CFLD's Dachang Movie Town Wins International Recognition and Selected as Global Model of Characteristic Town

          On October 30, 2018, the 13th annual session of the Global Forum on Human Settlements (GFHS), jointly organized by GFHS and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN ESCAP), was held in Bangkok, Thailand. During the session, Dachang Movie Town, built and run by CFLD, was selected as the Global Model of Characteristic Towns, marking the first time that the CFLD sustainable operation of industrial towns concept has won the recognition of mainstream international organizations.

          More than 500 participants gathered at the two-day event, including former President of the UN Security Council, Under-Secretary-General and High Representative Ambassador Anwarul K. Chowdhury, and former Chief of the Sustainable Consumption and Production Branch in the Division of Technology, Industry and Economics of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Arab Hoballah, together with other senior officials from international organizations, diplomatic envoys, government representatives, mayors, and representatives from all walks of life. The event focused on the theme of advancing urban innovations toward achieving SDG 11 (making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable) as well as a new urban agenda.

          At the 2018 sustainable cities and human settlements awards ceremony, CFLD received the Global Model of Characteristic Towns award for its Dachang Movie Town project. Located in the northern Dachang New Industry City, which lies 30km east of the China World Trade Center in Beijing and sits upon the banks of the Chaobai River, CFLD Dachang Movie Town is just 8km from Beijing's new administrative center. Following a development strategy that places importance on both "incubation and industrialization" and a focus on the development of "film-television plus", Dachang Movie Town is committed to promoting the integrated development of culture, S&T and finance as well as to building a complete creative film-television industry chain and a brand-new ecosystem.

          The judging panel believed CFLD should be awarded the honor due to the following factors. Firstly, the Dachang Movie Town project boasts a cutting-edge mission to build a solid ecosystem for both the film and television industry and the tourism industry. Having attracted a number of leading enterprises within the industry, this has already begun to take shape. Secondly, in terms of spatial planning, the project fully accounts for both "industry" and "urban settlements", distributing the town center and public space along the riverbank and building a pedestrian-friendly, multi-functional neighborhood. Thirdly, landscape design within the project gives prominence to cultural features and allows the film-television theme to intermingle with scenes of everyday life. Lyu Haifeng, Secretary-General of the GFHS, believes that the development of the film and television tourism industry of CFLD has far-reaching potential and has made positive contributions to sustainable urban development.

          According to Mr. Chen Huaizhou, Executive President of CFLD, in line with the core concept of "one specialty industry for each industrial town" and upholding the basis of an efficient PPP model, CFLD has joined hands with the government to create a new type of industrial town. He explained that, with a focus on the leading industry, they conducted in-depth studies of the regional industrial base and enlisted a professional team to provide tailor-made industrial development planning, global resource integration, investment management, intelligent operation, and other full industry chain services, with the view to ensuring "the sustainable operation of every industrial town."

          It has been reported that Dachang Movie Town has already put six world-class studios, three internationally leading 4K showrooms and three landscape workshops into use. The town has signed with more than 100 domestic and foreign enterprises within the creative film-television industry, giving a contracted investment of RMB 16.5 billion. Two of the contracted companies that have settled in the town include Jin FX and Base FX. Jin FX produced the vivid virtual wolf in the movie "The Wolf Totem", while Base FX produced the wonderful post-production visual effects in "Captain America 3" among other films.

          GFHS is a non-governmental and non-profit international organization established in New York in 2008. Chaired by Ambassador Anwarul K. Chowdhury, former President of the United Nations Security Council, UN Under-Secretary-General and High Representative, GFHS is "committed to sustainable cities and human settlements." Up to 2017, the annual session of the Global Forum on Human Settlements has been successfully held for 12 consecutive years around the world. The winners of Sustainable Cities and Human Settlements Awards 2018 also included Spain's Bilbao City (Global Green City) and Barueri Brazil's Smart City (Global Urban Innovation).