Are wild animals coming to Shanghai shopping mall to settle down? Shanghai's first commercial indoor habitat garden opened

"Next year at this time, perhaps you can see the Chinese toad settling down in this habitat garden."

At the opening ceremony of the first sustainable ecological season and habitat garden in Nanfengcheng, Hongqiao, Shanghai, held on September 20th, Zheng Yunxiang, an engineer from the Wildlife and Plant Protection Department of Shanghai Forestry Station, made a small expectation for the first commercial habitat garden in Shanghai, Hongqiao Nanfengcheng Habitat Garden, which was officially opened on that day, in a speech with the theme of "Our Wildlife Friends". This newly completed habitat garden is also another example of a healthy, vibrant, and resilient urban space in Hongqiao Development Zone, following the newly opened Hongqiao Park in May this year and the Zunyi Road Ziyun Road Community Pocket Park in mid August.

Hongqiao Nanfeng City Habitat Garden Shu Shu Ci

The Hongqiao Development Zone, which has been developed for over 40 years, now has a completion rate of over 95%. In the face of the "old carriers and old environments" that are gradually unable to meet the current production and living needs of society, in recent years, Changning District has successively launched the renovation and renovation of buildings and facilities in the Hongqiao Development Zone. The revitalization of a number of urban parks, green spaces, and habitat gardens reflects the concept of "environment first" in urban renewal in Hongqiao Development Zone: leveraging more building carriers with a higher quality environment.

Human and nature "do not disturb each other"

Loquat trees, yew trees, and golden leaf yellow trees, some plants that are easily overlooked in cities, are concentrated in the Nanfeng City Habitat Garden of Hongqiao. Animal residents in cities such as birds also have dedicated observation areas for people to observe without disturbing each other. This is the most intuitive impression of the habitat garden located in the northeast corner of Nanfeng City, Hongqiao. Although surrounded by parking lots, vertical green walls, municipal roads, high-rise residential buildings, and commercial complexes, the quiet habitat garden is like a harbor in the city for people to briefly stop and breathe. You can sit quietly on the steps and benches to admire various natural landscapes that are rarely gathered together in the city.

Shu Shushu in the habitat protection area

"Habitat Garden", as the name suggests, is an urban green space created by the fusion of "habitat" and "garden", centered around the use of local plants, the elimination of invasive plants, the enrichment of plant communities, the reduction of pesticide and fertilizer use, and the provision of auxiliary food, water sources, or shelters for urban wildlife. At present, most of the habitat gardens that have been built in Shanghai are located in residential areas, facing community use. However, habitat gardens not only provide a living environment for urban wildlife and increase urban ecological resilience, but also have important significance in enhancing public awareness of urban natural elements and ecological values.

Shu Shushu in the habitat protection area

Jiang Jinhong, Deputy General Manager and Asset Management Director of Hongqiao Nanfeng City, introduced that in 2022, Hongqiao Nanfeng City proposed to renovate and design the existing 600 square meters of space in the east area of Fengshang Garden. The Low Carbon Center of Changning District has recommended the School of Design of Shanghai Jiao Tong University to carry out environmental protection renovation and renovation design on the space of Fengshang Garden East, jointly creating Shanghai's first commercial habitat garden.

Now, after completion, the Nanfeng City Habitat Garden in Hongqiao includes areas such as habitat conservation, leisure science popularization, and interactive observation. Among them, various local flowers and fruit plants such as loquat, camphor, and osmanthus are planted in the habitat protection area, which not only have ornamental value but also provide natural food for small wild animals. Ecological ponds equipped with self circulating oxygenation systems have also been introduced in the area, providing clean water sources for animals and plants. An observation wall has been set up in the interactive observation area, where people can see various butterflies, birds, and wildlife habitats in the city center through a circular observation box, while maintaining an appropriate observation distance and not disturbing the daily life of wildlife. The leisure science popularization area is responsible for mobilizing the "five senses", where people can visit the garden while reading plant science popularization signs, immersing themselves in natural science popularization knowledge and experiences.

