Fengxian Kelp River, south of Hangzhou Bay, north of the Huangpu River, with 31.6 kilometers of Hangzhou Bay shoreline and 13.7 kilometers of Huangpu River shoreline, several generations of Fengxian people have built a 40.7 kilometers of sea ponds, so that the sea into fertile land. At the same time, Fengxian is located in the alluvial plain of the Yangtze River Delta, with flat terrain, river crossing, Punan Canal spanning east and west, and Jinhui Port running through the north and south. The magnificent waves of the East China Sea, the ups and downs of the Huangpu River, the gentle and long canals, and the small bridges and flowing waters in the south of the Yangtze River have given birth to Fengxian's unique regional culture and strengthened its determination to be guided by the construction of ecological civilization. Fengxian has embarked on an innovative path of turning ecological advantages into ecological victories, becoming the first administrative district in Shanghai to be awarded the honor of "the most ecologically competitive city"1, and also laying a solid foundation for the practical exploration of creating a national forest city.
01 The forest wind rises, polishing the background color in three stages
1. Lay a solid foundation and build a solid ecological base in Fengxian (2005-2015)
Since the successful establishment of Shanghai Garden City in 2005, Fengxian District has vigorously promoted ecological construction, and initially built an ecological system based on suburban ecological space, waterfront roadside greening as the backbone, and node greening as the focus, covering green spaces, woodlands, wetlands, lakes and other diversified ecological spaces. However, due to the relatively weak economic foundation of Fengxian District, entering the later stage of the "Twelfth Five-Year Plan", ecological investment is limited, and the construction of ecological environment is facing the dilemma of slowing down the growth rate of total volume and structural imbalance. By 2015, the forest coverage rate of the whole region reached 12.4%, and the per capita park green space area was only 3.9 square meters.
2. Take the word "beauty" first, polish the regional ecological brand (2016-2021)
Under the guidance of the "Shanghai 2035" urban master plan, Fengxian District has compiled a series of special plans such as the "Fengxian District Green Space System Special Plan", and simultaneously implemented two rounds of the "Fengxian District Three-Year Action Plan for Greening Construction", focusing on "10,000 hectares of woodland, thousands of miles of green corridors, and 100 parks" to create a characteristic ecological network, and at the same time, the high-quality ecological environment leads economic development, realizes benign interaction, and promotes ecological construction to a new level. By 2021, the forest coverage rate of the whole region will reach 16.5%, and the per capita park green space will increase by 4.8 square meters, ranking first in the city, and various ecological and environmental indices will also hit a record high. The ecological environment not only started the city brand, but also ushered in the prosperity of the beauty and health industry, so that Fengxian has the reputation of "Oriental Beauty Valley", Fengxian has become the only Chinese cosmetics industry capital in the country, and vividly interprets the "last to come first" in the development of suburbs. During the "13th Five-Year Plan" period, Fengxian's GDP exceeded the threshold of "100 billion yuan", and the regional GDP and fiscal revenue jumped from 15th and 14th in 2015 to 11th and 9th respectively, and also showed strong economic resilience during the epidemic.
3. In-depth promotion and striving for a national forest city (2022-present)
In 2022, Fengxian put forward the new goal of creating a "national forest city" and explored a high-quality development path oriented by ecological priority and green development. In the past two years, Fengxian has closely followed the theme of forests, promoted the planning of the green ring of the new city and the central woodland of the city, and formed a number of forest Internet celebrity check-in places such as Nine Trees (Shanghai) Future Art Center and Yanzi Academy. In 2022, the forest coverage rate of Fengxian is 16.7%, the per capita park green space will reach 9.1 square meters, the surface water quality assessment sections of the 19 national and municipal examinations in the district will reach Class III for the first time, the implementation rate of urban wetland protection will be 100%, and the excellent rate of air quality index AQI will increase to 88.8% In particular, in 2022, when there was a rare high temperature in the urban area of Shanghai, the average temperature in Fengxian was 8°C lower than that in the urban area, and the high temperature days above 35°C were about 20 days less than that in the urban area, and Fengxian was also the largest badger population habitat in Shanghai, with more than 300 species of birds and more than 80 species of fish, and the number of species was steadily increasing, and the comprehensive species index was increasing year by year.
