City Expo – Shanghai International Urban and Architectural Exhibition

The 2025 Shanghai International Urban and Architectural Expo was successfully held from October 30 to November 1 at the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition Center. As a core thematic event of “World Cities Day,” this edition of the Urban Expo was co-hosted by UN-Habitat and the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Housing and Urban–Rural Development, under the theme “Empowering Urban and Rural Development through Smart Technologies, Leading Low-Carbon Growth with Green Solutions.” Covering nearly 40,000 square meters, the expo adopted an integrated exhibition framework of “6+4+N,” systematically showcasing Shanghai’s innovative achievements and practical pathways in urban development, governance, and sustainable growth.

This year’s expo featured six major thematic zones, including a dedicated World Cities Day zone, district-level achievement showcases, an artificial intelligence zone, and a green, low-carbon zone. Meanwhile, four industry‑focused sections centered on the three core pillars of livability, resilience, and smartness, highlighting developments in green growth, urban renewal, smart empowerment, and resilient city initiatives. Industry leaders such as Tunnel Shares, China Construction Eighth Engineering Bureau, Shanghai City Investment Group, and San Ke Shu brought cutting-edge technologies and benchmark projects, making them standout highlights of the event.

At this year’s expo, artificial intelligence has been deeply integrated into key processes such as construction, inspection, and surveying. Approximately 20 AI‑driven construction solutions were showcased, while Shanghai’s exemplary AI use cases and innovative application scenarios in the housing and urban‑rural development sector were unveiled for the first time. The nation’s first AI‑powered MaaS system for construction, along with the open service platform “CloudWorker Large Model,” made their debut, boasting over 100,000 registered users and more than 1,000 implemented projects. Robots were ubiquitous throughout the venue: corrugated pipe inspection robots adapted to complex environments, and intelligent scanning robots completed panoramic scans of 7,000 square meters in just 22 minutes. Additionally, Shanghai Gas introduced the country’s first intelligent patrol robot for gas leak detection, capable of providing early warnings with PPB‑level precision.

Tunnel Shares debuted its “Geopolymer Reinforced Composite Mortar,” which sets within hours, increases strength by over 30%, and is ideal for trenchless repair of underground utility networks—cutting construction timelines by 60% and extending pipeline lifespans to more than 20 years. China Construction Technology presented its “Industrial Upward—Industrial Space Building Products,” offering a “three‑category, nine‑grade” system tailored to diverse enterprise needs, reducing construction time by 30%, labor requirements by 40%, and construction waste by 80% compared to traditional cast-in-place industrial buildings. Furthermore, the Inner Ring Elevated Road’s youth‑oriented renovation, achieved through four phases of work, has established a comprehensive suite of low‑impact, rapid‑upgrade technologies, providing a replicable model for expressway modernization nationwide.

The expo also introduced solutions based on human factors engineering for the first time, leveraging eye‑tracking and EEG data to optimize AR‑guided systems and lighting cues in subway stations, boosting diversion decision‑making speed by 30% and improving passenger transfer efficiency by 10%. Shanghai’s pioneering “AI‑Customized Demand‑Responsive” bus platform has already been piloted in Fengxian District, transforming the traditional “people wait for buses” model into “buses wait for people,” increasing ridership from 10 to 50 passengers per trip. In the realm of the low‑altitude economy, the first commercial cross‑sea low‑altitude route—the Lingang–Shengsi passenger service—has completed its maiden flight, accompanied by the release of Shanghai’s inaugural “Guidelines for Low‑Altitude Takeoff and Landing Site Layout.”

The district‑level showcase gathered distinctive practices from all 16 districts of Shanghai and the Lingang New Area, with Pudong, Huangpu, Jing’an, Xuhui, Changning, and Yangpu serving as featured guests. Yangpu District highlighted its vision of an “Eco‑Charm Quantum City,” emphasizing Fuxing Island’s experimental positioning as a “Quantum City” and its ambitious “Future Bird Island” development plan. Meanwhile, Xiaohongshu’s “REDLAND Open World Adventure Island” and Bilibili’s “Cheers Music Festival” drew over 40,000 visitors, fostering a dynamic interplay between online communities and offline waterfront experiences.

In parallel with the expo, more than 30 specialized events were held, including flagship presentations unveiling exemplary AI use cases in the housing and urban‑rural development sector, as well as a map of typical green building cases from the 14th Five‑Year Plan. A series of forums focused on the four key themes of “renewal, smartness, greenness, and resilience,” engaging in in-depth discussions around topics such as intelligent construction, digital‑intelligence‑enabled green buildings, and low‑carbon transformation of existing industrial parks.