- City aims to integrate AI across design, construction and public services by 2028
- pilot projects and high-quality datasets will lay groundwork for an “AI-plus” ecosystem in urban planning
Hangzhou is turning to AI to reshape its urban and rural landscape, announcing a three-year “AI-plus” action plan for 2026-2028 that officials say will cement the city’s ambition to become China’s leading AI hub.
The plan, formally released on May 19, lays out “1 overall goal, 8 key areas and 17 priority tasks,” targeting design, construction, management and service operations across the city’s built environment.
By 2026, Hangzhou aims to establish at least five high-quality datasets, launch 13 AI-driven application scenarios and foster a range of corporate AI innovations in urban development.
By 2028, the city expects the AI applications across the eight areas to achieve tangible results, forming a comprehensive “AI-plus” ecosystem.
“We will accelerate intelligent design and BIM-assisted review, aiming for AI-assisted compliance checks on fire and structural safety rules to cover over 80% by 2028,” a city official said.
The plan also calls for 60 smart construction pilot projects and the development of 10 leading pilot companies to explore human-machine collaboration in complex, hazardous or labor-intensive scenarios.
Hangzhou will expand AI integration to tendering, cost and quality management, smart neighborhoods, urban diagnostics, village modernization and government services.
The city plans no fewer than 40 smart neighborhood projects and 60 smart home pilots, alongside intelligent applications in public services such as the “Hang Xiao Zhu” AI assistant for construction queries.
To ensure implementation, the city will build a government-industry-academia platform, leveraging the hangzhou building engineering innovation center to host “scenario innovation spaces” and “scenario reception halls,” promoting collaborative breakthroughs and packaging best practices into a nationally replicable “Hangzhou model.”
At a key plenary session of Hangzhou’s municipal Communist Party committee held on December 17-18, 2025, city leaders formally introduced the goal of building China’s “top city for AI innovation and development” during the country’s 15th Five-Year Plan period.
