B. Contents and Requirements
In order to improve the scientificity of planning, implement new development concepts, adhere to the people-centered principle, promote high-quality development, optimize the territory pattern, make overall consideration of ecological, agricultural and urban space, strengthen regional coordination, the development of urban agglomeration and metropolitan area, and improve the level of urban governance. Two themes are set: "National Territorial Governance towards Ecological Civilization" and "Urban Governance towards High-Quality Development". In order to facilitate the contestants to conceive their topic selection and expert evaluation, 10 topics are set under the two themes. Please choose one of the 10 topics of the two themes set by the competition to participate in the competition.
Contestants should also add 1-3 technical keywords. It is suggested to choose from the key words given in the competition instructions. If there is no matching item, Contestants can also choose their own technical keywords.
1. National Territorial Governance towards Ecological Civilization
Territory is the space carrier of ecological civilization construction. Information and intelligent methods have a huge application space in the design and construction of territory development pattern. Contestants should focus on digital driven territory pattern construction, and explore the application of new technologies in this field. Related topics are as follows:
(1) Coordinated development of urban agglomeration and metropolitan area: Aiming at the key problems in the process of coordinated development of urban agglomeration and metropolitan area, such as optimal allocation of resources, ecological coordination, industrial level transition, the development of new quality productivity forces, "three structures and one network" layout, contestants need to put forward the regional collaborative decision support model of land space between urban agglomeration and metropolitan area. Research interests include but are not limited to: the boundaries of urban agglomerations and metropolitan areas determining, the hinterland scope of core cities analyzing, urban agglomeration and metropolitan area planning, urban network and space of flow, regional industrial collaboration and industrial cluster network, Industrial Technology linkage and innovation network, regional collaborative intelligent governance, etc.
In January 2025, the State Council officially approved the "Beijing - Tianjin - Hebei Land Spatial Planning (2021 - 2035)". As a national strategy, the coordinated development of Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei will enter a new stage of development. To encourage participating teams to explore the application of new technologies in regional strategic development and land spatial planning, this topic is set as a specially supported topic by Baidu Map Insight in the competition. Participating teams that register for this topic and have their research objects within the Beijing - Tianjin - Hebei urban agglomeration can apply to use relevant data provided by Baidu Map Insight.
(2) Land Use Control and Improvement of Utilization Efficiency: Based on the concept of the coordinated development of multiple elements in land space, conduct quantitative analysis, evaluation, and simulation of the key issues related to the improvement of the utilization efficiency, functions, and quality of land space. The research directions include but are not limited to the analysis and coordinated optimization of the land space pattern, the evaluation of the suitability of land space development and the carrying capacity of resources and the environment, the overall planning of land and sea space, the renovation and restoration of land space, and the "trinity" protection of cultivated land.
(3) Ecosystem Enhancement and Green and Low-carbon Development: From the perspective of the community of life in territorial space, conduct research on the issues of ecosystem enhancement involved in the governance of territorial space. Based on the goals of "carbon peak" and "carbon neutrality", carry out quantitative decision-making model research on its implementation paths and related issues. The research directions include but are not limited to the assessment of the ecological status of territorial space and the evaluation of asset values, the conservation of natural ecological space and the enhancement of ecological functions, the protection of biodiversity in the process of territorial development, the implementation paths of "carbon peak" and "carbon neutrality", the evaluation of the effectiveness of carbon sequestration and emission reduction in territorial space, ecological infrastructure, etc.
(4) Urban rural integration and Rural Revitalization: Facing the key problems in the implementation of Rural Revitalization Strategy and the High-Quality Development Project for Hundreds of Counties, Thousands of Towns, and Ten Thousand Villages, aiming at the penetration of digital technology, Internet and big data into rural areas in the new era, contestants need to study the quantitative decision support model to guide urban-rural integration and Rural Revitalization and development. Research interests include but are not limited to: the reconstruction of urban-rural spatial integration, the "urban villages" renovation, the positioning and development strategy of small towns, the path and mode of rural revitalization, the protection and improvement of countryside features, and the exploration of the development mode of e-commerce village in the Internet era.
In 2025, the No. 1 Central Document for the first time proposed the "new driving forces for agricultural productivity" and the "comprehensive rural revitalization" against the backdrop of urban-rural integration. The comprehensive rural revitalization continues to step into a new journey. In order to encourage participating teams to explore the application of digital technologies in rural areas, integrate data elements into rural development practices, and explore new paths for the high-quality development of rural revitalization through digital empowerment after achieving comprehensive poverty alleviation, this topic is set as a special supported topic by SmartSteps in this competition. Participating teams that register for this topic and take Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan Province, Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture in Guizhou Province, and Xi'an City in Shaanxi Province as their research objects can apply to use the mobile signaling data of these regions provided by SmartSteps.
(5) Urbanization Development and Spatial Development Governance Strategies: This is a special support topic, and teams participating in this topic can apply for continuous access to mobile signaling data from Smart Steps for multiple years. The development of cities follows inherent evolution rules, and planning interventions should be based on a correct understanding and compliance with these rules. Participating teams can use theories and methods from evolutionary geography to study the spatial evolution rules under new development patterns, analyze and evaluate the development strategies and governance strategies of cities, and provide quantitative model guidance for the spatial development of cities. Research directions include but are not limited to urban growth evolution dynamics and mechanisms of urban development changes, expansion patterns and structure simulation of urban spatial development, evolution of single-center/multi-center urban structure and its mechanisms, spatial structure of urban clusters and associated network evolution, implementation of pathways for reduced development of cities, development of new city planning and implementation pathways, identification of physical territories in urban areas, delineation of urban development boundaries, identification and quantitative analysis of new spatial forms under the influence of new technologies, etc.