Aerial view of the central woodland of Fengxian New Town
Source: Internet
02 Tracing the roots, Forest City has indicators
In fact, the term "Forest City" is not the first one, it has been developed internationally for more than 60 years, and has been widely practiced in Europe, the United States, Japan and other countries. In the 60s of the 20th century, under the influence of the "Green Movement"2 network around the world, developed countries in Europe and the United States took the lead in taking ecological environmental protection as an important part of the political program and the assessment index of economic and social development, and gradually introduced forests into cities, gradually forming a "forest city" development model with its own characteristics. Founded in 1993, the European Forest Institute (EFRI) is a comprisal of 30 European member states and 130 member organizations from 40 countries to build a platform for governments to strengthen the relationship between forest conservation and the bioeconomy, resilience and urban governance. In recognition of the city's commitment to the protection and development of forest areas and the exploration of new models of forest cities, the European Forest Institute has awarded the title of "European Forest City" once a year since 2014, and cities such as Bilbao, Vienna, Oslo and Barcelona have successively won this title. In addition to Europe, in the 90s of the 20th century, Japan also proposed the idea of building 10 "forest cities" across the country, emphasizing the "forest of citizens" and creating a forest space that can be inherited, experienced, and enjoyed.
1. International Forest City Evaluation System
European countries are rich in forest resources, more than half of the countries have a forest coverage rate between 30% and 45%, some as high as more than 70%, a large per capita forest area (2.16 hectares), strong accessibility (more than 90% open to the public), and the world's leading forest construction, has formed a relatively mature evaluation system, and effectively guides the construction of forest cities. According to the Pan-European Standards for Sustainable Forest Management and the European Forest Agreement - National and Pan-European Actions 2016-2020, European Forest Cities focus on six dimensions, namely forest resources and their contribution to the global carbon cycle, the health and vitality of forest ecosystems, the productive functions of forests, the biodiversity of forest ecosystems, the conservation functions of forest management, and other socio-economic functions and conditions, mainly including about 34 indicators.
Framework diagram of the evaluation indicators of the European Forest City
Source: Based on the Pan-European Guidelines on Standards, Indicators and Operational Aspects for Sustainable Forest Management
Except for Europe, other countries have differences in the foundation and starting point of forest construction, and there are diversified characteristics in the dimensions of attention and measures (Table 1). However, in general, the international consensus on forest city is not only about "forest" itself, but also covers ecological value, economic value and social service value.
Table 1 Other international forest cities
Source: Compiled and drawn by the author
2. Evaluation criteria for forest cities in mainland China
The selection of domestic forest cities began in 2004, when the National Greening Committee and the State Forestry Administration officially launched the evaluation of "National Forest Cities". As of November 2022, a total of 219 cities across the country have received this honor, and Shanghai is the only provincial-level unit among the three provinces and one city in the Yangtze River Delta that does not have a "National Forest City". In 2016, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized at the 12th meeting of the Central Leading Group for Financial and Economic Affairs that efforts should be made to carry out the construction of forest cities, do a good job in greening in the city, so that all places suitable for greening in the city are green, do a good job in greening around the city, make full use of the land that is not suitable for cultivation to carry out afforestation, do a good job in the greening of urban agglomerations, and expand the ecological space between cities. Under the important instructions of General Secretary Xi Jinping, the State Forestry Administration has successively issued relevant documents to gradually clarify the path requirements for the establishment of Forest City in terms of planning and development, legal system construction and evaluation indicators3.
"A city with forests and trees as the main body, mountains, rivers, forests, fields, lakes and grasses in harmony and symbiosis within the jurisdiction of the city, and the construction indicators meet the National Forest City Evaluation Index (GB/T37342-2019) (Table 2)", which is the latest definition of "forest city". From the perspective of evaluation indicators, the focus is on five aspects: forest network, forest health, ecological welfare, ecological culture and organizational management.
