It can also stimulate creativity, awaken a sense of responsibility, and make people happy and satisfied. Shanghai has grown 390 "pockets" of fantasy | design | sense of responsibility
At the beginning of this month, the "Endless Summer" in the Yueliangwan Garden in Jinshan District was in full bloom. For many residents who yearn for spring, this dreamy blue purple color fills this early summer with surprises.
Once, residents of the Shihua Sicun community wanted to go to the nearby Chenshan Botanical Garden, where a large area of embroidered ball flowers were planted, to enjoy the flower sea. They had to take at least three public buses, and the one-way journey was no less than two and a half hours. Four years ago, Moon Bay Garden brought them the happiness of enjoying flowers at their doorstep.
For this hard-earned ecological gift, residents cherish it especially and volunteer spontaneously. Whenever they have free time, they go to Pocket Park to watch, fearing that the flowers may not bloom properly if no one takes care of them.
As of now, Shanghai has built 390 pocket parks, of which 172 have been incorporated into the urban and rural park system. During the 14th Five Year Plan period, Shanghai will build and renovate more pocket parks.
These small green public spaces at the doorstep effectively enhance the balance of urban park green space layout, and are one of the most direct sources of public ecological gain, as well as a fertile ground for joint construction, governance, and sharing.
Moon Bay Garden Jinshan District Greening City Apptenance Bureau
sharing
Compared with other provinces and cities in the country, Shanghai faced the increasingly serious "urban disease" and the increasingly tight land population environment constraints earlier. Opening up enclosed green spaces and transforming them into ecological spaces that citizens can enter, see, and touch has become an important means for Shanghai to promote the construction of pocket parks, but "opening up" is not an easy task.
No. 87 Wuxing Road was once the private residence of Renton, the chairman of the Bank of Credit Suisse in France. This modern independent garden villa, built in 1928, was once named Libo Garden. After the establishment of the People's Republic of China, it was used by the Shanghai Chess Society. In the 1970s, the chess society was relocated and replaced by the Shanghai Institute of Sports Science.
The double sloping red tile roof, white cement brushed walls, and concave convex three-dimensional shape make this excellent historical building with a strong French style. For a long time, citizens and tourists can only observe from afar.
The change occurred in March of this year. After multiple communications among multiple departments, the Shanghai Institute of Sports Science took the initiative to open the wall, give up about 1800 square meters of affiliated green space, and re plan and design it to be transformed into the "Libo Shuiyang" pocket park.
From then on, the "private garden" is no longer unattainable. The four major landscape zones of restoring impressions, shimmering waves, Mirror Lake lawn, and lush trees have become vivid annotations of Shanghai's construction as a people's city through the photos posted online by citizens and tourists.
This park is also connected to pocket parks such as Gao'an Garden and Hengshan Garden, which have been built, increasing the continuity of the ecological space in the Hengfu style area. Citizens and tourists become more immersed when visiting and resting.
Photo of "Libo Shui Yang" Pocket Park 2 kilometers away from the corner of Ruijin 2nd Road, Fuxing Middle Road, the supporting greening in front of the civil defense building has also completed a similar transformation. The Shanghai Civil Defense Office, the supporting green ownership unit, signed a co-construction and sharing agreement with the Huangpu District Greening City Appearance Department, and the latter is responsible for the design and transformation of the green space after the opening.
The "opening" of enclosed green spaces should never be a unilateral "promotion style" of supporting green ownership units. At the same time, supporting green ownership units should also have a sense of gain.
Nowadays, the "Civil Defense Garden" with a total area of 1848 square meters is not only a charming spring and autumn scenery composed of ornamental plants such as cherry blossoms, crabapple, tulips, ginkgo biloba, wuyanzi, and red maple, but also a public space for spreading civil defense knowledge in a delightful way.
Passerby citizens and tourists can press the button on the speaker interactive device to listen to three types of alarms, and then check the science popularization display board next to them, and knowledge will enter their ears and hearts. Smaller children can also hide behind protective doors and view simulated images of civil defense engineering space layout through narrow gaps, gaining knowledge through fun.
"Civil Defense Garden" Huangpu District Greening City Appellating Bureau
jointly sponsor
The small pocket park has increased the satisfaction and happiness of the people, as well as the potential to stimulate imagination and creativity.
At the northeast corner of Dujuan Road and Haitong Road, there is an additional 4750 square meter flower and tree rose garden. During the design phase, the greening department has repeatedly solicited opinions and suggestions from local residents.
The elephant chairs and chessboards that can be seen everywhere in the park now are the result of the smart landing of the surrounding residents. In 1999, Huamu Street was awarded the title of "National Chess Town" by the General Administration of Sport of China. There were many chess enthusiasts living around the Huamu Rose Garden, who had always longed to compete in the field where birds were singing and flowers were fragrant.
Residents who love gardening also hope that the park at their doorstep can have a variety of beautiful flowers and plants, such as roses that can be seen frequently on the streets of Huamu in recent years.
For this reason, the Flower and Tree Rose Garden has introduced over 50 new and excellent varieties of roses, including vine roses, shrub roses, abundant flower roses, tree roses, large flower roses, and other different plant forms. Through careful maintenance, they can bloom three waves a year, making flower loving residents laugh.