Habitat protection zone

During the sustainable ecological season, the first and third floors of Nanfeng North District in Hongqiao will simultaneously display the Nature Conservation Association's Nature Conservation Image Exhibition, showcasing the image records of various rare animals and plants such as Sichuan golden monkeys, black necked cranes, and poplar trees, as well as the ecological landscape of deserts, grasslands, valleys, etc., showcasing the vitality and power of biodiversity through the lens.

Protecting Nature Image Exhibition

The trend of "touching the green" in commercial districts

"The significance of renovating and updating park green spaces lies in improving the overall quality of the area's functional layout, thereby using the overall quality of the area to update and leverage buildings for functional adjustment and iteration." Changning District leaders previously interpreted the logic of urban renewal in Hongqiao Development Zone in this way in an interview with reporters.

The emergence of Hongqiao Nanfeng City Habitat Garden is not the first time that the Hongqiao commercial district has touched the green. At the beginning of its opening, the Jinhongqiao International Center Shopping Mall attracted many consumers with its "big garden" layout, which is different from traditional shopping malls. The highest green coverage rate in shopping malls can reach 80%, with a three-dimensional green area of 5500 square meters. There are also multiple rooftop gardens integrated with various catering, leisure and entertainment businesses, providing people with different viewing experiences through color changing tree species throughout the year.

Hongqiao Nanfeng City Habitat Garden Shu Shu Ci

It is a trend for commercial entities to pay more attention to the integration with natural landscapes. Taking Hongqiao Nanfeng City as an example, there are currently more than 220 merchants in the shopping mall, including the 200 meter long international style food street "Fengshang Street", the "Fengshang Small Farm" located in the rooftop garden, and the "Fengshang Running Sports Car" that allows children to freely run in the animal forest, making it increasingly a landmark shopping mall that attracts family consumer groups and parent-child fashion in Shanghai.

To this end, the shopping mall has explored the construction of commercial green spaces, with public green spaces represented by habitat gardens becoming the entry point for shopping malls to provide ecological value, enhance commercial value, and establish emotional connections between people and the city. Nowadays, in the Nanfeng City Habitat Garden of Hongqiao, people can find stair stools transformed from outdoor wooden flooring in Fengshang Garden, and lawn lights transformed from landscape lighting fixtures. After the recycling and landscaping of building materials such as concrete and stones, they have also been revitalized with new value, highlighting the sustainable concept of habitat gardens.

Hongqiao Park

The interaction between urban green spaces and people has also become the focus of urban renewal projects. In the newly opened Hongqiao Park in May this year, in addition to retaining the tall trees and adding landscape plants in the original park, a white circular corridor with a diameter of 36 meters has been added. People can take a break and hold activities under the corridor. The S-shaped landscape art installation on the north side of the park is suitable for people to stand, sit, and lie down, as well as a natural stepped seat for fashion events. The Zunyi Road Ziyun Road Community Pocket Park, which opened in August, serves as a dojo within the snail shell. The water features, cloud mist stone rockery, and winding trails all enhance the park's fun and interactivity.

Zunyi Road Ziyun Road Community Pocket Park

Jiang Jinhong introduced that after the opening of the Habitat Garden, Hongqiao Nanfeng City will continue its social and recreational functions here, while strengthening the science popularization function of outdoor ecological spaces. In the future, when people come here, they can not only learn about the local plant communities surrounding the habitat garden, but also participate in related research, team building, horticultural courses, and other activities such as habitat classrooms, natural observation, plant science popularization, etc. Surrounding primary and secondary schools will also carry out off campus science popularization practices here, where white-collar workers can experience outdoor yoga, meditation, handicrafts and other characteristic activities, and immerse themselves in sustainable lifestyles in urban green spaces.