BEIJING, July 12 -- China is to promote the construction of "living circles" in cities at the prefecture-level and above that enable residents to conduct all of their essential activities within a 15-minute walk of their homes.

The project is laid out in a three-year action plan released by the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) and 12 other departments on Wednesday.

The plan states that residents living in targeted areas will be able to find places to fulfill their needs for shopping, catering, housekeeping and repairing services within a 10-minute walk from home, while enjoying consumption-upgrading goods and services related to culture, entertainment, leisure, social communication, healthcare and fitness within 15 minutes of walking.

Services related to elderly care and child care around communities will also be promoted, said the plan.

According to the document, efforts should be made to optimize the commercial layout in communities, provide better consumption conditions and more innovative consumption scenarios, and make communities smarter, while creating more jobs and improving the incomes of residents.

The construction of the community living circles is already underway, with a total of 2,057 circles created in the first two batches of 80 pilot areas nationwide benefiting 42.01 million community residents, said the MOC.