Promote the co construction and sharing of urban public spaces, with 56 public seats in Xuhui gradually being "updated" in the United Front | Street | Seats

On July 21st, Xuhui District held the Shanghai United Front Cultural Week Xuhui Theme Day event of "Uniting for the Future, Joining Hands Together". The reporter learned from the meeting that currently, Xuhui has selected 73 landmark united front resource locations, forming a "Xuhui united front cultural map" and connecting four themed routes, including "Huitongzhou: The Road from Moderate Prosperity to Revitalization". The United Front Work Department of Xuhui District Committee also organized various parties to adopt 56 public seats with a theme of united front work culture, promoting the co construction and sharing of urban public spaces.

The small seats have scenery everywhere

Public seats are ubiquitous urban furniture that provide citizens and tourists with recreational, co governance, and shared public facilities. They are also a beautiful scenic line in urban neighborhoods. According to the requirements of pledging and adopting public seats for the Shanghai United Front Livelihood Project, the joint construction of Xuhui District United Front Cultural Theme Public Seats has been launched. In combination with key projects such as the construction of "beautiful neighborhoods", urban renewal, and the creation of a "15 minute living circle", Xuhui District has extensively mobilized united front members and regional units to build 10 public space rest seats, totaling 56 seats.

Cheng Weijia, Deputy Director of the Greening and Urban Appearance Bureau of Xuhui District, introduced that according to the plan, the selection of public seats in this round has a rich hierarchy of locations, which is integrated with the Xuhui United Front Cultural Route and United Front Cultural Positions, including Yan Fuqing's former residence, Liu Jingji's former residence, Ke Ling's former residence, Xia Yan's former residence, as well as Nie'er Square, Jialanting United Front Cultural Square, etc., all included in the seating area. Xuhui will also extend public seats to new social class practice and innovation bases, as well as music districts, and set up locations around street corner squares in Caohejing Park, Shanghai Conservatory of Music, and Shanghai Symphony Orchestra.

At the same time, Xuhui District fully leverages the professional strength of community planners and independent design teams, invites united front members and regional units to actively participate in creative design, integrates united front elements, ergonomics, environmental coordination and other considerations, and creates unique public seats. For example, the public seats around the Shanghai Conservatory of Music are transformed into a themed graphic using a flat design technique, which inspires people to explore the history of roads while they sit and rest. The seats around the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra refer to the exterior and unique weaving structure of the concert hall building, adding fun. The seats in the Caohejing Street Corner Square are designed with high saturation colors, highlighting the youthful and energetic characteristics of the new social class.

The reporter learned that the adoption units for these public seats include the Party Committee of the United Front Work Department of the Municipal Party Committee, the Party Branch of the United Front Work Department of the Xuhui District Party Committee, the Party Branch of the Xuhui District Federation of Industry and Commerce, various democratic parties in Xuhui District, the Xuhui District Association of Knowledge, the Xuhui District New Association, the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, and the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. By paying attention to the quality of recreational seats in urban areas, we aim to provide citizens with a more comfortable leisure experience and further showcase the cultural heritage of Xuhui District, achieving the construction vision of "furniture with expressions, and the city with warmth".

The square at the doorstep often has new ideas

The Nie'er Music Square, covering an area of nearly 2500 square meters, is a triangular plot formed by the intersection of Huaihai Middle Road, Fuxing West Road, and Urumqi Middle Road, with winding stone paths, dense greenery, and blooming flowers. The public seats placed here allow passersby to rest quietly under the shade of trees. The Nie Er statue in the center of the square is named "Get Up" and was designed by sculptor Zhang Chongren and completed in 1992. The statue of Nie Er stepped out with his left foot and his gaze turned forward, as if he were spreading his arms to direct singing.

Nowadays, Nie'er Music Square has become an important component of Hunan Road Street's gathering area, where units work together to create an "never-ending music street". Relying on city landmarks such as Nie'er Music Square, the street integrates historical figures, buildings, or spaces with united front stories, carefully planning and launching 10 high-quality party courses such as the birth of "The March of the Volunteers", as well as a "red line" connected by 21 old buildings with red genes.

Hunan Road Street also established a party history propaganda team to deepen the "experiential party lesson walking under the wutong tree" with the characteristics of the jurisdiction. The street also regularly carries out activities such as promoting the rule of law, promoting ethnic and religious regulations, and providing convenient services by learning from Lei Feng at Nie'er Music Square, and invites music students to perform live, bringing melodious music.

Located in the Hengfu Historical and Cultural District, Jialanting is a stage created by Tianping Road Street to carry the humanistic spirit of the community and enrich the united front culture. In 2019, a small square at No. 309 Yongjia Road, located just across the alley from Zhang Lan's residence, emerged in the jurisdiction of the street. Originally, this was a scattered old land parcel, but during the renovation of the Yongjia section, two rows of dilapidated residential buildings with fire hazards were demolished, and a "pocket park" was built at the doorstep of ordinary people's homes, which was about 18 meters wide and 40 meters deep. At the 2021 Asian Architects Association Architecture Awards ceremony, Jialanting won the first place in the "Social and Cultural" Architecture Gold Award and the "Social Responsibility Award" Special Award.

At present, Tianping Street combines the rich red resources and numerous historical celebrities in its jurisdiction to deeply explore the well-known figures of the united front who once lived or worked here. Drawing on their residence numbers, ivy, red bricks and other elements, five three-dimensional display windows display the lives of famous united front workers such as Song Qingling, Zhang Lan, Ma Xulun, and Huang Yanpei who have worked and lived in Tianping Street. By creating a lecture course on "Returning to the Blue Heart" and carrying out activities such as the "Manpin Tianping Chuxin Road" red search, Jialanting has become a "check-in point" for Tianping Street to carry out historical learning, as well as an activity platform for the street to jointly build with various democratic parties.