When the incremental era of "spreading the pie" comes to an end, scenario cities that reconstruct space with scenarios, activate value with operations, and define competitiveness with ecology are becoming the core proposition and future direction of high-quality urban development. When existing buildings grow industries, retain "brains", and receive people, those upward forces will grow again among the steel and concrete.
As cities come to an end from the incremental era of "spreading the pie", many skyscrapers stand at the "crossroads" of disruption and reinvention.
Those skyscrapers that grew jointly were once a footnote to the city's prosperity and development. They not only added to the "face" of the city, but also enriched the pockets of the building operators. As the wave of incremental development recedes, many vacant commercial buildings have become heavy stock assets in the city.
Recently, as one of the theme forums of the 2026 China International Fair for Trade in Services, the 2026 Headquarters Economic Conference and the (6th) Building Economy and Urban High-Quality Development Forum were held in Beijing. Guests from government departments, international institutions, industries, and commercial operations gathered together to repeatedly ask the same proposition: In the era of improving quality and efficiency, how should buildings be broken?
Bruno Machieguan, Chairman of the World Trade Outlets Alliance, said that globalization has entered a new stage of change and reshaping. The value of real estate is shifting from real estate attributes to industrial ecological value. The industry urgently needs operators to complete the identity transformation from space managers to industry co-construction partners.
The building is still the same building, but the "way of living" has changed
For a long time, buildings have been "containers" for companies, and operators have been "landlords." This logic, which was once popular, is now difficult to maintain.
The vacancy rate of office buildings in first-tier cities is a significant signal for the industry. Affected by the different paces of new supply, the vacancy rate of office buildings in first-tier cities has diverged, but rents have generally been under downward pressure.
In July this year, data released by CBRE, one of the top five international banks in the field of real estate consulting, showed that in the first half of the year, no new projects entered the Beijing office market, and there were no new supply deliveries for four consecutive quarters. The overall vacancy rate dropped for the sixth consecutive quarter, to 17.8%, and rents fell by 4.4% cumulatively, to 218.4 yuan per square meter per month. On the other hand, affected by the concentrated entry of new supply into the market, the vacancy rate in the Shanghai office market increased by 2.1 percentage points year-on-year to 24.5%, and the rental price fell by 1.7% to 237.2 yuan per square meter per month. Guangzhou is also facing pressure from supply. The vacancy rate increased by 1.3 percentage points to 22.4% at the end of the second quarter. In the first half of the year, rents fell by 3.6% to 115.6 yuan per square meter per month.
At the scene, Kuang Hongguang, executive director of the Building Economy and Headquarters Economy Branch of the China Industrial Development Promotion Association, mentioned a phenomenon: There is currently a surplus of commercial real estate in cities, but urban scenes that are suitable for people's production and life and have both humanistic and commercial values are scarce. Therefore, urban development must move from the 1.0 era of “creating space” to the 2.0 era of “creating scenes”.
How to determine whether a space counts as a "scene"? Kuang Hongguang believes that the most direct reflection is: whether people are willing to come, whether they can stay after coming, whether they are willing to share recommendations, and whether they want to come back after leaving. These are also the core sources of space vitality.
"The core capabilities of future operators are no longer real estate development and asset management, but the ability to gain insight into people's lifestyles, continue to create, and iterate scenarios." Kuang Hongguang said that when the incremental era of "spreading the pie" comes to an end, scenario cities that reconstruct space with scenarios, activate value with operations, and define competitiveness with ecology are becoming the core proposition and future direction of high-quality urban development.
At present, the "destiny" of specific buildings is more clearly bifurcated. For example, the vacancy rate of high-quality Grade A office buildings in first-tier cities continues to decline, while the vacancy rate of office buildings in older or remote areas remains high.
Under economic pressure, many companies are expanding against the trend. MFG Executive President Quan Bin said that since the beginning of this year, MFG has started construction of 6 new landmark projects in an average of 6 months.
People in the industry often mention that building operations must ensure that companies can “attract, retain, and develop well.” In fact, most building operators focus on front-end investment promotion.
"We will be very concerned about how to help a company quickly realize government-enterprise links and inter-enterprise links after it arrives, and truly turn 'up and downstairs into upstream and downstream'. This is very critical." In Quan Bin's view, buildings cannot be understood in a narrow sense as real estate carriers. They are essentially an "industrial scene" where thousands of companies gather to form industries and drive growth.
What has changed is not only the operating logic of the building, but also the people who serve it. Quan Bin noticed that at present, the main force in the workplace is younger. The post-90s and post-00s generations, coupled with the wave of OPC (one-person company) and AI era, have profound changes in the demand for office space from the companies settled there - office space should not only be equated with KPIs, performance pressure and endless "involution", but should also carry a sense of achievement, emotional value and a positive workplace atmosphere.
