On June 1, officials of Shanghai and Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui provinces gathered in Shanghai to map out the blueprint for the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta region. At the meeting a three-year action plan which aims to build the region into a world-class city cluster by 2020 has been approved. Eleven contracts were signed during the meeting to meet the goals proposed by the plan.

Besides, the first expert consultation for the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta region was also held. Prof. CEHN Wen from Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (NIGLAS), together with other 9 specialists, were appointed as   consulting experts during the meeting.

During the past 25 years’ research of regional development and planning, Prof. CEHN Wen has insisted to stay at the scientific frontline and has carried out a lot of innovative and challenging researches. She integrated the scientific development and advanced theories and tracked the international hot spots relevant to the economic geography and regional management. She was the first one that put forward the “spatial equilibrium” theory and issued the first essay (quoted over 200 times) and the first monograph. This theory, respectively from the view of industrial products and ecological products, systematically explains the theoretical basis, internal mechanism and methodology system of the spatial function divisions, which provides a theoretical foundation for the regional sustainable development. It is a great academic innovation that integrates the geography and economics. In addition, CHEN positively explored the methodology of countryside planning that is featured with getting involved in the community, the green transition method and management mode, which opened up a new area of the construction of countryside ecological civilization.