Shanghai eyes a world-class safety ranking

Shanghai has released its first comprehensive five-year plan aimed at transforming the city into a model of urban safety and resilience, with the goal of ranking among the world's safest cities by 2030, officials said on Tuesday.

"Building a resilient and safe city is not only an inherent need for urban development, but also relates to the vital interests of every citizen," said Zhang Lei, deputy secretary-general of the municipal government and director of the Shanghai urban operations management center.

Spanning the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-30), the blueprint establishes a framework centered around six strategic pillars: spatial capacity, infrastructure resilience, community collaboration in governance, risk prevention, emergency response and technology integration.

The plan calls for optimizing the city's security spatial layout and upgrading infrastructure, including power grids and drainage systems.

Shanghai also plans to expand "dual use" public spaces — everyday civic venues that can be quickly converted into emergency shelters or supply hubs in times of crises.

To strengthen social resilience, the municipality will expand neighborhood safety networks, encourage public reporting of hazards and streamline emergency aid mechanisms. It will also deepen cross-regional coordination within the Yangtze River Delta by integrating joint law enforcement, disease control and disaster management efforts.

The plan emphasizes a shift from reactive crisis response to proactive prevention through end-to-end risk management, real-time emergency response as well as technology-driven solutions. The initiative builds on the steady progress made over the past five years.

According to Zhang, Shanghai has systematically strengthened preparedness to mitigate natural disasters, raised workplace safety standards, enhanced public health surveillance and expanded crime prevention networks, achieving 13 consecutive years of increases in public safety and satisfaction ratings.

"Visitors from across the nation and around the globe consistently experience Shanghai as an exceptionally safe place," Zhang said. "Safety has become the defining hallmark of our urban governance and the bedrock of Shanghai as a modern global metropolis."

Citing recent challenges posed by Typhoon Dolphin, Zhang said Shanghai withstood an extraordinary rainstorm that brought an average of 309 millimeters of rainfall across the city. Despite the extreme downpour, "the city has secured overall safe operation".

Liu Bin, director of the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Emergency Management, said the city is transforming neighborhood facilities, including local Communist Party of China service centers, into temporary safe havens during extreme weather to make emergency assistance more readily accessible. During Typhoon Dolphin, the sites provided immediate shelter, rest areas and supplies for stranded residents and visitors.

"Regardless of whether they are local residents, tourists, delivery riders or sanitation workers, anyone caught in extreme weather can find a nearby shelter to take cover and rest for a while," Liu said.

The city is also enhancing precision safety services by upgrading local fire stations into comprehensive emergency response hubs and replacing aging urban gas pipelines.

To foster civic engagement, authorities are making use of the 12345 citizen hotline while encouraging food delivery drivers and couriers to identify and report safety hazards along their delivery routes.

Sun Shan, deputy director of the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Planning and Natural Resources, outlined a three-tier spatial strategy to strengthen the city's resilience.

At the regional level, Shanghai will strengthen defenses across the Yangtze River Delta by constructing major flood-control infrastructure, including the Wusong River project, establishing cross-provincial emergency corridors, and using surrounding farmland to safeguard regional food and ecological security.

At a citywide level, the metropolis will expand green defenses along coastlines and rivers, restore the Huangpu River ecosystem and build multifunctional ecological corridors that integrate land, water and forestry management to create vibrant, nature-rich spaces.

Within the dense downtown core, the city will further promote the integrated, dual-use development of space for everyday and emergency needs while increasing emergency shelter capacity across Shanghai's five new suburban hubs.