NANJING, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- In Nanjing, the capital of east China's Jiangsu Province, young innovators from China and Italy are collaborating to blend heritage preservation with creative design, breathing new life into one of the world's most storied fortifications.

Nanjing's Ming City Wall, built over 650 years ago, stretches approximately 25 kilometers, making it one of the longest, largest, and best-preserved city walls still standing in the world. Once a formidable military barrier, it now looms as a cultural monument, a symbol of memory and identity in the heart of a bustling city.

Like many cities in the world with ancient walls, Nanjing faces the challenge of ensuring the relic is not just a relic but a vibrant part of daily life.

That challenge inspired the launch of "Futuring Our Wallscapes," a joint design camp that opened recently in Nanjing. The program has brought together students from Nanjing University, Southeast University, Italy's Polytechnic University of Turin, and the University of Florence, aiming to spark creative solutions that both protect the wall and weave it into contemporary urban living.

The initiative is part of a broader China-Italy collaboration, "Shared Heritage, Shared World," launched in March during celebrations of the 45th anniversary of Nanjing's sister-city ties with Italy's Florence.

"City walls carry powerful symbolism," said Marco Trisciuoglio, professor at Polytechnic University of Turin and the Italian academic convener. "They were once military structures, but today they embody public spirit and peace. By exploring new designs for the Nanjing wall, we can give form to that idea and share it with the world."

The students, with backgrounds spanning architecture, urban planning, landscape design, heritage conservation, tourism management, and digital arts, are conducting fieldwork around the wall and its historic neighborhoods. Their goal is to create proposals ranging from public art installations to service facilities that will allow the ancient structure to better connect with the modern city.

For many of the Italian students, the exchange has been eye-opening. "In Italy, we also have very old monuments and architecture," said Edoardo Martino Cellai, a first-time visitor to China and a student at the University of Florence. "Coming to Nanjing, I want to learn more about how China preserves and reimagines its heritage."

For the Chinese students, the collaboration offers a chance to draw inspiration from Italy's track record in reusing historic sites. "Italy has many successful cases," said Qiu Qiguang, an architecture student at Nanjing University. "This kind of international, cross-disciplinary dialogue sparks fresh ideas on how to bring history into daily life."

The partnership also carries a special resonance. Nanjing is twinned with the city of Lucca, famous for its own Renaissance-era walls. The two cities established a "wall-to-wall friendship" in 2005.

By November, the Sino-Italian teams will present their design proposals in a public exhibition. Their work will be reviewed by global leading experts in heritage preservation, aiming to bring some of the ideas to life along the wall itself.

"We want these projects to be tangible -- something people can see and touch," said Ma Lin, deputy director of Nanjing's city wall protection and management center. "This is about writing a new chapter in how we protect, use, and pass on the wall, with the creativity of young people at its heart." ■