After the park walls were demolished
Shanghai is turning into a big park.
Zhang Ziheng, who often runs around the outer circle of Century Park, found that after the free admission to Century Park, the wall of Fang Garden in the southeast corner has also been demolished. The past fences and fences have been converted into horticulture and running tracks, leading directly to the interior. "In an instant, I suddenly felt like I was merging with this city," said Zhang Ziheng.
Last year, some parks in Shanghai demolished their walls to reveal greenery. Part of the walls on Chongqing South Road and Fuxing Middle Road in Fuxing Park, located in Huangpu District, have been demolished and replaced with new flower beds and vegetation. A space renewal of approximately 700 meters along Wanhangdu Road is located on the side of Zhongshan Park in Changning District, with a construction area of over 16000 square meters.
Recently, Zhang Ziheng also discovered the other side after demolishing the wall. She was a bit puzzled as many parks in Shanghai had demolished their walls. Why did Century Park only demolish this part of the Fang Garden wall; She wanted to take her family's pet for a walk in Fang Garden, but was advised by the management to leave. "Why is it that the park has demolished its walls but does not allow dogs to be walked?" Zhang Ziheng asked. The other party explained, "The wall has been demolished, but this place is still a park, different from the central green space."
What Zhang Ziheng didn't know was that the Century Park, which had been built for more than 20 years, went from being charged to being free, to demolishing some of the walls, and every step was arduous.
For the park, opening the fence is just the beginning.
The original walled area has been changed to a walkway. You can enter Century Park with just one turn. Photographed by Meng Yuhan
The park quietly breaks through the wall
In early July, Zhang Ziheng, who lives in Pudong, discovered that the wall near Fang Garden in the southeast corner of Century Park had been demolished.
In the past, every weekend, Zhang Ziheng would send his son Lele to the football center in Century Park for a football class. As the largest urban park in the inner ring area of Shanghai, Century Park implemented free and night park opening two years ago. But entering and exiting still requires going through the original few gates.
The sports center of Lele Classroom is located in the Fangyuan area of Century Park. Zhang Ziheng and his children always have to detour a few hundred meters from Gate 5 of the park at the intersection of Huamu Road and Fangdian Road to enter the stadium.
Two months ago, the Century Park quietly demolished the walls that were over a thousand meters long near Fangdian Road and Huamu Road. Lele can enter the park through the newly built shade resistant flower border gate on the side of Fangdian Road, and the stadium is just over ten meters away. "It's very convenient to enter and exit the park. Sometimes when the child is in class, a few familiar mothers and I will go for a walk on the newly paved walkway together, and the environment is very comfortable," said Zhang Ziheng.
A new batch of colored asphalt walkways have been laid in the renovated Fangyuan Garden. During the gap between his son's classes, Zhang Ziheng walked on the trail. Several runners occasionally approach, sweating profusely. In the park, the lawn with a total area of over 10000 square meters is pleasing to the eye. She decided to take off her thick sports shoes and take a walk on the lawn wearing socks. Young people are playing frisbee on the lawn, while older people are practicing Tai Chi under the shade of trees.
Century Park attracts a large number of tourists and their families to travel together. Photographed by Meng Yuhan
At night, in the Fangyuan Garden of Century Park, nearby residents cool off and play frisbee here. Photo by Zheng Ziyu
The area of Fang Garden, which covers an area of 215000 square meters, is equivalent to that of Zhongshan Park in Puxi. After the demolition of the park wall, the outer edge of the park where Fangdian Garden meets Fangdian Road and Huamu Road is the first sight that tourists see from outside, and also forms their first impression of Century Park. There are 8 entrances and exits distributed on the over 1000 meter landscape section here, of which 5 are newly added.
Based on the existing geographical conditions, these newly added entrances and exits are respectively created into wet flower beds, shade tolerant flower beds, ornamental grass flower beds, rocky flower beds, and sage flower beds.
