Model houses are built in a community in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. It is one of 24 communities in Zhejiang which will be built into a future community. [Photo/zjol.com.cn] 

Zhejiang province recently gained support from the business community in building so-called "future communities", after 39 famous Chinese companies signed 53 cooperation agreements with the province on Aug 22.

A future community, included in the provincial government report this year, is an urban development project which aims make cities more people-oriented, environmentally friendly, and digitalized.

Zhejiang selected 24 pilot communities and has been working tirelessly to implement the project, distributing more than 30,000 questionnaires, conducting over 500 field surveys, and holding 50 seminars to collect public opinion on residential buildings, transport, public services and intelligent technologies.

"A future community is not a luxury area for the rich, but rather a warm and welcoming home for everyone," said an official from the Development and Reform Commission of Zhejiang Province. 

The province has formulated a three-step plan to carry out the project – first, it will develop the 24 pilot communities into model future communities; then, it will build around 100 pilot communities by 2021; and finally, it will implement the project throughout the province by 2022.

The future community project is not only a livelihood project, but also a driver for investment. 

Statistics show that Zhejiang's urbanization rate reached 68 percent in 2018, with around 38.5 million permanent urban residents. Old residential buildings built in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s cover an area of 245 million square meters. 

The renovation of these buildings will hopefully bring trillions of yuan in investment, local authorities said.

According to estimates from local authorities, the 24 pilot future communities have received around 130 billion yuan ($18.33 billion) in investment. Not only will 122,600 local residents benefit from the project, but 43,400 talents will also be introduced from outside the city.

The huge investment opportunity is what is driving companies to join the project.

"This is a good opportunity to grow our business, and also a great honor for us," said Zhang Yong, CEO of Alibaba, a Chinese e-commerce giant based in Hangzhou. 

Zhang said that Alibaba has been supporting the project since last October by providing solutions in surveying and planning, building intelligent service platforms and establishing industrial alliances. 

Qu Yang, vice president of China Metallurgical Group Corporation, a central-owned company now in charge of renovating a community in Huzhou, said they will try to improve the community in terms of environmental protection, low-carbon development, intelligent services and artistic functionality.