Table 2 Evaluation indicators of national forest cities
Source: National Forest City Evaluation Index (GB/T37342-2019)
3. Fengxian "Forest City" construction indicators
According to the national forest city evaluation standards, except for the two indicators of "ecological restoration of damaged and abandoned land and greening of important water sources", which are not involved in Fengxian District, the actual applicable indicators are 23, of which 14 have reached the standard, 2 have not reached the standard, and 7 have been built. The indicators that did not meet the target were forest cover (current 25.5%, target 30%) and village parks (at least one public green space per village). Therefore, it can be seen that Fengxian District has a good development foundation, and if the construction of the current indicators that do not meet the standards and the indicators to be built is strengthened, it can meet the relevant construction requirements of the mainland forest city.
At the same time, the basic resources and population density of Fengxian District should also be considered, and the objective difficulties faced by the current development stage should be faced, including the shortage of land resources, high requirements for agricultural protection, and uneven distribution of forests. Therefore, based on the principles of dimension globalization, operation pragmatism, and indicator localization, the following will start from the three international consensus dimensions of forest ecological value, forest economic value, and forest service value (Table 3), screen 2-3 core indicators from each dimension, compare the differences between Fengxian and Europe in the construction of forest cities, comprehensively examine the value of Fengxian forests from a new perspective, and help the construction of forest cities.
Table 3 Comparison of the indicators of Fengxian Forest City
Source: Self-drawn by the author
03Multi-dimensional benchmarking, re-examination of forest value
1. Ecological value of forests
The ecological value of forests mainly includes the value of carbon sinks brought by forest resources, the value of ecosystem services brought by the health and vitality of forests, and the value of biodiversity under the influence of forest fragmentation.
At the end of 2022, the average stock of forest resources in Fengxian District increased by 36.8% compared with 2015, with an average annual growth rate of 2.9%, while the European Forest City has maintained an average annual growth rate of 1.4% in the past 30 years and has abundant reserves of forest resources, which can ensure the continuous and stable growth of urban forest area. At present, the age structure of trees in Fengxian District is dominated by young and middle-aged trees (86%), while the age structure of trees in European cities is dominated by near-mature and mature trees (accounting for 56.6%) (Table 4).
Table 4 Comparison of forest resource age groups in Europe and Fengxian
Source: Based on the State of European Forest Development in 2020 and the forest resources data of Fengxian District in 2022
Distribution map of forest resource age groups in Fengxian District
Source: Based on the 2022 forest resource data of Fengxian District
In terms of forest health and vitality, from the perspective of Fengxian Forest City Construction Index System, more attention is paid to the health and vitality indicators of the forest itself, such as tree species diversity, seedling use and ecological conservation, and there are no specific requirements for how to maintain the health and vitality of forests. However, the European Forest City Conservation Index is more targeted, focusing on the deposition of air pollutants in the woodland, the acidity and eutrophication degree of the woodland soil, the degree and causes of defoliation, and the factors of forest damage, so as to obtain accurate information on forest damage, pests and diseases, and invasive species in real time, and adjust the protection policy in time.
In terms of biodiversity, studies have shown that smaller levels of forest fragmentation4 are effective in improving regional biodiversity conditions, especially in areas with sparse forests. Over the past 20 years, the proportion of continuous forests in Europe has remained above 90 per cent, of which about 64.2 per cent are more than 100,000 hectares. In 2022, the continuous forest area of Fengxian District is 19.7 square kilometers, accounting for only 15% of the total area of forest spots, of which the largest forest area is about 90 hectares, and the degree of forest fragmentation is relatively high. Looking at the change trend of forest pattern, the forest coverage rate in Fengxian District increased from 12.9% to 16.7% from 2017 to 2022, and the forest patch density decreased and the landscape segmentation index increased from 2018 to 2022 (Table 5). This indicates that in recent years, the main forest replenishment methods are mainly in the seam and needle type, and there is a positive trend of small patches merging into large patches, and the degree of forest fragmentation has been alleviated, but there are still problems of reduced forest connectivity, integrity and structure, especially in the past five years, the area of new forest patches in Fengxian District is about 47.2 square kilometers, but more than 50% are located outside the scope of ecological corridors, mixed with other agricultural land and village construction land.