Cao Liming, the manager of the Greening Department of Century Park, explained that the terrain of the rocky flower beds is high inside and low outside. Once it rains, it is easy to form mud to flow out. Therefore, rocks are used to compress the soil, and then rocky plants are planted in the gaps to further fix it, taking into account the beauty of the landscape.
During the renovation process, the park has also sorted out the areas that used to have lush shrubs in the park. The original tall trees have been preserved, and some low shrubs have been transplanted to other areas, making the space more dense. "Where the park and block are directly connected, we have planted plants such as chicken claw maple, maple, red leaf heather, and iris under the forest. In spring, we can see the tender leaves of red leaf heather, in early summer, we can admire the scattered iris flowers, and in autumn, the leaves of chicken claw maple and maple trees turn red. In winter, there are also evergreen plants, and there are scenery all year round. What makes Cao Liming proud is that a series of tailored measures not only ensure that the entire wall breaking project is completed on schedule, but also its overall cost is much lower than similar projects.".
The integration of the environment is only part of this wall breaking and green transformation project. A running station next to Gate 4 of Century Park, which has been renovated in the open area, has entered the final stage of the project. This will provide storage, drinking water, and rest services for people who exercise on the trails inside and outside the park.
The fragrant garden at night. Photographed by Meng Yuhan
How to open the fence
The demolition and greening projects of parks such as Fuxing Park, Zhongshan Park, and Heping Park have long been completed, and the operation and maintenance of parks that completed the demolition work earlier have now exceeded a year.
At the beginning of demolishing the wall, different parks encountered difficulties.
Before the opening of the Zhongshan Park fence, the terminus of Bus No. 20 was located between the park and East China University of Political Science and Law. The station dispatch room, toilet, and management office are standing like walls on the north side of the park. If the station needs to be relocated, it is necessary to consider the travel habits and convenience of residents, as well as supporting facilities. Another controversy is whether to let a 150 year old camphor tree break through the wall.
In order to break the wall to its roots, the relevant departments ultimately decided to relocate the terminal of Route 20 and demolish the wall around the single tree Suzuki named "Lone Tree Aoshuang".
In order to open up the fence as much as possible, some parks need to communicate with surrounding government agencies and units; Some parks have also renovated their facilities.
Why can only a small part of Century Park be opened?
In fact, the broken walls of the Fanghua Park have released a leisure and recreational space equivalent to the area of Zhongshan Park, which has laid a long-term foundation for Century Park, which has been in operation for 20 years.
Century Park, which was once a farmland around 2000, is now the largest urban park in the inner ring area of Shanghai, surrounded by dozens of large residential areas and a large number of commercial buildings. Whether on weekdays or holidays, there is a constant stream of citizens and tourists coming to the park to boxing, dancing, and taking walks for exercise. In July 2021, after a series of preparation work and facility upgrades, Century Park simultaneously implemented free and night park opening.
After dismantling the fence, the park set up such a fence to block bicycles and others from entering the garden. Photographed by Meng Yuhan
According to the Guiding Opinions on Promoting the Construction of Park Cities in Shanghai issued by the Shanghai Municipal Administration of Greening and Urban Appearance in 2021, the trend of parks breaking through walls and opening up is inevitable. The Guiding Opinions propose to further optimize the relationship between "citizens parks cities" and continuously promote the opening, sharing, and integration of green spaces. This is also a new practice for Shanghai to promote the construction of park cities and deeply practice the important concept of "people's cities".
However, as a district owned enterprise in Pudong New Area, Century Park also faces many practical problems. There have been multiple discussions in the park regarding the demolition of the fence. At the meeting, the issues were brought to the table and attempted to be resolved one by one——
The complete demolition of the fence means a large-scale closure renovation and infrastructure upgrade. Where does the money come from? How much space is most suitable to release if the wall is not completely demolished? How to ensure the safety of tourists in the park with numerous water systems? After a significant increase in passenger flow, who will bear the investment in operation and maintenance? How much more manpower do we need to allocate
The underlying logic surrounding these difficult to achieve issues is for the safety of tourists.
