In 2023, when the society fully restarts, the concept of life and behavior of Chinese people have undergone profound changes, and many strange phenomena in the past are becoming popular today. In recent years, in tourism and leisure, a trendy activity: Citywalk has entered the public eye.
Citywalk originated from "London Walks" in London, England, which translates to Chinese "City Walk". In layman's terms, Citywalk is shopping, rolling the road. The most ordinary walking road in the life of urban residents has been transformed into a tall "fashion", which makes people sigh that it is not that I do not understand, but that the world is changing rapidly.
This year's tourism market has been booming, with cities and attractions becoming overcrowded, but tourism revenue has not increased with the surge in tourists. After being closed for three years, residents in urgent need of ventilation and relaxation are facing the embarrassment of pocket-shyness, coupled with young students becoming the main force of the tourism market, budget travel, special forces tourism, and Zibo barbecue have become the hottest tourist wonders this year. Citywalk is also a new product of the change in tourism concept.
Today's young tourists are tired of group tours that go to bed on the bus, queue up at attractions, and take photos and check in on the horses; I prefer to walk aimlessly, spontaneously, casually through the streets and alleys, and revel in the smell of urban fireworks. Today's travel news, the number of tourists to traditional attractions, the broadcast of ticket revenue is not cared for. At present, the most enthusiastic travel report is the flow of people on the streets full of fireworks in the Internet celebrity tourism city. Changsha Liberation West stuck in traffic at two o'clock in the morning, Chengdu Taikoo Li Encounters to capture, Xi'an Tang Dynasty Sleepless City surging crowds, Chongqing Hongya Cave fantastic night scene, this is the tourism news that can best lift the attention of netizens and ensure traffic.
According to the "2023 Tourism Research Report" jointly released by DT Finance and DT Research Institute, 82% of people want to try City Walk among several new travel methods, far more than other travel methods. In the "Top Ten Lifestyle Trends of 2022" released by Xiaohongshu, "City Roaming" has ranked fifth. On Xiaohongshu, the tags "City Walk" and "Rest Day City Walk" had 14.2 million and 411.5 million views, respectively.
In the circle of travel apps and travel enthusiasts, City Walk recommended routes in major cities emerge one after another. Wandering aimlessly around the city, experiencing the cultural context of the city, breaking a series of almost identical route attractions that are divided at your own pace and pace, following your heart, rediscovering your natural rhythm, and becoming the latest way for young white-collar workers and middle class to relax themselves. Modern society competition is everywhere, urban people are shrouded in tension and loneliness in the mechanical life, City Walk is a low-cost and quick means of decompression.
Walking on the streets was originally the most common leisure method for people in the city. Shopping and rolling roads on the tourist hotspots in the mode of City Walk are by no means simple and boring strolling as before, but give more updated connotations. Citywalk doesn't need to go through a lot of trouble in advance, and there are no fixed travel rules. Whether it's choosing a route in advance, taking a group tour of the city's monuments, looking for treasure shops, going straight at a green light, turning at a red light, and walking the streets aimlessly, it's a Citywalk. Citywalk emphasizes an unlimited, freewheeling, slow-paced immersive experience, where you can feel the city's historical charm and vitality while strolling.
When tourism changes from traditional sightseeing to a life experience walking through the streets, it brings new vitality and opportunities to the city. The lack of historical sites and beautiful scenery, the crowded buildings, cultural and commercial heritage of the city's old neighborhoods, which used to be a hard wound in the development of tourism, are now a treasure trove that attracts curious tourists and young people. The premise is how to transform the old and dilapidated old streets and old buildings into colorful Internet celebrity check-in points.
In Shanghai, the "Wutong District" is a must-visit for lovers of city strolls. Sycamore trees, historical buildings, garden houses, and small shops, strolling among them, you can feel the cultural heritage of Shencheng the most. How does Shanghai protect the romance and tone of the "Wutong District"? Taking the renovation of the Wukang Building as an example, the Wukang Building was completed in 1924 and completed two protective repairs in 2009 and 2019 respectively. In 2020, the Wukang Building block underwent another "micro-update". This "micro-update" carried out signal pole optimization, redundant pole removal, and air conditioning external unit hiding. In particular, people used to take a beautiful photo with the building as the background, and could only wait for the gap of the red light and the gap of pedestrians to hurriedly press the shutter, in this "micro-update", the best shooting point has been expanded and upgraded, so that everyone can enjoy shooting. Now Wukang Building has become a must-see check-in point for urban travel enthusiasts.
With the issuance of the State Council's "Guiding Opinions on Actively and Steadily Promoting the Transformation of Urban Villages in Megacities", the transformation of urban villages and old residential areas in China's cities has ushered in a historic opportunity. The area traversed by the Citywalk route is basically the densest concentration of old residential areas and urban villages in China's big cities.
According to data compiled by the China Landmark City Policy Institute, there are nearly 160,000 old residential communities in the mainland before 2000, involving more than 42 million households and a construction area of about 4 billion square meters. According to the definition of old residential areas, the potential stock scale of old city renovation will reach 4.82 billion square meters, 5.29 billion square meters and 6.59 billion square meters in 2020-2022, respectively. These old communities are mainly concentrated in the old cities of first- and second-tier cities, mostly in Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Tianjin, Zhengzhou, Wuhan, Jinan and other places.
According to the traditional routine of the renovation of the old community, it is nothing more than making an article on the greening of the community road, the installation of elevators, and the renovation of the exterior wall. The renovation of residential areas on the side of a thousand cities is a waste of precious urban resources. Combining the renovation of old neighborhoods with urban culture and the latest tourism trends, and turning old neighborhoods in prime locations into beautiful Internet celebrity attractions, which was once a fantasy, is now possible.
Tourists in Citywalk are pursuing the freshness of the urban landscape and a strong sense of culture, carefully designed in the old city transformation, the community streets change the same appearance, personalized walking fun can attract tourists.
The old construction committee station is located in the core of the old city of Jiaxing City, and the site is sandwiched between the gaps of buildings of different eras, which belongs to a typical urban fragmented space. The site's biggest features are disorder, blurred boundaries, and four leafy camphor trees. The project is part of Jiaxing's old city remodeling plan, which is different from the large-scale overall renewal, introducing Jane Jacobs's "street eye" concept in the fragmented space, and evoking people's love for the complex and diverse life of the old city with "organized" point renewal.
Three-dimensional circulation of stairs and ramps is placed around the building space and courtyard to attract public participation. Heavy wood-grained concrete and light metal mesh are used along the street to welcome the public, and when visitors approach, the concrete rolled-up entrance arouses the curiosity of visitors and leads them into a preset walking stream. After the renovation, the old post station of the Construction Committee has undergone a rebirth and has become a viewing spot for tourists and local residents to linger.
At present, the real estate industry has entered the sunset stage, and urban renewal has become the next wave of new opportunities for urban construction. In urban renewal, strengthen planning coordination, refine urban design guidance, and innovate the sustainable implementation mode of old city transformation. How fascinating it is to transform old neighborhoods and urban villages into urban landscapes that bring visual beauty and immersive experience to city dwellers and outsiders.
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