Decoding the “15th Five-Year Plan”: Three Major Urban Agglomerations Moving Toward Higher-Level Coordination

The Outline of the 15th FiveYear Plan for National Economic and Social Development of the People's Republic of China explicitly proposes supporting the BeijingTianjinHebei region, the Yangtze River Delta, and the GuangdongHong KongMacao Greater Bay Area in building worldclass city clusters. The article argues that this arrangement reflects how China's regional development is shifting from the expansion of individual cities to a coordinated development model centered on city clusters. The report reviews the progress made by the three major city clusters during the 14th FiveYear Plan period: the economic aggregate of the BeijingTianjinHebei region continued to expand, the overall strength of the Yangtze River Delta increased, and the Greater Bay Area achieved new progress in areas such as mutual recognition of standards and the construction of a living circle. The article points out that these regions have become important platforms for innovationdriven development and also key forces in promoting highquality development. The article also mentions that local 15th FiveYear Plans are being refined and implemented around directions such as primary engines, spatial coordination, sources of momentum, and cooperation platforms. As more city clusters advance in a tiered manner, China's regional development pattern is moving toward networked coordination, structural optimization, and interconnected symbiosis.