Statistical characteristics of forest landscape pattern index in Fengxian
Source: The author calculates and draws based on the forest resource data of Fengxian District
Distribution of continuous forests and broken forests in Fengxian District in 2022 7
Source: The author calculates and draws based on the forest resource data of Fengxian District
Schematic diagram of the new forests inside and outside the ecological corridor in Fengxian District
Source: The author is based on the data of forest resources in Fengxian District
2. Economic value of forests
The economic structure of forests is closely related to the number of forestry jobs, and a resilient and diversified structure can drive forest employment and ensure the sustainability of forest city construction. At this stage, the construction of forest cities in mainland China mainly relies on government investment, which reflects more of the ecological and social benefits of forest cities. Taking Fengxian as an example, at present, Fengxian's "understory economy" 8 foundation is relatively weak, and the current situation is dominated by fruit forest products, such as Fengxian yellow peach, Yusui grape, Zhuangxing honey pear, etc., although it has a certain reputation in the city, but the contribution to GDP is only about 0.18%, and the employed population is dominated by one industry, and the ability to drive clusters needs to be improved. In Europe, due to factors such as the global economic recession and the increase in environmental protection requirements in recent years, the scale of traditional paper industry and timber exports has continued to decline, but the economic value of non-wood products has continued to increase, mainly including forest plants and animal products, forest derivative services market and leisure market, accounting for about 0.8% of GDP, driving considerable forest employment, creating 0.4 jobs per square kilometer of forest, and employing more than 2.6 million people in total.
3. Forest service value
The value of forest services is mainly reflected in the open vitality of forests facing the leisure needs of citizens, and the influencing factors include three aspects: high openness, complete facilities and interactive richness. In terms of high openness, although the overall green coverage of Fengxian District9 is as high as about 97%, it is dominated by affiliated green spaces and protective green spaces, and only about 30% of park green spaces, and there is still a lot of room for improvement in its accessibility. In terms of the completeness of facilities and the richness of interaction, a certain proportion of basic services and entertainment facilities should be ensured in the forest park, including campsites, forest huts, wildlife observation points and children's entertainment facilities, so that a variety of outdoor experience activities can be carried out, such as jungle exploration, outdoor bird watching, camping vacation, etc. In some parts of Europe, more than 20% of the facilities in forest parks have been located, and the average annual number of visits by residents can reach 16 per year, and in recent years, Fengxian District has successively developed a number of online celebrity forest tourism destinations, but in 2022, the average annual number of visits by residents of urban parks in Fengxian District is only 0.6 per year, and the main constraint is that the infrastructure is not perfect. In the future, the construction of ecological public welfare forests and wildlife habitats can be combined to further expand urban forest leisure activities.
Layout map of Fengxian District City Park
Source: The author based on the list of urban parks of the Shanghai Municipal Green Rong Bureau and the forest resources of Fengxian District
04 Forest City is on the way for a long time
In line with the experience of international forest cities, how should Fengxian District break through the stereotyped imagination and achieve "from 1 to infinite possibilities" under the guidance of the development direction of Forest City in the future?
1. Adhere to ecological protection and natural investment
To expand the connotation of Chinese-style modern forest cities, we should not only pay attention to the scale and growth rate of forests, but also pay attention to the healthy vitality and biodiversity of forest systems. The first is to concentrate on forest replenishment, focusing on the "cross water system, Tianzi green corridor, Wangzi imagery, and 100-mile green ring" to improve the connectivity and integrity of forests, and avoid sporadic afforestation just to improve indicators. The second is to push the window to see the forest, combined with urban renewal and micro-space transformation to continue to build greenery and increase greenery in the urban area, improve the grade of green space, and supplement leisure green space and streetside amusement parks. The suburban areas should implement the construction concept of "one village and ten thousand trees", and strive to build a new rural green home with "a view in front of the house and a forest behind the house". The third is to restore and improve quality, the native vegetation of the forest in Fengxian District is the South Asian monsoon evergreen broad-leaved forest, but due to the acceleration of the urban process has disappeared, the existing forest land is a plantation dominated by Acacia mazhan, and has entered the stage of decline, the future should enrich the types of woodland, strengthen the collocation of different seasonal tree species.
