Living in nature's pocket

Among the new pocket parks located in downtown Shanghai are some spaces that previously belonged to institutions. One such park is situated within a French-style historical building located at No 87 Wuxing Road in Xuhui district.

The three-story garden villa with red ceilings and white walls is presently used as the office of the Shanghai Research Institute of Sports Science. It previously served as the residence of a senior executive of the Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank of France.

A new pocket park was added to the city in March when the research institute agreed to remove its fences and open up nearly 1,800 square meters of its green space to the public. The Xuhui district authority then created new pathways in the garden and added plants, benches, tables and chairs. The original fountain located in the park was retained.

Zhang Jing, an official responsible for greening matters at the Putuo District Landscaping and City Appearance Administrative Bureau, says that authorities at the district level have been holding discussions with other public institutions to encourage them to open their green spaces to the public.

The reason for this, says Zhang, is that it is too costly to relocate residents just to construct new green spaces in the downtown areas.

"Regarding renovating the existing public green spaces, which might have been built decades ago, we'll improve the facilities, adding lights, seats and corridors to make such spaces not only generate ecological effects but user-friendly for people," she says.

In November, idle land spanning around 900 sq m on East Yuhang Road in Hongkou district was renovated into a pocket park specially catering to children. Here, the plastic footpath features colored English letters and the fences are adorned with cartoon and animal characters and distorting mirrors.

"I heard that the developers even chose plants that do not have thorns as this would be safer for the children," says a resident surnamed Wang.

"Many of my neighbors are very pleased that we have such a fun facility located close by. We really appreciate the effort spent on designing details that satisfy the needs of people of different age groups," she says.

Zhou Huajie, the director of the Shanghai Public Green Space Construction Affairs Center, says that residents will always be consulted before any park plan is finalized.

"The whole point about high-quality ecological spaces is inspiring people to share these spaces. This is a way to allow people to actively participate in jointly creating a better city and life," he says.

The building of parks is just one way the Shanghai government has gone about connecting its residents with nature. In late 2017, authorities announced a plan to connect the core areas on both banks of the Huangpu River and create spaces for walking and cycling.

At the end of 2020, the authorities announced a similar plan that would see the waterfront areas on both sides of the Suzhou Creek connected and opened to the public.

In 2021, the Shanghai authorities said they would construct 30 country parks over the following 15 years. The eight that have been open so far have already become massively popular among the local populace.