Promote innovative development of characteristic towns, avoid homogenization, and stimulate new vitality

        Creating characteristic towns is an important measure to promote people-centered new urbanization and achieve rural revitalization. In recent years, many characteristic towns have been built in various regions, effectively promoting the modernization of agriculture and rural areas and the integration of urban and rural development. However, there are also some characteristic towns in certain areas that have encountered problems such as unclear characteristics, low-level redundant construction, poor industrial linkage, and disorderly competition during the development process. To solve these problems, it is necessary to promote the innovative development of characteristic towns.

        Focus on shaping distinctive features. The uniqueness lies in being different from others, having what others don't have, being superior to others, and being superior to others. The charm and vitality of a characteristic town lies in its uniqueness. If urban construction is not carried out scientifically and reasonably, but relies on real estate and large-scale investment to build towns and cities, or follows the trend and replicates the characteristics of other places, it will lead to homogenization and lack of uniqueness in small towns, thereby losing their attractiveness and competitiveness. To shape the unique temperament of a characteristic town, innovative ideas should be developed, combined with its own resource endowment, industry positioning should be identified, scientific planning should be carried out, and the industrial, cultural, tourism, and community service functions of the town should be organically integrated to explore the characteristics of industry, ecology, or humanities. Among them, the focus is on cultivating and developing characteristic industries. Characteristic industries are the economic foundation of characteristic towns. With characteristic industries, there are jobs, opportunities for entrepreneurship, and prospects for development, which can better achieve economic prosperity and ensure the well-being of the people.

Strengthen market drive. To build characteristic towns, it is necessary to fully leverage the decisive role of the market in resource allocation, make full use of diversified and sustainable investment and financing mechanisms, and rely more on market forces to drive development. Properly handle the relationship between the market and the government, give full play to the decisive role of the "invisible hand" and the guiding role of the "visible hand", and achieve the mutual promotion and organic combination of the market and the government. Whatever the market can do well, leave it to the market to do; Anything that can utilize market mechanisms, introduce market mechanisms. At the same time, we will accelerate the construction of a service-oriented government, adhere to forward-looking and comprehensive planning, and strengthen the top-level design of characteristic towns; Improve the business environment and stimulate social creativity and business development vitality through a favorable policy and institutional environment.

        Inspire the power of technology. At present, a new round of technological revolution is accelerating, with significant breakthroughs in some key scientific and technological fields. The integration and application of different technologies have led to the emergence of major innovations, bringing tremendous changes to the way society produces and lives. To build a characteristic town, we should seize the opportunity of new scientific and technological revolution, transform and upgrade traditional industries with new ideas, new technologies, new processes and new methods, transform traditional energy use, sewage and garbage treatment methods with new energy demonstration, ecological harmless treatment, green building promotion, etc., and use new technologies such as the Internet, the Internet of Things, cloud computing, big data, new materials, artificial intelligence, biotechnology to generate modern manufacturing, modern services, and modern agriculture that are compatible with the economic model of the characteristic town, and cultivate new business types, new models, and new growth points.

        Realize kinetic energy conversion. The development from traditional towns to modern characteristic towns will not be achieved overnight. We must focus on the long term and establish an endogenous driving mechanism for the sustainable development of characteristic towns, promoting the transformation and upgrading of the development momentum of characteristic towns and making them stronger. To achieve kinetic energy conversion, we need to rely on institutional innovation and technological innovation. In the process of small town construction, it is necessary to emancipate the mind, use innovative thinking to promote work, solve problems, create a good government ecology, improve the development environment, and maximize the endogenous motivation of various subjects; We must also focus on breaking down barriers in the innovation chain, reducing innovation costs, improving innovation efficiency, relying on innovation driven development to form new vitality, and promoting high-quality development of characteristic towns.

        (The author is a professor at the School of Economics and Management, Wuhan University)