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On May Day this year, Century Park, the largest urban park in Shanghai, will be officially transformed into an "unbounded park". In addition, Shanghai will launch another 30 24-hour parks this year. From an urban park to a park city, what kind of "people's city" concept is embodied? How to build an "unbounded park" so that the people can better enjoy the beauty of ecology and urban convenience? Dragon TV's "Tonight" program special column "Understanding Shanghai" invited Tong Xiao, a professor at the School of Social Development of East China University of Political Science and Law, and Pan Li, a special commentator, to discuss together.
Century Park, 24, is open 24 hours a day
From May 1, Century Park will be officially open 24 hours a day.
On April 18, on the occasion of the 24th anniversary of the opening of Century Park, it ushered in the first 24-hour trial operation day after the wall was demolished and the greenery was revealed. According to the monitoring data of the day, 80 citizens and tourists entered the park during the new 8-hour opening period after the implementation of the new measures. Among them, the number of people who entered from 22 o'clock to 23 o'clock was 58, which was relatively concentrated.
Century Park, the largest free park in Shanghai, covers an area of 1.4 million square meters and was previously open from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.
In June last year, Century Park tried to "break" part of the wall, and Fang Garden took the lead in implementing 24-hour opening, which was praised by citizens and tourists. In April this year, the park further demolished the 1,881-meter fence and expanded the renovation area to 43,000 square meters. The fence has been replaced with stone glasses and lawn flower beds, and two paths in and out of the park extend to the park, allowing visitors to reach the park directly from the block.
According to the staff, opening the fence has brought a lot of challenges to the management of the park. In order to strengthen security, the park has doubled its security force and increased the number of real-time monitoring devices to 220. In large areas of the park, such as lawns, forests, lakes and other accident-prone areas, intelligent monitoring methods such as drone patrols have also been introduced. In order to reduce disturbance, the park is lit up after 10 p.m. In addition, from 10 p.m. to the next morning, the park will continue to provide services for citizens and tourists, such as beverage vending machines and toilets.
It is worth mentioning that in 2024, the Shanghai Municipal Government proposed for the first time that it will be a private practical project, and 30 new urban parks will be added 24 hours a day, involving 9 districts including Pudong, Huangpu, Xuhui and Putuo. At present, 7 parks, including Changqing Park, Jingnan Park, Jingdong Park, Zhangheng Park and Plum Garden in Pudong New Area, Hutai Park and Zaoyang Park in Putuo District, have been opened 24 hours a day, which is equivalent to about 23% of this year's KPI. By the end of last year, 646 of Shanghai's 832 parks were open 24 hours a day, accounting for 77.6 percent.
"The city park is demolished to reveal greenery, which embodies the concept of 'co-construction, co-governance and sharing'. Since then, the park has truly returned to its public attributes", said Tong Xiao, a professor at the School of Social Development at East China University of Political Science and Law, who said that the opening of Shanghai's urban parks "broke the wall" and allowed citizens and tourists to better enjoy the beauty of ecology, "not only the physical connection between the city and people, but also the emotional integration".
Tong Xiao believes that more and more parks are joining the ranks of "breaking the wall and opening up", which also shows the self-confidence of urban governors, "It shows that we can not only manage the closed system, but also the open system such as the unbounded park, which reflects the leap in the level and energy level of urban governance." ”
The park is open 24 hours What are citizens worried about?
As more and more "green spaces" in Shanghai open up their walls and explore 24 hours a day, concerns also follow.
In January this year, more than 300 people from the surrounding area and related people gathered for a heated discussion about whether the Minhang Cultural Park, the largest urban park in Shanghai's Minhang District, should be open 24 hours a day.
Some opponents argue that no one will go to the park in the middle of the night, and that operating the park 24 hours a day will only waste taxpayers' money. Immediately, someone retorted, "If I'm so depressed that I can't sleep, maybe I just go out for a walk and take a walk." ”
Those in favor argue that parks are urban furniture and should be put to good use. Some office workers also believe that going for a run in the park at night is a good way to release stress.
Opponents argue that the park's 24-hour opening will increase management costs and cause a series of sequelae such as security risks: "There is a large water surface in the park, and there is no fence. At night, when it's dark, people who drink alcohol or who are unwell can accidentally fall into the water, and no one can say that it won't happen."
Based on the opinions of many parties, the relevant departments of Minhang District finally made a decision based on field research: since April this year, the park has carried out a 24-hour open pilot. However, the area around the lake, which has a higher risk at night, is still closed for maintenance after 9 p.m.
So, how exactly should the "Night Park" be opened?
In October last year, all 18 district-owned parks in Yangpu District were opened 24 hours a day, and the "one park, one policy" model was implemented in terms of facilities and management.