Wangyuan Road Forest Avenue
Source: Internet
2. Reconcile ecological value and economic value
Integrate the ecological value of the "Forest City" in Fengxian District and the economic value of the "Oriental Beauty Valley" to further produce a chemical reaction. On the one hand, there is the development of forest non-timber products (NWGs) to form derivative products. For example, it can be used as a food additive (for fruits, herbs, spices and condiments, aromatic plants, etc.), and can also provide building materials (for construction, furniture, resin gum, etc.), and can also be used in beauty and health care (for medicine, plant cosmetics, etc.). On the other hand, it is to enrich the function of forest tourism and further enhance the right to use entertainment, the provision of facilities and the intensity of use. Rich vegetation structures are formed, quiet and beautiful quiet spaces are created, the supply of wild fruits and vegetables is guaranteed, and the diversity of recreational activities under the forest is enhanced, as well as the perfection of forest recreation facilities (including campsites, forest houses, viewing points, picnic places, bird and wildlife viewing areas, adventure parks, etc.).
3. Leading the forest leisure and relaxation fashion
In the movie "Little Forest", the quiet and comfortable rural life is full of surprising changes, and its leisurely and quiet painting style coincides with the value concept of "slow life" that is gradually being admired by the majority of people around the world, arousing people's desire to find inner peace in the fast-paced and noisy life. In the era of traffic, the success of regional brands is inseparable from the exploration of local culture and lifestyle, just as cork is to Portugal, lavender is to the south of France, and white truffle is to Italy. Forest resources not only become a symbol of a specific region, but also convey a certain philosophy of life, and play a strong role in driving local brands and tourism. The surprise brought by cross-border co-branding has also become an important lever to leverage the growth of brand voice. Urban brand projects such as "Jiangnan Amazon" Water Forest, Xincheng Huancheng Forest, "Jiangnan Secret Land" Forest Concert, LUMINA Phantom Light Forest, Forest Tree House Hotel and Forest Academy can realize the integration of the "Oriental Beauty Valley" brand and Forest City temperament and produce a wonderful chemical reaction. "Slow Travel + Depth" product, which can further enhance its display.
LUMINA Phantom Forest
Source: Internet
4. Encourage policy innovation and diversified participation
Fengxian District has taken firm steps in the implementation of forest city construction and policy mechanisms, and the recent preparation of the National Forest City Master Plan as a top-level design represents Fengxian District has officially entered the development stage of deep integration of forest construction and land space. In the future, we can further explore and formulate a comprehensive toolbox to support the implementation of Forest City construction. In terms of policy tools, the requirements for the construction of forest cities are detailed through the formulation of different types of forest policy documents. In terms of financial instruments, subsidies for the use of forest biomass for energy purposes will be supported, support for forest certification of forest assets and forest-related industries will be strengthened, and subsidies or tax support will be provided to encourage the conservation of biodiversity, the establishment or maintenance of protected areas, the protection of water and soil, and forest recreation and recreation activities. In terms of employment support, we will develop a strategy for the development of data, information, analysis and human resources for the workforce, so that the traditional forestry workforce can adapt to the target strategy, focus on expanding new opportunities for forests in the green economy, and strengthen workforce training to create decent green jobs.
5. Practice green, low-carbon and smart empowerment
Enhance the carbon sink capacity of forests and establish a model foundation for green development. We should explore the potential of the growth of forest cover area, further adjust and optimize the stand structure by using the forest quality improvement project, continuously improve the quality, stability and forest carbon sink capacity of forest ecosystems, and develop bioeconomy and circular economy relying on forest eco-tourism areas.