Wang Lei, chairman of Fushi Investment Management (Beijing) Co., Ltd., said that the super-A office buildings in the CBD (Central Business District) were once "the ultimate goal of corporate offices", representing image and efficiency; but in the AI era, "face" is not so important, and innovative industries and people pay more attention to ecology, innovation factor aggregation and services. "The future trend will be CID - Central Innovation District, and CBD may gradually evolve into CID."
A phenomenon that cannot be ignored is that in some cities, the AI industry is quietly reshaping the urban commercial real estate landscape. As the AI industry expands, these companies continue to demand rent expansion and single-family leasing. In addition to higher requirements for the industrial ecology of commercial buildings, they also have higher requirements for building hardware such as power and computing power, as well as dedicated operation and maintenance services.
"We are no longer landlords, we want to be industrial partners." Zhang Ziyue, general manager of the office building management department of China Merchants Shekou, said that the competition in buildings is no longer about the level of luxury decoration, but about whether they can achieve "up and down stairs are up and down."
Keep the “brain”: the headquarters will “grow” from the stock
Headquarters economy is an important way to activate commercial building resources. For the building economy, in addition to space reshaping, a deeper breakthrough is to allow a city to grow its own "headquarters."
According to Qian Keming, a member of the Standing Committee of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and former Vice Minister of Commerce, existing buildings need to open up a new space of imagination. In the future, it is necessary to rely on the global layout of local enterprises to cultivate an endogenous headquarters economy.
He explained that the endogenous headquarters economy refers to the economic form formed by local companies carrying out global operations and rooting headquarters functions such as decision-making, finance, R&D, and supply chain in the mother city. "Just like a tree, with its roots reaching into the soil and its crown reaching toward the sky, the roots of Chinese companies extend around the world to absorb nutrients."
“The traditional headquarters economy invites other people’s ‘brains’ in, while the endogenous headquarters economy trains your own ‘brain’.” Qian Keming said that the traditional headquarters economy contributes tax and employment multipliers, while the endogenous headquarters economy is an ecological “feedback” that drives the overall upgrade of local supply chains, capital, and talents.
In the past, when there was talk of companies going overseas, people were worried about the hollowing out of the industry—factories gone, orders gone, jobs gone, and tax revenues gone. Nowadays, going overseas has become a must for many companies. Domestic competition for inventory, trade barriers, and supply chain security are also pushing companies to go overseas. Qian Keming also said that going overseas is no longer a simple transfer of production capacity, but the construction of a global network. "The wider the network, the more the 'brain' that commands the network needs to stay in a stable, high-energy mother city."
Qian Keming proposed that the thickness of the industry determines the height of the headquarters. Compared with attracting large-scale investment from outside, endogenous cultivation is equally critical, and an open local scene is the best incubator. He gave a number of possible implementation paths, such as implementing the invisible champion forging project, one enterprise and one strategy to strengthen and repair the chain; exploring cloud R&D, small and medium-sized cities can set up offshore R&D centers in talent highlands to bring results back to local transformation; establishing a patient capital guidance fund, the growth of headquarters enterprises will be measured in ten years, and policy funds should be invested early, small and local, and be a long-term partner of the enterprise. He said: "Treat enterprises as 'seeds' to cultivate, rather than as 'leeks' to harvest."
When endogenous headquarters become a new source of growth, the buildings must not only accommodate large foreign companies, but also become the "soil" for the growth of local companies.
The headquarters economy is one of the distinctive signs of the capital's economy. Beijing has the largest number of Fortune 500 corporate headquarters for 14 consecutive years, making it a veritable "Global 500 Capital". Xicheng District, Beijing, uses "small area, large output" to interpret the solution in the era of stock improvement. 15 of the 42 companies on the list are headquartered in Xicheng.
Liu Meiying, member of the Standing Committee of the Xicheng District Committee of Beijing and executive deputy district chief, said that from the perspective of evolutionary trends, buildings are becoming vertical industrial parks and three-dimensional economic circles that gather the flow of people, logistics, capital, and information. Competition between cities has shifted from single-industry competition to comprehensive ecological competition. Whoever can provide headquarters enterprises with more stable development expectations, more efficient resource allocation, and a more livable and workable urban environment will be able to win the initiative in the competition.
Shanghai Hongqiao International Central Business District focuses on three dimensions: institutional support, advantages and opportunities, and environmental empowerment to create an all-round ecosystem suitable for the development of headquarters enterprises.
The "key" to breaking the building economy lies not in the height or quantity of buildings, but within the buildings: the root system of industry, the connections between people, and the "soil" a city is willing to cultivate for the growth of enterprises. When existing buildings grow industries, retain "brains" and receive people. Those upward forces will re-grow between the steel and concrete.
China Youth Daily·China Youth Daily reporter Zhao Limei Source: China Youth Daily
