Development potential evaluation and health regeneration strategies for small cities based on an amenity orientation

The development experiences of developed countries and the new trends in China's economic and social development jointly reveal that amenity-oriented development is an important path for high-quality development of small cities. In order to effectively promote the transformation of comfort-oriented development in small cities, an implementation framework consisting of three phases of work, namely “potential evaluation - urban health examination - urban renewal”, has been constructed. Firstly, the study selected indicators from four aspects: natural environment, infrastructure, public services, and social culture. Utilizing the coefficient of variation method and cluster analysis, it conducts graded and classified evaluations of the amenity levels and structures of small cities nationwide. On this basis, we perform a graded and classified combination analysis, categorizing small cities across the country into 11 types with different potentials for amenity-oriented development. Secondly, by integrating a comprehensive analysis of the socioeconomic development of each type of small city, the focus of the examination and renewal work of these 11 types are differentiated into action directions and implementation paths such as “supplementing (strengthening) the foundation, raising the level”“repairing the shortcoming”“improving the quality”“shaping characteristics” and “creating brands”, and corresponding implementation strategies have been put forward. Finally, the study proposes that the current method of urban health examination implemented in large cities cannot be applied to small cities in a simple way. The construction of health examination mechanism of small cities that is horizontally comparable, vertically monitorable, operationally strong and practical is a key technical issue in promoting the transformation of amenity-oriented development in small cities.