As the largest vacancy in Zhujiang New Town Central Business District (CBD), Guangzhou, the Racecourse’s low-rise building and monotonous functions necessitate a more compact urban development. However, the current concept of compact in China is rarely associated with the block level, and the construction of the city central area often achieves high-density only in terms of compact form rather than concept. This thesis aims to explore how compact urban development can enhance vitality in high-density city central area and make the design research of the Racecourse complement and refinement the concept of compact on the block level. Through literature review and case studies, this design thesis firstly improves the characteristics of Western compact urban development to mitigate the negative impacts of high-density into appropriate medium to high-density and intensity, mixed land use, and highly accessible public space and transportation.