Zhangjiabang diagonally passes through Century Park and then surrounds the park in a small circle, becoming a natural barrier between Huamu Road to the south and Century Park. For safety reasons, isolation barriers have been installed on both sides of the river to prevent tourists from entering the water or fishing. From the perspective of tourists, discussing whether to demolish this part of the park fence is not very meaningful.
There is a fence in the Zhangjiabang Century Park section. Photo by Zheng Ziyu
However, from the perspective of park management, "a major feature of Century Park is its numerous water systems and a huge area of Jingtian Lake. Every summer, the phenomenon of" wild swimming "in Zhangjiabang is difficult to control, and their drainage points may not be inside the park, but may also be in the upstream or downstream of non park areas. If the walls are removed, it may bring considerable trouble to park management. After comprehensive consideration, the conditions for fully opening the walls are not yet mature," said Zhang Yin, a staff member of the Century Park Administrative Office.
Citizens playing kayaking pass by the Zhangjiabang Century Park section. Photo by Zheng Ziyu
The fence cannot be fully opened at the moment, so where should it be opened? How much does it cost?
Among the 5-kilometer walls of the Century Park, apart from the non removable parts such as the river fence, the removable walls are mainly concentrated on the park's adjacent sections such as Jinxiu Road and Fangdian Road, with a total length of about 2.45 kilometers. Among them, there are already three entrances and exits on the Jinxiu section facing the north of the park, and there are also multiple parking lots nearby. Once the fence is opened, it will inevitably face a large flow of people and vehicles mixed, posing a safety hazard. Moreover, when this section of the fence is opened, the first thing tourists see is the parking lot, and the sense of anticipation and appearance will decrease.
Can the parking lot be demolished? It's difficult. Every weekend, many tourists drive their families to the park. Part of the roads in the Century Park still require the assistance of relevant departments to create temporary parking spaces. The Shanghai Metro Line 2 and Line 18 pass through Century Park, which also means that it is quite difficult to build another underground parking garage.
After comprehensive consideration, the park decided to open up the Fangyuan area in the southeast corner first. On the one hand, the over 1000 meter long L-shaped wall area of Fangdian Road and Huamu Road in Fanghuayuan was originally only open with two entrances and exits, making it inconvenient for tourists to enter and exit the park; On the other hand, the passing Zhangjiabang separates Fang Garden from the main area of Century Park, becoming a relatively independent area for easy management.
Opening the fence is just the beginning
In May of this year, the integration plan for the opening of the Fanghuayuan fence block was officially approved. The park overcame unfavorable factors such as rainy season and high temperature, and completed the wall breaking renovation project in batches and sections. It was officially opened to the public in early July.
In fact, even before the implementation of free and synchronized opening of night parks in July 2021, with the support of the new district government and Pukai Group, Century Park had invested a total of 15 million yuan in special funds to implement equipment renovation and upgrading, including full coverage of monitoring in key areas, the addition of separation barriers in areas around the lake and river, the upgrading of lighting systems, and some roads and buildings. These existing opening and upgrading measures have become the foundation for the broken wall opening of Fang Garden, and have also accumulated management experience for the park's directly connected blocks.
Recently, Zang Donghao, the manager of the Public Affairs Department of Century Park, has continuously observed and found that the daily passenger flow of the Fanghua Park after the wall was broken has increased from the original 2000 people to about 4000 people, and the data is still rising. Various difficulties came one after another.
After the actual opening, some tourist needs cannot be predicted in the early planning of the park, for example, foreign people may choose places without shade for picnics and sunbathing, while Chinese people may choose places with shade. More people are coming to the park for camping, and the tree shade has not increased, which cannot meet the needs of various tourists.
