Social work experts Tuesday called for more efforts and investment to encourage more urban residents to participate in building stronger local communities.

A local autonomy system should be established to provide a stage for urban residents to participate in the management of their own communities, said Wu Yiming, a professor with the Social Work Department of Nanjing Normal University.

"People need to have more say in local affairs and social services in various fields, such as culture and education, medicine and health, environmental protection, mediating civil disputes and helping to maintain public order," Wu said.

Wu made the remarks at a conference on urban neighbourhood community development and autonomy yesterday in Beijing.

"Following the establishment of directly elected village committees in China's far-flung rural areas since the 1980s, the democratic reform of local government in urban communities has also made progress in recent years," he said.

Taking the Baixia District of Nanjing in East China's Jiangsu Province as an example, all neighbourhood committees were formed through direct elections early this year. And the voter turnout rate was as high as 87 per cent in some cases.

Baixia District is a trial district of an urban community development programme which is supported by the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

The US$150,000 programme has chosen Baixia District, an old urban commercial district, as a trial study site to promote subdistrict office reforms, urban community direct election, local participation of community building and the training of community officials.

A subdistrict office is a platform for collecting public opinions and improving the environment and the economy of urban districts, said Hou Xin'an, a UNDP representative.

"The democratic process in Chinese cities is getting increasingly vibrant with the introduction of direct elections and local autonomy in some cities," Hou said.

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