2. Urban governance towards high-quality development
With the modernization of national governance system, the importance of comprehensive urban governance has gradually increased. Contestants need to think about how to use a variety of new technologies to strengthen and improve the people-centered governance system. Related topics are as follows:
(6) Urban examination and planning implementation evaluation: Contestants need to innovate urban physical examination, urban real-time examination system and planning implementation evaluation methods, study relevant models, explore the application methods of big data, and find problems in the process of urban development; Develop models for diagnosis and treatment of urban diseases exposed by physical examination, such as disordered operation, housing shortage, energy shortage and so on. Research interests include but are not limited to: personalized urban examination and urban real-time examination technology, urban space monitoring, planning and implementation supervision and control, reconstruction of occupational and residential system, etc.
(7) Safe and resilient city and infrastructure configuration: Contestants need to analyze and evaluate city's response and adaptability to various uncertain factors such as disasters and events, and propose and analyze relevant strategies to improve urban safety and resilience with the help of decision support model. Research interests include but are not limited to: healthy city research; Urban risk assessment; Safety toughness evaluation, prediction and Simulation of urban planning and layout; Urban infrastructure system; Analysis of urban disaster bearing body, disaster causing factors and disaster pregnant environment; Urban rainwater and flood management and sponge city, etc.
(8) Improvement of Urban Public Space Quality and Intelligent Urban Design: In response to the deficiencies in urban space quality improvement, environmental optimization, and the protection and inheritance of historical and cultural heritage, and aiming at urban renewal, street renovation, park - city construction, and healthy - city construction, conduct research on decision - making support models, identify short - board issues, and propose solutions. The research directions include but are not limited to digital urban design, improvement of street - space friendliness, enhancement of the recreational service capacity of parks and green spaces, construction of green infrastructure, urban leisure and tourism experience, guidance of residents' healthy lifestyles, protection of historical context, and construction of historical landscape patterns.
In July 2024, "The Beijing Central Axis: A Masterpiece of the Ideal Capital Order in China" was successfully inscribed on the World Heritage List, providing a Chinese case for the protection of world cultural heritage. To encourage participating teams to extensively research and develop new digital - technology methods for the protection of historical and cultural cities, this topic is set as a jointly supported topic by Baidu and SmartSteps. Teams that register for this topic and focus on the protection of historical and cultural cities in Beijing, Xi'an, and Suzhou can apply to use relevant data on historical and cultural cities provided by Baidu Map Insight and SmartSteps' smart footprint data.
(9) Urban Behavioral Space and life circle: In response to problems such as lack of urban public services, low efficiency of public services, and weakened sense of happiness among residents, focusing on the construction of complete communities, 15-minute community life circle construction, and all-age-friendly city construction, research will be conducted on decision support models based on urban mobility space to improve the efficiency of urban public services. Research directions include but are not limited to optimization of urban public service facilities, all-age-friendly city construction, population behavior analysis and facility layout guidance of community life circles, urban spatiotemporal planning, urban consumption system and business district optimization, and construction of digital life circles in the context of online and offline integration.
(10) Smart Transportation and Modern Logistics Development: This topic is specially supported by Baidu Map Insight. Teams participating in this topic can apply for access to Baidu Map Insight’s traffic big data, such as commuting time and traffic congestion index. Transportation plays a fundamental, leading, strategic, and pillar role in the national and social-economic development and is the backbone of regional development and the operating network of cities. Against the backdrop of building a "transportation power," participating teams should conduct research in the following directions: the interactive mechanism between transportation and regional socio-economic development, including the spatiotemporal convergence effect, factor attraction effect, spatial correlation system reconstruction effect, and the network layout of transportation infrastructure under the context of new energy; the relationship between transportation and the organization of internal urban space and the impact on resident activities, including research on the generation of traffic congestion and commuting time, prediction of road congestion risk and road safety risk, the interaction between transportation and land use, optimization of the integrated public transportation system, TOD development strategy, and the construction of rail transit centers and integrated stations. Focusing on the mutual dependence relationship between modern logistics systems and cities, optimizing the allocation of logistics service resources, logistics management and informatization, and the application of Internet of Things (IoT) technology.
3. Technical key words bank
Contestants should show the research methods, specific application algorithms and other technical features of their works by 1-3 key words. The following key words are for reference. If there is no match in the following key words, Contestants can choose their own technical key words.
Large Language Model（LLM）,Generative AI, Urban system simulation, spatiotemporal behavior analysis, multilevel regression, structural equation model (SEM), discrete choice model, spatial autocorrelation, machine learning(ML), neural network, graph algorithm, social network analysis(SNA), space syntax, accessibility analysis, physical environment model, agent model, operational research model, game model, dynamic evolution model, etc.
Attachment 1-1: Instructions of Baidu Map Insight data (in Chinese)