The recent concerns of residents are... | Investigation of the Historical and Cultural Landscape Area in the Central District of Shanghai ③, Living in Wukang Building for Half a Century | History | Shanghai Central District

Editor's note: "wutong District" is the nickname of netizens for the historical and cultural area in the center of Shanghai center. It has the largest historical and cultural area in the central city of Shanghai - Hengfu Historical and Cultural Area, as well as Yuyuan Road, Xinhua Road, Nanjing West Road and other historical and cultural areas, with many old western-style houses and "online stores". This area involves several central urban areas - Xuhui, Jing'an, Huangpu, and Changning. In recent years, beneficial explorations have been made in the industrial agglomeration, scientific and technological innovation, people's livelihood improvement, landscape protection, urban renewal, and other aspects of Shanghai's historical districts. What is the unique texture of "wutong District", and how to make this area better and stronger, so as to make it a shining "card" in the center of Shanghai? Starting today, the Liberation Daily Shangguan News will launch a series of investigation reports——

In late August, Changle Road was close to Xiangyang North Road. At night, merchants selling alcoholic beverages on both sides of Changle Road began to gather, and long queues began to form in front of surrounding restaurants and noodle shops. When enthusiastic diners accidentally make loud noises, the shop owner or residents cooling off on the roadside will kindly remind them to be lighter, as there are people living upstairs.

The integration of commercial and residential areas is a major characteristic of the historical and scenic area in the center of Shanghai. "Wutong District" has a narrow road scale and a combination of Chinese and Western architectural forms. It has a natural gene to develop commerce. However, in recent years, whether it is the "Internet celebrity grandma" who attracts visitors to watch the "bow shaped balcony" on Wukang Road, or Yongkang Road, which has transformed from a bar street to a coffee street due to the unbearable disturbance of residents, both reflect the challenges of co governance, integration, and sharing among residents, tourists, and merchants in the historical landscape area.

Wukang Road, photographed in May this year

There are merchants and tourists under the wutong tree, and residents beside the wutong tree. How to balance the people's livelihood and economic and social development through governance, so that Shanghai's "urban family" in the historic area always has rich connotation, orderly management and convenient life, and relevant departments need to actively cooperate to explore the path of business and residential integration, and continue to stimulate the vitality of the historical district, so that "wutong district" has "not old" but younger "magic".

Sense of order

Located in the Gubai residential area of the "Giant Rich Chang" plot, it belongs to Nanjing West Road Street in Jing'an District, while Weiyu Middle School, separated by Changle Road, belongs to Hunan Road Street in Xuhui District. The conflict between tourists and residents has been a typical example of cross regional co governance in the "Giant Rich Chang" area at the junction of Xuhui, Huangpu, Jing'an and other three districts for many years. Previously, the bars on Changle Road had been "popular all over the network" because customers held drinks under the wutong in front of the door. However, there were also problems such as noise disturbing people late at night, and traffic was blocked. The urban management and urban landscaping departments in Jing'an and Xuhui districts carried out several rectification.

Changle Road is near Xiangyang North Road, photographed in August this year

In the second half of last year, a new business model emerged around the Gubai residential area: the trunk night market. "Private cars arrived one by one, parked on the roadside, opened the trunk, and set up barbecue ovens and beer stalls. There were fireworks and smoke, but the sidewalks and lanes were all blocked, and residents had to call emergency rooms at night. Even 'life-saving cars' couldn't come in," said Tang Yongzhen, the secretary of the Party General Branch of the Gubai residential area.

Nanjing West Road Street and traffic police conducted research and found that 24-hour parking spaces around residential areas are not frequently used by residents at night. Therefore, the parking time on Xiangyang North Road has been changed to 7am to 7pm every day to reduce the impact of late night and early morning vehicle parking on residents' lives. The street has also established a special task force for environmental governance in the "Giant Rich Chang" region, and mobilized surrounding residents to provide civilized guidance to tourists. "Some young people come here to visit the 'night market', so I recommend them to take a look at the nearby bars and restaurants. They all understand and cooperate," said Aunt Chen, a resident volunteer. Nanjing West Road Street has also guided more than 40 restaurants and more than 20 bars located in the "huge wealth long" area within its jurisdiction to carry out autonomous governance, manage public areas such as external placement, and achieve orderly operation.