Convenient service facilities located at the entrance of the park. Photo by Li Baohua
Century Park attracts a large number of tourists and their families to travel together. Photographed by Meng Yuhan
"After the park connects directly to the block, some residents in the surrounding area feel that it is a public green space and they will bring their pets for a walk. There are those who do not lead dog leashes or wear dog leashes. However, in the eyes of more tourists, this is still Century Park, and they still have high expectations for the landscape and services inside the park. For example, some tourists are very averse to large dogs entering the park, and children playing with pets out of curiosity can easily cause danger." Zang Donghao said that after the demolition of the wall, the management standards of Fang Garden are consistent with those of the main park of Century Park. According to the relevant regulations of the park admission notice, bicycles, electric scooters, balance bikes, etc. are not allowed to enter the park, and activities such as fishing, flying kites, and walking pets are also prohibited.
Century Park is still a park, and there are some differences in the management mode between it and the green spaces in the city center. However, when managers try to dissuade citizens from walking their dogs or cycling, they often encounter some situations of "haha". "If you speak lightly, tourists won't listen; if you speak heavily, it will cause conflicts. This is too difficult."
But the staff found that although there were various prohibited behavior icons at the entrance and exit, and staggered simple railings were set up to "intercept" non motorized vehicles from entering, it still couldn't stop people from moving bicycles into Fangyuan or riding electric bicycles into the park by crossing the green belt, and dog walkers were seen from time to time. Recently, after continuous patrols and persuasion by security personnel, the phenomenon of non motorized vehicles entering the park has also improved.
There are also some unforeseen issues. Once, the valve of a bicycle tire parked on a peripheral road was pulled out by someone, and the owner complained to the park authorities on the grounds of not having a camera installed. "Installing cameras in all directions is a considerable expense in itself. However, the outskirts of the park have already left the jurisdiction of the park, which is difficult to do," Zhang Yin said. In the end, according to the owner's request, the park set up four ventilation points outside the park to calm the owner's emotions.
There is a prohibition sign at the entrance of Fangyuan Garden. There are still differences between here and urban green spaces. Photo by Li Baohua
When ordering the park, there was also a headache and the problem of staying overnight. Fangyuan Garden is open from 5 to 22 o'clock every day, but there may still be people entering after 22 o'clock, and some may even set up tents for overnight stays. Therefore, we have added three security personnel to patrol the park every day, and try to guide and dissuade uncivilized visitors. In the future, we will also consider adding digital means such as drone patrols and robot patrols to assist during non open hours. Maintenance and cleaning are also long-term issues that the park must face. Cao Liming said that before the wall is opened, a cleaning team of about ten people in the Fangyuan area is sufficient. Now, whether it is greening, cleaning, or security personnel, the number of configurations has increased.
Parks such as Fuxing Park, Zhongshan Park, and Heping Park opened their walls earlier, some of which have been more than a year. For the park, opening the fence is just the beginning.
Liu Ming only joined Lu Xun Park as a security guard in the second half of 2022. When he first joined, the park adopted a reservation system for entry, and the passenger flow was not high. This year, parks in Shanghai have gradually opened normally. The number of tourists in Lu Xun Park has suddenly increased, with the addition of two new guard posts and an increase in patrol frequency.
Liu Ming's biggest headache is noise. The busiest time in the park is the morning exercise from 6am to 10am. In the summer morning, under the shade of trees, there is an important area that has been "divided" by various parties. Once, the Tai Chi group took advantage of the advantageous terrain, and the singing group turned on their high pitched speakers in an attempt to "bang" away the other party, causing a conflict between the two sides. Later, with the mediation of the park, the matter was finally settled.
Later, Liu Ming was arranged to patrol with a decibel meter in the morning. If the morning exercise group made a sound exceeding 70 decibels, they had to persuade and stop it. The noise situation in the park has improved significantly, and there have been fewer complaints from surrounding residents. "The quality of most citizens can still withstand the test," Liu Ming said.
The decibel meter in the park. Photo by Zheng Ziyu
"Our park has a rule that fishing is not allowed, and if you see it, you must stop it." But after the fence is removed, "some fishermen will turn in from the roadside and hide in corners that are difficult for us to see to fish." Liu Ming said.
