"The city will hasten steps to accomplish the goal of becoming one of the world's top design cities by 2030, and will do its best to have its creative industry's annual output surpass 2 trillion yuan in 2025," Wu says.

Wu Guanghui, the chief designer of China's homemade C919 aircraft, said during the opening ceremony that the aircraft will soon receive its airworthiness certificate and be delivered to China Eastern Airlines this year. He notes that the narrow-body airliner had completed all test flights required for the airworthiness certificate on Aug 1.

Marshall Strabala, the chief architect of Shanghai Tower, which is the country's tallest building, shared his views on the future of sustainability in architecture during the conference.

He expresses hope that the design of skyscrapers would be complementary to the city's view and skyline.

"I hope that Shanghai Tower exists harmoniously with other high-rise buildings in the Lujiazui area," he says.

"My plan for the future is to build more beautiful, low-carbon and green architecture in the city," he adds.

In downtown Paris, the overseas exhibition of the World Design Cities Conference 2022 also made its debut in Galerie Joseph on Sept 15.

Apart from a visual arts exhibition, several Shanghai brands from sectors such as cosmetics and makeup, fashion, technology and even pet care were showcased alongside the Paris-Saclay Paysages exhibition that highlighted the development of French cities over the past decade.

Zheng Zheng contributed to this story.