For example, in Huangxing Park, once visitors approach the water, they can hear a loudspeaker reminding: "The water depth is dangerous, pay attention to safety." The park highlights the digital integrated security management of "civil air defense + technical defense", adds facilities and equipment such as light strips and lake protection poles, and sets up infrared early warning and monitoring facilities and life-saving supplies along the lake, and patrol robots and drones also participate in ensuring the safety of night parks.
In addition, park playgrounds, cruise ship docks, and some areas adjacent to residential buildings are closed at night, and it is advocated that quiet leisure activities such as walking and enjoying the cool air during night tours are mainly administered, and audio entertainment activities are not allowed.
According to relevant parties, since the park has been open 24 hours a day, the number of visitors has increased by 30%.
Special commentator Pan Li is a participant in the "Discussion on the Opening of Minhang Cultural Park". According to his observations and recollections, the public's concerns about the park 24 hours a day mainly focus on three aspects: "management cost, safety, and responsibility".
For example, the opponent proposed that the 24-hour opening of the park requires full coverage of security, technical defense and civil air defense, which will inevitably face huge management costs and pressures. The proponents explain that if the technology and means of urban governance are more advanced, the more they can dilute the unit management cost, and a one-time investment can benefit in the long run.
"The most discussed issue on the scene is also the responsibility of safety, in a word, what if there is a problem at night?" Pan Li believes that the relevant laws and regulations and territorial management regulations have given a clear answer to this, and the key is that the responsibility must be implemented to the people, in order to dispel the concerns of the public.
To this day, Pan Li still remembers that the discussion was very intense at that time, and through the collision of views of surrounding residents, relevant stakeholders, representatives and committee members, experts and scholars, he contributed great decision-making value, "complete information symmetry, problem-oriented, and directly to the point". In Pan Li's view, the "Discussion on the Opening of Minhang Cultural Park" is of typical significance, and it vividly interprets the whole process of people's democracy through group consultation and everyone's participation.
The park is open 24 hours a day, which is a new exploration, and it is also an upgrade of the urban management concept and public service level. To this end, Shanghai recently issued the "Management Guidelines for the Implementation of 24-hour Opening of Urban Parks (Trial)", which clearly states that it is necessary to fully assess the necessity and feasibility of 24-hour opening of parks, listen to social opinions extensively, and suspend the opening of parks that do not have the conditions for opening for the time being.
The management document also requires that areas adjacent to residential areas, ecologically sensitive areas, wildlife habitats and other areas be zoned and managed by demarcating open areas and non-open areas at night. In addition, implement the main responsibility of the park management agency, strengthen the coordination and linkage with the local public security, urban management and other departments, and quickly respond and deal with the situation.
Deng Jianping, director of the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Greening and City Appearance, said in a recent interview with the "people's livelihood" that the extension or 24-hour opening of parks is a trend, but it is not a "championship", and it cannot be "opened for the sake of opening", nor can it be "one-size-fits-all". Deng Jianping emphasized, "The selection of specific parks is proposed by the relevant districts after comprehensive research and analysis according to the actual conditions of the park. We ask each park to formulate a plan of 'one park, one policy' according to the characteristics of the park itself and the surrounding environment."
Working together to build a "park city"
Creating a 24-hour "unbounded park" is also the choice of many countries around the world.
For example, parks in many European countries are open 24 hours a day without fixed fences. Among them, there are about 140 fixed 24-hour green spaces in Paris, France. In addition, every year, the city of Paris chooses to keep many parks open 24 hours a day in the summer, so that citizens can cool off in the evening. According to the City of Paris, all parks open 24 hours a day are patrolled by security teams to avoid noise and garbage accumulation and ensure safety and order in the parks.
In New York, USA, the 24-hour parks are mainly some mini "pocket parks", due to insufficient police, management and other reasons, New York's landmark Central Park is still closed from 1 to 6 a.m. However, most areas of Central Park are not walled or fenced, and warning signs are only installed at the entrances and exits during the closure period, and people are not forced to enter.
The world-famous "Unbounded Park" is an important imprint of the city. In Tong Xiao's view, in order to promote the "unbounded integration" of parks and cities, Shanghai must first establish the concept of "park city", and secondly, avoid falling into the trap of "sameness", and strive to build parks with their own characteristics and themes.
"To come from the people, to the people", Tong Xiao pointed out that to promote the "unbounded integration" of parks and cities should focus on the participation of the people, from the project establishment, design, construction and management of the park, we need to listen to the voice of the citizens, learn from their wisdom, and can also develop the citizens into volunteer service teams, "making the city more people's nature".
Take a look at the news reporters: Zhao Feifei, Shu Keyixuan, Yang Zhen
Editor: Li Yao
Editor-in-charge: Zhao Xin