In Liu Ming's eyes, the most difficult thing to control is the people who distribute small advertisements. Some small advertisements can put elderly visitors in a dilemma of being deceived and facing difficulties in protecting their rights. Even if they are caught straight by Liu Ming, it's useless because "we can't confiscate their flyers, we don't have the power to drive them out of the park. Even if we say good or bad, they will deal with you all the time." Liu Ming recounted his helplessness as a security guard.
urban space
In the view of Zhong Lv, the professional chief engineer of Shanghai Municipal Engineering Design and Research Institute, the opening of the park's walls has broken the boundaries of the originally fragmented urban cluster and brought the park closer to the community. "From 'urban parks' to' park cities', urban space has been reshaped, and citizens and tourists have more high-quality leisure spaces."
On the other hand, the challenges faced by the opening of the park wall, including personnel mobility, resource management, and environmental protection, are also inevitable. Previously, some public resources in the city occupied public spaces, and after these spaces were released, the public needed to have a degree of tolerance for their use. "The sharing of resources and venues is not simply about mutual encroachment, but should form a mutually restrictive and appropriate scale in order to achieve healthy development."
Zhong Lv candidly stated that when it comes to the opening of parks, Central Park in New York has always been regarded as a standard in the United States. This city park, located among the high-rise buildings in Manhattan, is not only a public green space, but also a popular destination for cultural activities, fitness and leisure, and science education. Among the over 42 million visitors received by Central Park every year, 20% are international tourists. However, Central Park was formed before the park, with high-rise buildings built later, and it took more than 160 years of development to form its current appearance. In contrast, the urban development of Shanghai involves first building clusters such as parks, schools, and residential areas, followed by phased planning and development, with different situations.
"What we are currently facing is a new stage of functional integration and reorganization of urban clusters, and difficulties are inevitable. This process cannot be achieved overnight, and can only be achieved gradually. In the case of Century Park, after the wall is opened, it is temporarily impossible to use a bike path to connect the block, so it should be opened in the form of a walking path first. This is a good start." Zhong Lv said that in the long run, parks that are close to the block should not only be ornamental parks, but also ecological and low maintenance parks, while also considering safety and complete facilities. In future urban public space open projects, safety, ecology, and sustainability are all basic elements, which are also the concepts that all famous urban parks in the world are practicing.
Industry insiders say that further integration between parks and neighborhoods will depend on mutual promotion and adaptation between parks, communities, and cities in the future. "In the past two years, a number of urban parks in Shanghai, such as Zhongshan Park, Lu Xun Park, and Peace Park, have all been opened. For a city park of the same size as Century Park, the opening of the wall can completely provide greater space for imagination."
In fact, there is still a long way to go to truly integrate cities and parks.
A frisbee may explain the problem. In the past two or three years, frisbee on the grass has become one of the social cards for young people. Since last summer, frisbee enthusiast Yu Chenchen has called on friends to play frisbee on the lawn of Fuxing Park. However, during the National Day holiday in 2022, due to the surge in tourist numbers, there have been several incidents of flying frisbee hitting people, and the park has banned frisbee sports. Yu Chenchen thought it was a bit regrettable and turned to Lu Xun Park to find a lawn, but the lawn there was always surrounded by two waist high iron railings and could not be used. "We are not allowed to play frisbee or go camping," said Yu Chenchen. "The railings outside the park are gone, but they are all blocked on the lawn inside the park.".
There are two lawns surrounded by waist high iron railings in Lu Xun Park. Photo by Zheng Ziyu
Peace Park does not prohibit dog owners from entering the park, but has opened a cute pet park for dog owners in a corner of the park. Photo by Zheng Ziyu
He believes that parks should not ban activities just because they may cause safety issues. Instead, with the joint efforts of park management and tourists, such activities should be accepted and accepted by the park.
Afterwards, Yu Chenchen found a place to play frisbee in Zhongshan Park and Century Park. However, on weekends when the lawn is crowded with campers, frisbee activities will be discouraged and only short distance frisbee is allowed.
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