Yongkang Road, all photographed in August this year

Similar troubles also appeared on Yongkang Road over a decade ago. Ten years ago, Yongkang Road, which was still a bar street, was often bustling at night. Unable to bear it, residents poured a basin of water onto the bar street downstairs. In 2016, Xuhui District officially launched a two-way adjustment of Yongkang Road's environment and business format. Coincidentally, the popularity of coffee is gradually increasing in Shencheng, and Yongkang Road has transformed into a coffee street, quickly becoming a "internet famous road". However, the instantaneous large passenger flow brought by popular merchants such as "Bear Claw Coffee" has once again triggered new governance challenges such as queue occupation and pedestrian and vehicle safety.

The "wutong District" has many "online stores", many queues, frequent instantaneous extreme passenger flow and other characteristics, which make the narrow historical roads often face "overload operation". It needs to carry out a series of effective governance from the aspects of municipal facilities optimization, residents' autonomy and co governance, and tourist behavior norms. The sense of order becomes the key to balance the integration of business and residence under the wutong tree.

Overlooking the Hengfu Historical and Cultural Area from the Wukang Building

Last year, it was selected as one of the first national level tourism and leisure blocks in the "Wukang Anfu Style Block". Within a 0.4 square kilometer space, it gathers 8 residential areas, 61 cultural heritage units and historical heritage buildings, and more than 140 street shops, with an average daily passenger flow of over 20000 people. In March of this year, the 900 meter long Anfu Road underwent a centralized motor vehicle rectification, with some motor vehicle parking spaces cancelled. Green off-road vehicles that were parked outside a "internet celebrity" clothing store for years and whose owners would rather pay fines every day than stop illegally for people to take photos were removed. The long-standing pedestrian occupation and safety hazards at the intersection of Anfu Road and Wukang Road were alleviated.

At the starting point of Wukang Road, Wukang Building, the safety hazards caused by tourists occupying the roadway for photography have caught the attention of Tianping Road Street in Xuhui District. To this end, the street took the lead in transforming a corner lawn at the intersection of Huaihai Middle Road and Tianping Road into a "Source Point Square" with an area of approximately 500 square meters for visitors to take photos and check in; Xuhui District has also designated a 100 meter electronic fence around the Wukang Building. When the passenger flow reaches 80% of the maximum carrying capacity or 500 shared bicycles are parked, the "One Network Management" platform will trigger a large passenger flow warning. Subsequently, Changning District renovated and updated the intersection of Huaihai Middle Road and Xingguo Road, and replaced the large steps in front of the New Asia Big Bag Restaurant with safer flat ground... A series of measures confirmed that "blocking is better than dredging".

Overlooking Huaihai Middle Road from the "bow" position of Wukang Building

Publicity

"Parisians also joke, 'Why does the whole world come to see us?' In the eyes of relevant experts, like other world cities such as Paris and London, the historic district in the center of Shanghai has its' public nature '. It is another window for the world to understand Shanghai besides skyscrapers, and also a precious business card to showcase the lives of Shanghai citizens.". Maintaining and enhancing residential functions while balancing the development of business, tourism, and cultural integration is a necessary path.

"Come back from the balcony quickly, or you will appear in others' Tiktok later." At the home of Chen Yiping, a resident of Wukang Building, the reporter had just stood on the balcony overlooking Huaihai Middle Road, when she hastily "recalled" him. She has lived in the Wukang Building for 52 years, but in recent years, she rarely pushes the window or wakes up early to exercise on the balcony like before, because she is always framed by tourists in the camera, just like the old lady standing on her balcony on Wukang Road who was captured by netizens and spread throughout the internet, just because a huge bow decoration was hung on her balcony.