Flower and Tree Rose Garden Pudong New Area Greening Management Affairs Center
Last year, in conjunction with the overall improvement project of the Huaihai Road Campus of Shanghai Conservatory of Music, Shanghai Conservatory of Music took the initiative to demolish illegal buildings and walls, share the open space of the campus with the public, and release approximately 3300 square meters of pocket parks.
"Making Pocket Park a bridge connecting the neighborhood and campus, how to design it to fit the regional atmosphere and make this transition appear smooth and natural, is a new issue for us." Zeng Jun, the head of the Green Space Management Department at the Xuhui District Green Management Center, said that during the design phase, we fully listened to the opinions of experts from all aspects and residents and units in the restored style area. In terms of green configuration, we extensively selected trees such as camphor trees, North American crabapple trees, elm trees, and red maple that match the historical buildings in the college, and laid a large number of open strip lawns and green hedgerows composed of Hokkaido boxwood. This simple and lively style of greening can highlight the unique style of the four historical buildings along the street.
Shanghai Conservatory of Music Affiliated Greenland Xuhui District Greening City Appears Bureau
Pocket parks not only cater to the needs of surrounding residents and high-frequency users, but also become a proud "cultural living room" for the people, fully showcasing the historical style and cultural landscape characteristics of the region.
The Baicaoyuan Street Garden, which opened in early summer 2021, fully listened to the suggestions of residents along Siping Road who hoped that Pocket Park would have a more artistic and cultural atmosphere. Lu Xun's former residence is located on a shady mountain road several hundred meters away. Many of the contents in "From Baicaoyuan to Sanwei Bookstore" reflect the wonderful childhood life, which is also in line with the "down-to-earth" pocket park.
Through the joint participation of various sectors of society, inspiration continues to emerge, ultimately transforming into four themed areas: children's music, insect gardens, herb gardens, and San Wei Book House. Children can find plants and popular science signs such as Polygonum multiflorum, Mulian, and Plantago in the herb garden. Adults can scan the QR code on the chairs of San Wei Book House and read Mr. Lu Xun's classic works at any time.
Baicao Garden Chen Xi shake photo
Co governance
The pocket park at the doorstep of the house is both a beneficiary and a responsible person for the surrounding residents and units.
In April of this year, 30 citizens living in Pudong New Area gained a new identity - the director of 30 pocket parks. Hu Zhiqing is one of them, and he is responsible for managing the ancient wax plum garden at the intersection of Yinghua Road and Haitong Road. A Suxin wax plum tree with the ancient tree number 1535 is enjoying its later years in the garden.
"The neighbors are all proud of the ancient wax plum and constantly remind me to take good care of it," Hu Zhiqing said, which is a heavy and honorable responsibility.
Creating an ancient tree park is an innovation in the concept of protecting ancient trees in Shanghai. It allows meticulously protected ancient trees to benefit the city and the people in a unique way, providing new functions such as science popularization, leisure, and recreation. But at the same time, the rapidly gathering popularity will more or less disturb the relatively fragile ancient trees.
When these uncivilized phenomena occur, such as the noise that cannot be lowered by dance, the skateboard that children run amok under their feet, and trampling on the lawn ignoring signs, they require the "adhesive" of a citizen principal. Hu Zhiqing candidly stated that if it were staff from the management department who went to educate, it was highly likely that they would be bounced back. Although the citizen principal was a civilian version of the principal, it was precisely because he was demoted one level that he was able to talk to other tourists and even make friends with them.
Young people are not very familiar with wax plums. At the suggestion of Hu Zhiqing and other citizens, the Pudong Greening Management Department planted a large number of approachable natural wax plums, dog tooth wax plums, golden bell wax plums, small flower wax plums, chime mouth wax plums, and American wax plums around the ancient wax plums, and hung QR codes to guide everyone to scan and read the botany and related cultural knowledge of these wax plums.
Ancient Wax Plum Garden Photo by Tang Ling
After the pocket park is put into use, it often faces problems such as uncivilized park activities and limited space being occupied by electric vehicles for refined management and protection. It is necessary to mobilize the autonomy of residents and leverage the power of community governance.
Wang Yanong is a member of the "Amusement Park" volunteer service team in Leshan Green Space. The residents of Leshan New Village, who finally arrived at this pocket park, spontaneously formed a volunteer team and took turns patrolling in the morning and afternoon.
Before the 1980s, Leshan New Village was just a shantytown. Since then, Leshan New Village has been built, but the population density in the neighborhood is extremely high and there are few public spaces. The elderly over 65 years old in Leshan District account for 30% of the total population, and there is a strong demand among residents to "incubate the sun" and find a "reception hall" for chatting.
After the completion of the Leshan Green Space, which covers an area of about 5600 square meters, the trendy and simple design style, as well as various practical functions that meet diverse needs, have made the surrounding residents smile and the living environment has improved. At the same time, the overall quality of residents has also improved.
"Everyone cherishes this place very much, and bad habits such as spitting, smoking, and shirtless are very rare." Wang Yanong said that now Leshan Green Space has become a popular park, with daily pedestrian traffic comparable to the nearby Xujiahui Park, which is more than 10 times larger. More and more residents are joining the volunteer team to help maintain and manage the park, and timely feedback to the competent authorities on the opinions and suggestions of citizens and tourists after visiting the park.
Leshan green space Chen Xi shake photo
