In order to implement the "Beijing Urban Master Plan (2016-2035)", in 2017, Dongcheng District took the lead in establishing a responsible planner system and issued the "Implementation Opinions on the Work of Responsible Planners in Dongcheng District".
In recent years, Dongcheng District has strictly implemented the requirements of "the old city can no longer be demolished", promoted the protection and renewal of the old city with "embroidery", promoted the extension of street and lane renovation to the renewal of blocks, and carried out the transformation of "beautiful courtyards" through pilot projects.
Background of the work
With the continuous deepening of the protection and renewal of the old city, since 2020, Dongcheng District has continued to carry out the construction of "beautiful courtyards" while carrying out the refinement and improvement of back streets and alleys, and selected the courtyards of pilot bungalow areas for "micro-renovation", so as to promote the expansion of street and lane renovation from "linear governance" to "regional governance", and from "face" to "lining". Under the overall guidance of the Dongcheng District Urban Management Committee and the Dongcheng Branch of the Municipal Planning and Natural Resources Commission, through a combination of bottom-up and top-down methods, the streets, responsible teachers and residents discussed the courtyard governance plan, adopted public opinion projects, and created a number of "beautiful courtyards" with simple style and livable environment in accordance with the principle of one courtyard, one policy, and step-by-step advancement, and explored a new path to coordinate the protection of the old city and the improvement of people's livelihood.
Work Highlights:
Chaoyangmen and Dongsi Street Teachers: Advanced Practice
Since 2015, Chaoyangmen Street, together with the team of Beijing Planning Institute and Beijing University of Technology, has independently launched the "Our Courtyard - Courtyard Public Space Quality Improvement Project", and selected 7 courtyards in the Dongsi South area for renovation through community recommendation and on-site survey. Residents participated in the design and construction process. While solving the livelihood needs such as drainage and lighting, the team of responsible teachers guided the residents to spontaneously formulate the "Small Courtyard Convention", linked the community and residents, established a follow-up maintenance fund, and explored the formation of a participatory design workflow of "courtyard collection, current situation survey, participatory design, implementation preparation, construction and implementation, and follow-up maintenance".
The weeping flower gate of No. 45 courtyard of Shijia Hutong was repaired
The quality of public space in the No. 4 courtyard of the former crutch alley has been improved
The quality of the public space of the courtyard at No. 34 Interior Street has been improved and the residents have taken the initiative to decorate the courtyard space
Since 2020, the pilot project of "Beautiful Courtyard" has been launched in the whole district of Dongcheng, and the team of Beijing Institute of Planning and Planning and Beijing University of Technology has realized a number of innovative practices in Chaoyangmen and Dongsi Street in combination with their own work characteristics.
Based on the foundation of "first", the Chaoyangmen Street Division Team worked with the street to carry out the self-declaration of "seed courtyards", built a rolling maintenance platform for "public participation front", pre-empted the collection of public wishes, and submitted an application after all residents in the courtyard reached a consensus on the renovation and included it in the pilot reserve for transformation. Through comprehensive evaluation, the courtyard renovation plan is formulated to form a dynamic platform with rolling updates, complete materials, and segmented implementation.
In view of the difficulty of residents at No. 205 Chaoyangmen South Street to go to the toilet, the team in charge of the division played a role in technical coordination and resource introduction, introduced sewage purification tank technology in the hospital, cooperated with the upgrading of sewage pipelines, provided residents with conditions for the installation of household toilets, and carried out follow-up maintenance management and residents' self-governance activities in the form of residents' tea parties, which was the first successful case of residents in Beijing to realize the toilet in a miscellaneous hospital.
Through the whole process of public participation, the Dongsi Street division team carried out the renovation and renovation of courtyards such as No. 83 and No. 17 Dongsi Street. On the basis of fully understanding the residents' willingness to renovate, a design scheme reflecting the characteristics of historical building repair, infrastructure renovation, child-friendly, and micro-garden construction is formed. In the process of program research, multi-disciplinary experts were invited to jointly review and check the implementation of the plan, and at the same time, residents were deeply involved in the discussion and decision-making of the design plan, and even participated in the cleaning and renovation of the courtyard environment, laying a solid foundation for the establishment of a long-term maintenance and autonomy mechanism for public space.
