Located in Nanshan District, Nantou Ancient Town has a history of nearly 1,700 years. It is positioned by the government as "eastern Guangdong's first county and holds the origins of Hong Kong and Macao", and is one of the important cultural landmarks in Shenzhen. The Plan's main features and innovations are reflected in:

1. Conservation and transformation with "big historical view"

On top of the works done by the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture and Vanke's renovation and being a policy pilot of comprehensive renovation, the Plan proposed the concept of "big historical view" of the Ancient Town's conservation based on the principles of "renovation of the old, innovation based on history, living conservation, people-oriented livability, diversity promotion, co-governance and sharing".

2. Implementation mechanism of diversity promotion, co-governance and sharing

The project has made implementation phasing plans and proposed the idea of villagers' self-renovation manual for the preserved houses. By formulating easy-to-understand self-renovation guidelines and providing a "positive list", villagers can receive certain financial subsidies and policy support if they renovate according to the requirements, thereby ensuring the sustainability of community building and guided the urban village renovation transformation to adopt a "business operation" instead of the traditional "development" approach.