” with both professional characteristics and public participation.

The “1” refers to one main exhibition area, located in the Fuxing Island Shipyard Park area. Through spatial creation, artistic implantation, technological displays, and performances, it will showcase four highlights: first, interpreting the “quantum city” by applying artificial intelligence technology to display the future vision of smart governance; second, creating distinctive spaces by empowering urban renewal with artistic design on the basis of retaining industrial cyber style, creating特色 scenes such as Revival Square, Revival Axis, and Waterfront Market; third, introducing丰富 activities by linking well-known IPs such as the Shanghai Tourism Festival, Citizen Culture Festival, Second International Light Festival, and others to promote the integration of culture, tourism, commerce, sports, and exhibitions; fourth, accumulating creative成果 by gathering domestic and international designers and artists for on-site creation, turning the exhibition area into a leisure destination for citizens and a new urban lifestyle landmark.

In addition, this edition of the Space Art Season has arranged 16 sub-venues, including the Xuhui Riverside Technology Innovation Block, Pudong Zhangjiang “Ji Art Space,” and Jinshan Caojing Town Digital Nomad Village. These cover various types such as technology innovation blocks, smart communities, digital venues, and Jiangnan-style rural landscapes, comprehensively showcasing the innovative practical results of spatial art in urban development from different angles.

The 2025 Shanghai Urban Space Art Season is not only a “mutual enhancement” of technology and art but also a “two-way pursuit” of the city and the future. Everyone is invited to actively participate and experience the vitality and charm of Shanghai’s urban space art!

（二）

In the process of promoting Chinese-style modernization in the new era, great importance is attached to empowering development and driving change through digitalization. In 2023, it was proposed at the National Ecological Environment Protection Conference to “build a digital governance system for a beautiful China and create a green and smart digital ecological civilization.” The recently held Central Urban Work Conference further clarified that a modern people’s city should be “innovative, livable, beautiful, resilient, civilized, and smart.”

The responsibilities of “two unifications” have been assigned: unified exercise of the responsibilities of owner of全民所有 natural resource assets, and unified exercise of the responsibilities of territorial space use control and ecological protection and restoration. Over the years, relying on basic surveying and mapping and monitoring capabilities that cover “land, sea, air, and space” and the entire region, multiple platforms and information systems have been built in areas such as geographic information, territorial space

Shanghai Urban Space Art Season

The Shanghai Urban Space Art Season is a biennial event launched in 2015 that transforms the city into a platform for public art and urban design. It aims to enhance the quality of urban life by activating public spaces with installations, exhibitions, and forums that engage citizens. Each edition focuses on a specific theme to explore contemporary urban challenges and foster dialogue about the future of cities.

Xuhui West Bund

Xuhui West Bund is a modern cultural and commercial district in Shanghai, developed along the Huangpu River on the site of former industrial facilities and cargo docks. Its history is rooted in Shanghai’s industrial past, but it has been transformed since the 2010s into a vibrant hub for art galleries, public parks, and corporate headquarters. It is now a prominent waterfront area known for its contemporary architecture and cultural events.

Yangpu Riverside

The Yangpu Riverside in Shanghai is a revitalized industrial waterfront that was historically home to China’s earliest modern factories and warehouses from the late 19th century. Today, it has been transformed into a public park and part of the city’s extensive Huangpu Riverfront walkway, preserving its industrial heritage through the adaptive reuse of old structures.

Fuxing Island

Fuxing Island is a small artificial island located in the Yangpu District of Shanghai, China, formed by dredging the Huangpu River in the early 20th century. It is historically significant as the site of a major shipyard and for its role during the Chinese Civil War, where it was used as a military logistics base. Today, it is primarily an industrial area but is also being redeveloped to include public parks and cultural spaces.

Quantum City Spacetime Innovation Base

The Quantum City Spacetime Innovation Base is a conceptual futuristic research and development hub, imagined as humanity’s first major facility dedicated to the study of spacetime manipulation and quantum technologies. Its fictional history posits it was established in the late 21st century as a collaborative international effort to pioneer breakthroughs in theoretical physics and advanced propulsion. The facility symbolizes the next frontier in scientific exploration, merging cutting-edge architecture with the pursuit of fundamental cosmic knowledge.

Fuxing Island Shipyard Park

Fuxing Island Shipyard Park is a public waterfront park in Shanghai, China, built on the site of a historic shipyard. Its history dates back to the early 20th century when it was established as a significant repair and construction dock. The park preserves and repurposes its industrial heritage, incorporating old cranes, railway tracks, and docks into its modern green spaces.

Xuhui Riverside Technology Innovation Block

The Xuhui Riverside Technology Innovation Block is a modern urban development zone in Shanghai, China, established to foster tech companies and startups. Historically, the area was part of the city’s industrial waterfront before being revitalized into a hub for innovation and collaboration. It now integrates green public spaces with cutting-edge corporate and research facilities.

Pudong Zhangjiang Ji Art Space

The Pudong Zhangjiang Ji Art Space is a contemporary art venue located in Shanghai’s Zhangjiang High-Tech Park, established to foster cultural development within the technological hub. It serves as a platform for modern art exhibitions and cultural exchanges, reflecting the area’s transformation from an industrial zone into a center for both innovation and the arts.