A mini roundtable and symposium discussion event fousing on the construction of a governance community for "International Talent Apartments"—was recently held at the Ronghua Fourth Neighborhood Committee in Gubei Area.Approximately 40 participants, including experts and scholars in the field of community governance, university professors, representatives from talent apartment operators, property management companies, businesses, and Chinese and foreign residents, gathered to conduct in-depth discussions on topics such as community integration, feedback mechanism, conflict resolution, and multi-party collaboration in international talent apartments.

“When I was living in other communities, as a tenant, I rarely participated in community affairs and always felt like a ‘passerby.’ Here, the neighborhood committee actively invites us to participate in activities, and our opinions are responded to and implemented in a timely manner.” As a landscape designer and one of the first residents of Jincheng Apartment, Pan Yanqin has participated in a number of community activities, including World Earth Day environmental protection classes and habitat garden creation, at the invitation of the residential area.

During the "Everyone Speaks on People's Democracy Throughout the Process" session at the event, Pan shared her growth story in the talent apartment. In her view, through this model, which uses shared interests as a bond and encourages residents to speak out, has made her feel a stronger sense of belonging to the community and has allowed her to truly experience the change in identity from "resident" to an active participant of the "co-governance" scheme.

Sheng Hong, Secretary of the Party Branch and Director of the Residents' Committee of the Fourth Residential Area of Gubei Ronghua, shared his experience in the governance model of international community talent apartments.Shen Haobin, Deputy General Manager of Shanghai Land Group Wonder Life Rental Housing Operation Management Co, shared his practical exploration of collaborative governance of talent apartments from the perspective of the property operator.Dai Jiemei, Deputy Director of Hongqiao Street Community Health Service Center, introduced how to deliver high-quality community medical resources to residents' "doorsteps" to allow easier access of grassroot medical servicess for residents at the talent apartments.

As one of the most internationalized communities in Shanghai, the Hongqiao Subdistrict has attracted a large number of young talents to its international talent apartments such as Jinghong and Jingcheng.

According to the Social Work Office of Hongqiao Street, the first challenge in governing these new residential communities lies in the fact that the residents are young and highly flexible, and generally have a weak sense of belonging to the community; secondly, the residents have diverse cultural backgrounds and occupations, and they have highly personalized needs for living facilities and community activities.

In response to the aforementioned governance challenges, Hongqiao Subdistrict actively practices whole-process people's democracy, constructs a governance and service framework of "Rongqing Jingcai + Party and Mass Service Station + Talent Apartment Co-governance Committee", and establishes a closed-loop working mechanism of "proposal, action and supervision" to promote joint discussion of problems, shared responsibility, shared resources and shared results.

Through preliminary door-to-door visits and regular opinion solicitation, the subdistrict has effectively addressed several residents' concerns regarding their livelihood needs. For example, a barbershop has been introduced into the commercial facilities to fill the gap in residents' daily life amenities; the Gubei Ronghua Community Health Service Station has been set up in the talent apartment, providing not only basic medical treatment and medication services, but also international health testing and traditional Chinese medicine services, bringing high-quality medical resources directly to residents' doorsteps.

The challenge remains when it comes to keep helping new neighbors overcome cultural barriers and truly integrate into the community, and allow public spaces to be efficiently shared to meet diverse needs, and also to balance commercial vitality and community tranquility.

To further promote the transformation and upgrading of international talent apartments from a "living space" to "co-governance community", the participants were divided into three groups to conduct in-depth discussions on three major themes: "integration of new residents and cultivation of a sense of belonging", "optimization of community facilities and space sharing" and "commercial-residential linkage and vitality creation".

Drawing on their own experiences, all parties actively offered suggestions from multiple dimensions, including the design of community icebreaking activities, flexible allocation of spatial functions, and the establishment of a friendly business-resident agreement, proposing numerous practical and innovative governance ideas. Experts from the Hongqiao International Community Governance Research Institute provided professional reviews of each group's discussion results, offering theoretical support for the optimization and implementation of the solutions.

"The governance of international talent apartments is not only a routine test of grassroots governance, but also a core test for Hongqiao in building a higher-level international community and enhancing the city's soft power. We hope that through an open, professional, and pragmatic exchange platform, every suggestion will be taken seriously and every piece of wisdom can take root and flourish," said Ji Lingyun, Deputy Secretary of the Party Working Committee of Hongqiao Subdistrict.

Looking forward, the subdistrict will systematically sort out the opinions and suggestions collected during this event and promote the implementation of mature solutions as soon as possible. At the same time, it will continue to cultivate community self-governance backbones by focusing on their common interests and hobbies, build more platforms for residents and businesses to participate in community governance, and explore the formation of a win-win model where "the community provides the platform, businesses perform, and residents benefit" to jointly build a warmer, more vibrant, and more welcoming international community.