With the concept of "intelligent manufacturing" in Forest City, we will build a global smart forest. In addition to cutting-edge building industrialization technology, there are also BIM innovation concepts that run through the whole life cycle of buildings10, the essence of which is to introduce city-level smart management and choose a "smart" life that returns to the basics. The linkage between smart city and forest city to resonate with the Internet community and real life is indeed the driving force behind the ecological outreach. At present, forest information is shared among all stakeholders and the public in Europe, and Yokohama, Japan, has designed a citizen forest map. Recently, the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Landscaping and Landscaping and the Beijing Meteorological Bureau released the Forest Experience Index 11 for the first time, and the public can inquire through the official website of the Beijing Municipal Landscaping Bureau, the WeChat public platform of "Capital Landscaping", the official Weibo account, and the official WeChat and Weibo of the Beijing Meteorological Bureau. Fengxian should take the digital river and sea as an opportunity to further expand to the whole region, combine the development of the digital economy industry, build the "Forest City Metaverse" product, and strengthen the application of cutting-edge technology and smart city design of Forest City.
epilogue
General Secretary Xi Jinping once said: "The scale of artificial afforestation in the mainland is the largest in the world, and it is still continuing to afforest. The greening of the earth and the improvement of global climate change are indispensable to China and the Chinese. Forests are not only reservoirs, money reservoirs, grain reservoirs, but also carbon reservoirs. Afforestation is a very meaningful thing, and it is a noble cause that will benefit the present generation and the future generations, and it must be done consistently and continuously. "The practice of Forest City in Fengxian will have certain innovative significance for Shanghai, the Yangtze River Delta and even the whole country, echoing the people's yearning for a better life from the two levels of substance and value, and is a practical exploration of the unique ecological concept of Chinese modernization.
annotation
1 Announced by the 2021 China International Eco-Competitiveness Summit. The China International Ecological Competitiveness Conference is the most representative national-level exchange and cooperation platform in the field of ecology, co-sponsored by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, the Population, Resources and Environment Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), and the National Forestry and Grassland Administration, and has been held for 11 sessions since 2008.
2 In the sixties and seventies of the twentieth century, the green ecological movement emerged in European countries, which rose from the spontaneous behavior of the people to the dominance of eco-political forces represented by the Green Party.
3 In September 2016, the State Forestry Administration issued the Guiding Opinions on Focusing on the Construction of Forest Cities, in July 2018 the National Forest City Development Plan (2018-2025), and in December 2019, the Forest Law of the People's Republic of China was amended.
4 Forest fragmentation refers to the fragmentation of larger, contiguous forest areas into smaller forest blocks, often separated by off-forest land uses, such as transport infrastructure, utility corridors or other land for construction.
5 Plaque density (PD) unit: number of patches/100 hectares. The larger the PD value, the higher the degree of fragmentation and the higher the spatial heterogeneity.
6 LANDSCAPE DIVISION INDEX (DIVISION) IS A MEASURE OF THE DISPERSION OF INDIVIDUAL DISTRIBUTIONS OF DIFFERENT PATCHES. THE LARGER THE DIVISION VALUE, THE MORE COMPLEX THE COMPOSITION OF THE PATCHES IN THE LANDSCAPE, AND THE WHOLE IS CONNECTED
The lower the pass.
7 The same analysis criteria as the European Forest Assessment Indicators are used: if the FAD is at least 40% within 2.3×2.3 km around each forest pixel by Fragstats moving window analysis, the block is considered a continuous forest.
8 Understory economy: economic markets for non-timber products and related services related to forests and other forest lands.
9 Percentage of total residential land in urban areas covered by the 500-metre buffer zone of forest resources.
10 BIM, Building Information Modeling, is a "visualized" digital building model based on the most advanced 3D digital design and engineering software, which integrates various relevant information of construction projects. BIM represents a new concept and practice to reduce all kinds of waste in the construction industry through the application of information technology and innovative business structures, and thus reduce the carbon emissions of the construction industry.
11 The forest experience index refers to the dimensionless index of the public's perception of the microclimate environment of woodland, green space, wetland and grassland. The calculation method mainly considers the human comfort and health of the microclimate environment, as well as the adjustment degree of the ecosystem to climate and hydrology, and takes biodiversity and characteristic landscape as bonus points. The forest experience index is divided into 4 levels, ranging from 0 to 1, and the closer to 1 is, the better the public's green experience. At the same time, an extreme weather de-escalation or circuit breaker mechanism is set up to ensure the safe travel of the public.
(Source: Shanghai Municipal Planning Institute, contributors: Zhang Lulu, Lu Yuan, Huang Ling, Pudong Leading District Planning and Design Branch (Lingang New Area Planning and Design Research Center)