The traffic effect of "internet celebrity neighborhoods" may attract unexpected attention to any seemingly ordinary action. At this point, it is necessary to reconcile the grassroots governance mechanism.

During the summer, tourists flock to the "bow" of Wukang Building.

The merchant agreement, resident agreement, and tourist agreement posted in front of the Wukang Building.

In the second half of last year, during the promotion of the "Beautiful Community Pioneer Action", the Wukang residential area of Hunan Road Street in Xuhui District completed the most comprehensive resident consultation in the history of the Wukang Building in more than four months, and officially implemented the "Wukang Building Resident Convention" in January this year.

According to Bai Zufang, Secretary of the Party Branch of Wukang Residential Area, about 95% of residents believe that having more tourists does have a greater or lesser impact on their lives during household surveys. Especially for residents living at the bow of the Wukang Building, sometimes they can clearly hear the quarrels of tourists outside the window, and curious tourists will quietly follow the residents into the building to visit and take photos. Therefore, the conventions of Wukang residential areas are divided into three categories during the formulation process, including resident conventions, merchant conventions, and tourist conventions. The resident agreement is posted in front of the elevator in Wukang Building, and the tourist agreement is posted at the entrance of the building.

In order to make the content of the convention more internalized, residents also spontaneously established a "Wukang Building Civilization Advocacy Team", which patrols the building every week. Starting from the 7th floor of the building, they inspect the stacked objects and fire hazards in the hallway layer by layer. When encountering decoration, the homeowner takes the initiative to come and pay attention. During the peak summer tourism season, there are more tourists around the Wukang Building on weekdays than on weekends. Therefore, every morning, noon, and evening, the Wukang residential area sends 5 volunteers to maintain order at the "bow" of the building. A line of words was specifically written on the volunteer vest: Wukang Road is not only "internet celebrity", but also "me".

391 Wukang Road, a notice board spontaneously produced by merchants

Lane 391, Wukang Road

On Yuyuan Road, another national level tourist and leisure street, resident Wu Genlin Grandma discovered that tourists who had previously only been active on the main street have been coming to the depths of the alley to check in for the past two years. "A single blooming camellia in the alley, as long as the weather is good, a little girl will come to take photos, and they will also take pictures of my green screen window, saying it looks very nice." As "Citywalk" and "Cityride" become popular, people's exploration of Shanghai's historical and scenic neighborhoods began to extend to the alleys and Zhima Road, but this also triggered more challenges in the integration of commercial and residential areas.

Last October, a "internet celebrity" ice cream shop in Lane 1088 of Yuyuan Road had a long queue due to the launch of a new product, and the large passenger flow affected the residents of Hongye Garden on the other side of the channel, once again causing dissatisfaction among residents with the merchants. A week later, Jiangsu Road Street in Changning District took the lead in holding a "Hongye Garden Commercial Residential Management Lane Convention" hearing, with local residential areas, police stations, merchant representatives, resident representatives, and block operators sitting around a table. The content of the convention was openly discussed and responsibility was determined.

After the reconstruction of Danshui Road, the fruit shop and some popular old roads in "wutong District" have improved the neighborhood environment with the help of public activities. Danshui Road in Huangpu District is only one step away from Xintiandi, which is the starting point of the east side of Shanghai Hengfu Historical and Cultural Area. There are more than 30 small stores, but the popularity has been tepid for many years. In August of this year, this place became a member of the "Road Life Festival" jointly organized by Huangpu District and Xiaohongshu. Within 10 days of the event, the revenue of some small shops doubled. In order to meet the passenger flow brought by public activities, fruit shops, meat shops, and vegetable shops on Danshui Road have been upgraded and renovated. The old and dark shops have been repainted, and the ground has been paved with anti slip tiles. The entrance steps have also added aging friendly slopes and handrails.