Jingshan Street Teacher: Build community identity
The "Beautiful Courtyard" public space improvement project of No. 35 Huanghuamen Courtyard in Jingshan Street was designed and implemented by the Tsinghua Tongheng team. The teacher and the community have led the residents to actively participate in the proposal and co-construction of the courtyard environment design, and with the improvement of the courtyard environment, the residents' sense of identity with the community has been further enhanced. The project won the Honorable Mention in the Community Category of the 2023 International Federation of Landscape Architects Asia-Pacific Regional Landscape Architecture Awards, which is a meaningful attempt to regenerate public space and rebuild community networks in the old city.
The project is led by a team of responsible teachers, and through public participation at all stages, the government, residents, and other stakeholders jointly develop and continuously adjust the detailed design goals and tasks. Through the design and implementation of the scheme, the maintenance of the hospital's infrastructure was completed, and the negative space for stacking debris was transformed into a community fitness plaza and shared corridor, and residents of all ages had their own activity space. With the implementation of the project, residents have seen the implementation of independent proposals and the optimization of the community environment, and their awareness of consciously maintaining the public environment has been continuously enhanced.
In the construction of the public space, the team organized the residents to collect the old bricks and stones scattered in the corners of the compound and use them for the masonry of the landscape wall. Using the traditional craftsmanship of old Beijing, the ground pavement of public space, flower beds, and courtyard entrance and exit ramps have been carefully considered, which not only restores the charm of old Beijing hutongs, but also takes into account the needs closely related to residents' lives, such as barrier-free ramps and aisle handrails, and enhances residents' sense of identity with the community in small places.
Before remodeling
After the transformation
Before remodeling
After the transformation
Before remodeling
After the transformation
The team also combined expert resources to organize a lecture on Beijing's historical ecology, plant types and conservation methods, which received enthusiastic responses from residents. Seven groups of families acted as guardians and were responsible for the planting and daily maintenance of the communal flower beds, and the originally fading neighborhood relationship was continuously restored in the beautification activities.
Qianmen Street Teacher: Inherit traditional crafts and restore negative spaces
Since 2020, Qianmen Street has successively implemented 28 pilot "beautiful courtyards" renovation and upgrading. The street, together with the team of Beijing Construction Institute and Tsinghua Tongheng Design Institute, has jointly built a design platform composed of more than 10 design units. Through household visits, community presentations, small courtyard meeting halls and other measures, the team in charge of teachers participates in various aspects such as courtyard screening, scheme design, on-site implementation, and regular selection, and actively promotes the construction of "beautiful courtyards".
Based on the excavation and inheritance of traditional construction techniques, the responsible engineer and the design team worked together with ancient construction experts to explore the architectural characteristics of the Qianmen area and the traditional crafts and practices hidden in the courtyard, and comb, summarize and inherit them through the renovation of the courtyard.
Based on the respect and integration of the local lifestyle, the responsible teacher and the design team carried out household visits to understand the lifestyle and needs of residents, and proposed a "one household, one policy" design plan to truly realize the convenience and comfort of residents' lives, and at the same time carry out traditional folk activities with streets and communities, so that Hutongs can return to the charm of old city life.
The restoration and improvement of public space is the focus and difficulty of the construction of "beautiful courtyards". In the process of participating in the design of Caochang Toutiao No. 2 Courtyard, out of respect for the memory of the site and cost considerations, the team preserved the original legacy, used some of the cleaned up old bricks and stones to repair the abandoned area above the ground, and clarified the boundary between public space and private space by retaining the height difference and setting up flower walls and tree ponds. The design method is used to rebalance the "public" and "private" in the courtyard, which not only ensures the privacy of the residents' life in the courtyard, but also activates the public space, awakens the life atmosphere of the courtyard, and reconstructs a harmonious neighborhood relationship.
In the exploration and practice of "beautiful courtyards", the team of teachers in charge of Dongcheng District will give full play to the role of helping the implementation of planning and social governance, while improving the living environment of the courtyard, innovate and form an organizational model of "street responsible for overall planning, responsible for technical support, and building a multi-party platform" and the work path of residents' participatory design throughout the process, and give residents the right to speak and the right to participate in multiple subjects through innovative public participation models, and gather a strong synergy in the protection of the old city landscape and grassroots social governance. New progress and breakthroughs have been made in promoting the protection and renewal of blocks in Dongcheng District.
This content is provided by the Dongcheng Branch of the Municipal Planning and Natural Resources Commission