What can a hotline tell us about a city? In Beijing, it can reveal not only where public services fall short, but also how residents' voices can shape government decisions, how technology can improve urban management, and how cities can learn from one another.

The 2026 Beijing Forum on Swift Response to Public Complaints (SRPC) opened on Monday under the theme "People's City, Better Future," with a focus on "Digital Intelligence Era and People's City." More than 3,200 participants, including over 240 international guests from more than 70 countries, gathered to discuss the future of urban governance.

From being heard to shaping the city

Since 2019, Beijing has used its 12345 public service hotline as a central channel for residents to report problems, seek assistance and make suggestions. Over the past seven-plus years, the hotline has handled around 200 million requests, with both resolution and satisfaction rates exceeding 97%.

For Beijing, the figures reflect an approach that puts people's needs at the center of urban governance. The hotline also offers a practical example of how China explores whole-process people's democracy in urban governance: by creating a regular channel for residents to express their concerns, participate in public affairs and see how their feedback is addressed.

Rather than limiting public participation to the expression of opinions, the swift-response mechanism seeks to connect residents' concerns with government action. When individual complaints reveal recurring problems and lead to adjustments in public services or management practices, public feedback becomes part of the decision-making and governance process.

Yin Li, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and secretary of the CPC Beijing Municipal Committee, said Beijing was working to shift from responding to problems after they arise to identifying common issues and addressing them proactively.

The underlying idea is that a city should not only respond to residents' immediate needs, but also draw on their experiences to improve how it's governed. In this sense, the hotline serves not merely as a channel for public services, but as a link between public participation and more responsive governance.

When technology serves people

Digital technologies are expanding what a public hotline can do. By analyzing large volumes of requests, authorities can identify recurring problems, anticipate emerging needs and improve the allocation of public resources.

Yin said Beijing would continue exploring the use of big data and artificial intelligence to make public decision-making more informed and services more responsive, while strengthening the safe application of technology.

For Shen Haixiong, president of China Media Group, the challenge in the age of artificial intelligence is to ensure that technological progress translates into tangible benefits for residents. He cited everyday concerns, from road conditions and access to medical care to the convenience of food delivery, as examples of issues that digital tools can help address.

Technology, however, is not an end in itself. Anaclaudia Rossbach, executive director of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme, emphasized that governance must begin with people's needs, rather than simply asking what technology makes possible. Digital services must also be designed to include people who might otherwise be left out, with offline options and meaningful opportunities for participation where necessary, she stressed.

Her remarks point to a broader question for smart cities: how can innovation improve efficiency without weakening accessibility or public involvement?

From local practice to global dialogue

Urban challenges differ across countries, but many cities face similar questions about public services, citizen participation and the use of technology.

Georgios K. Giannaros, first deputy mayor of Athens, Greece, stressed that digital transformation is about more than moving services online. It also concerns the relationship between citizens and their city. He described systems that allow residents to report problems, follow their progress and receive updates as one way to strengthen that relationship.

The Beijing forum provides a platform to compare such approaches. Its releases included a study of hotline services and governance effectiveness in 20 internationally influential cities and 100 Chinese cities, as well as a collection of 43 urban governance case studies from China and abroad.

New academic publications also included a compilation of research papers on Beijing’s Swift response to Public Complaints reform, an English-language monograph on the reform, and an English-language special publication produced in collaboration with the Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis, further advancing academic research and international exchange on urban governance.

No single model can be applied unchanged to every city, given differences in social structures and governance systems. But comparing practices can help cities identify common challenges and consider new solutions.

A hotline may begin with a pothole, a delayed service or a resident's unanswered question. What matters is what happens next: whether the complaint is resolved, whether recurring problems are addressed, and whether residents have a meaningful role in shaping the city they live in.

In that sense, the value of a hotline lies not only in how quickly a government responds, but also in how effectively it listens and learns.