The Next Frontier of Urban Competition: Shanghai and the Rise of the Emotional Vitality City

Editor's note:

The International Business Leaders' Advisory Council for the Mayor (IBLAC) brings together top executives from leading multinationals to exchange insights on Shanghai's development strategy. Each company brings forward a paper that draws from their global practices and local insights. Shanghai Daily has selected and summarized some of the astute suggestions to this city.

For decades, urban competition has been shaped by speed, scale and efficiency. Infrastructure, markets and technology remain essential. Yet as global cities become increasingly connected and capable, a new dimension of competitiveness is emerging: emotional vitality.

Cities with strong emotional vitality give people reasons not only to live and work, but also to participate, connect, return and identify with the city. Joy, belonging, confidence, inspiration, achievement, pride, connection, discovery, resilience and hope can encourage participation and consumption while strengthening communities and urban life.

Sport offers a powerful lens for this transformation. Over nearly 30 years in China, especially in Shanghai, we have seen sports consumption evolve from products toward participation, experience, community and identity. Running has become social, football has become culture and community, and sport increasingly connects with family life, youth culture and everyday lifestyles.

This evolution leads to what we call Sports-Driven Emotional Consumption Theory: Participation → Emotion → Vitality → Consumption.

Participation can generate these emotions through six pathways: participation, community, culture, public space, technology and everyday experiences. Over time, these emotional experiences deepen connections with people and places, driving demand for new services, experiences, travel and consumption.

But consumption should not be the endpoint. The larger opportunity is to turn emotional value into sustained urban vitality. When emotional connection becomes embedded in public space, cultural life and communities, it can strengthen a city's long-term attractiveness and competitiveness.

Emotional value is moving from individual experience to community vitality and wider urban value. The adidas Trefoil Pet Series links sport with lifestyle and companionship; the Retro Football Market in Xintiandi connects football with local memory and community; the Shanghai Half Marathon combines elite performance, mass participation and urban life; and the Jiangsu Football City League shows how football can reinforce regional identity and belonging.

Shanghai can build on its strengths as an international consumption center, world-class sports city and global innovation hub by connecting them more closely. The Emotional Vitality City offers a framework: not simply more entertainment or consumption, but emotional experience embedded in sports, culture, technology, communities and everyday life.

This vision can be expressed through four dimensions: Sports with Joy; Culture with Soul; Innovation with Warmth; Society with Belonging.

The West Bund is a natural platform, combining waterfront regeneration, culture, sport, commerce and innovation.

The 2028 Olympic Qualification Series could become a catalyst whose impact extends beyond four days of competition to two months of citywide participation and a 365-day legacy. Shanghai could:

1. Create "Train Like a Pro at West Bund," opening Olympic sports to public training, youth programs and recovery services.

2. "Turn Spectators into Participants" through public training, night runs, athlete meet-ups, creator campaigns and fan activities.

3. Develop a Digital Emotional Consumption Passport linking sport and culture with retail, dining, tourism and repeat visits.

4. Establish a West Bund Emotional Vitality Living Lab to test AI training, wearable data, personalized routes, recovery services and sports-technology applications.

Shanghai has strong foundations in infrastructure, innovation and consumption. The next frontier is deeper human connection. Emotional vitality can become not only a new form of consumption, but a new source of urban competitiveness.

As adidas approaches its 30th anniversary in China in 2027, we look forward to contributing our global experience and local capabilities to help build a Shanghai that people do not simply visit or consume in, but participate in, connect with and carry with them.