"Why are these three small shops? Because they are all 'essential stores' that residents often go to in their daily lives, we hope to make Danshui Road more orderly and prosperous through community governance and' minimum management unit 'autonomy." said Lu Xiaojun, Secretary of the Party Working Committee of Huaihai Middle Road Street.

Promoting co integration

In April this year, Hunan Road Sub district in Xuhui District took the lead in establishing the "Music Block Co governance Committee" to build music blocks around Huaihai Middle Road, Fenyang Road, Fuxing Middle Road, and Baoqing Road. The residential area of Huaihai is of utmost importance - large orchestras such as Shanghai Conservatory of Music and Shanghai Symphony Orchestra are all located here. With the advantage of being surrounded by water, residents here not only visited the History Museum of Shanghai Conservatory of Music, but also explored the backstage of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra Concert Hall and Shanghai Conservatory of Music Opera House. "Every time a quota is released, it's a 'flash sale', and residents also cherish these opportunities," said Wang Zhaoxiang, Secretary of the Party General Branch of Huaihai Residential Area.

"Internet famous" flower shop located at Changshu Road subway station in Huaihai residential area

By establishing a music district co governance committee, a normalized mechanism has been established for "small social governance units" such as the Huaihai residential area to have face-to-face communication, collaboration, and consultation with large groups in the courtyard. "The time for setting up the performance season is limited, and props often need to be moved at night. Considering that they are only separated by a wall from the residential area, they will notify the neighborhood committee in advance before entering the venue late at night, and communicate with us in a timely manner." Wang Zhaoxiang said that some small things that may seem effortless to the co construction units can solve major problems for the residential area, and also help residents establish a cultural identity for the "music district" in each solid "small matter".

Similarly, by establishing governance mechanisms, residents have gained recognition through the establishment of "Coffee Street" on Nanchang Road. Within a radius of 500 meters, there are more than 50 coffee shops, and there are more than 20 on the main street of Nanchang Road. But previously, this place also experienced a "painful period" of chaotic business formats and noise disturbance. "Upgrading business formats is an inevitable direction for the development of Nanchang Road, and what the government needs to do is to create a good environment, allowing suitable merchants and business formats to develop naturally." said Wu Hong, Director of the Business Environment Office of Ruijin Second Road Street in Huangpu District.

After the improvement of the environment and business format, Nanchang Road has undergone a series of subtle changes: pocket parks and corner gardens have emerged one after another; The exterior walls of the substation are transformed into artist wall paintings, and passing aunts and uncles carrying small dishes are also eager to guide tourists who come to take photos on the street. "A 45 degree angle across the street is the best tourist attraction." Nanchang Road quickly became famous as an "art block without walls." Ruijin Second Road Street took the opportunity to establish the "Huanfu Park Nanchang Road Cross border Autonomous Association", which includes experts, scholars, lawyers, residents, and shop owners, and clarified the responsibilities and obligations of garbage classification, historical landscape protection, and other aspects inside and outside the block.

The Wukang Road Anfu Road block has recently completed the exploration of Shanghai's first "Soft Law Governance Guidelines for Stylish Street Blocks", covering nine aspects including street civilization, street management, and street safety, with a total of 62 detailed rules covering various aspects such as transportation, catering, retail, and building protection. In the view of relevant experts, the historical style blocks in the center of Shanghai not only need to form a joint governance of commercial and residential areas through governance, but also need to establish and polish the unique cultural IP of the blocks, expand their connotation and value.

In the area where governance is more difficult, a community platform for "Jufuchang" block governance across Jing'an, Huangpu and Xuhui districts has been set up in June this year, linking multiple subjects such as territorial streets, residential areas, functional departments, two new organizations, shops along the street, social organizations, volunteers, etc., to achieve joint discussion, co management and co management of block affairs, so that "wutong District" will always remain dynamic and more stable and far sighted.