"Push the window to see the green, go out and enter the park." The vigorous promotion of the construction of parks and green spaces has made the citizens of Shencheng City feel more about the joy of urban life in the "natural oxygen bar". On the green space of the community and street corners, the endless stream of figures shows that "close to nature" has become a fashion. At the same time, citizens have also put forward higher requirements for the quality of greening at the doorstep.
For a long time, in the old community, residents have reported that the community green space is dirty and messy, which has become a stubborn disease of grass-roots governance. Through the large solicitation of people's suggestions, Dongming Road Street in Pudong New Area has explored a new path - participatory community building, that is, letting community residents become the main body of community planning and improving the quality of community garden greening in the jurisdiction. "How to build gardens and green spaces, the residents themselves have the final say." This method effectively reduces community conflicts and greatly improves residents' sense of belonging and love for the community. After years of exploration, the concept of participatory planning is gradually infiltrating the lives of residents of Dongming Road. In late October this year, with the opening of the first Dongming Road Street Community Garden Festival of "Flowers Bloom dongming, colorful communities", the enthusiasm of residents to participate in planning was ignited again.
△ Dongming Road Street Community Garden Festival.
People propose to spawn "community planning squads"
Grow vegetables, enjoy flowers, have fun, rest... In the first residential area of the new moon, this 200-square-meter "Xinyi Paradise" has become a "net red punch point" in the eyes of surrounding residents with its own "appearance" and "strength".
△ Xinyi Paradise in a new residential area.
"Xinyi Paradise" is located between Buildings 11 and 8 of the community. From a distance, the vegetation is lush and lush, and the wooden fences of the outer circle are almost obscured. Once inside the park, the flowers of different types and colors in the "Natural Observation Area" have been carefully designed and staggered, which is quite layered. On the east side of the road is a children's play area, with slides, bunkers and so on. The most unique thing is the "popular science planting area" in the depths of the park.
"Do you know what this is?" Pointing to a plant in a one-meter planting pond, fellow community workers gave reporters a test question. The reporter was wondering, and the volunteers on the side gave the answer: "Ginger." "It turns out that the vegetables and fruits in the planting pond are all handled by the experienced residents who grow flowers and vegetables. In order to reduce the impact on the surrounding residents, the volunteers gave up using traditional fertilizers and went to the surrounding area to search for pomace and other maintenance. And this small world is also a paradise for children to increase their knowledge and hands-on ability. "Volunteers regularly organize children to plant flowers, vegetables and fruits, and when the vegetables and fruits are ripe, they will also send vegetables and fruits to the isolated homes in the community." It can not only enable children to experience the joy of planting and harvesting, but also allow orphans and elderly to feel the care and warmth from the community, killing two birds with one stone.
△ This is also a paradise for children to increase their knowledge and hands-on ability (file photo).
Three years ago, this land belonging to "public greening" was still the appearance of loess due to the low level of property management. The reason why the gorgeous transformation can be achieved is inseparable from the suggestion of resident Dong Lianting. In 2019, in order to improve the greening conditions of the community, the industry committee is ready to fund the transformation of the area into a parent-child plantation. Just when the renovation was being carried out, Dong Lianting happened to pass by and saw that the construction methods were simple and rough, and the planting area was a few ravines, without design and layout. "What's the difference between this transformation and the previous one?" Having learned some basic knowledge of community garden design, she immediately consulted with the street, neighborhood committee, and industry committee to redesign the plan, and also applied for a fund.
△ The design of "Xinyi Paradise".
The "Xinyi Paradise" with multiple functional partitions was released. In order to avoid the construction of the garden once again becoming a "health dead end", the initiative of management has also been handed over to the residents. Residents deliberately formulated the convention, and also formed a volunteer team of 30 people to take turns to arrange shifts and clean Xinyi Park regularly. Since then, the first participatory community planning team in Dongming Road Street has begun to take shape.
5 people brought out a "green guard team" of more than 100 people
If Dong Lianting's proposal changed the design concept of the community garden and was the beginning of the residents' participation in the construction of the community garden, then the uncles of the Ling Twelve Residential Area participated in the whole process of the construction of the community garden as the main body.
Rockeries, pagodas, small bridges, flowing water, water wheels... With flowers and grasses undulating, fog dispersing on the water, and Journey to the West character ornaments on the rockery, this community garden with the theme of "Soaring Chinese Dream" can be described as "full of fairy spirit". And it is the handiwork of the 5 uncles of the "Color Rhyme" team.
△ "Soaring China Dream" community garden designed by "Color Rhyme".
The five uncles are all over 60 years old, and after retirement, they will raise some flowers and plants at home to cultivate their personality. Among them, Dai Juncheng, who is regarded as the "chief designer" by the team members, also has a special hobby: traveling. Whenever he was impressed by the cleverly designed landscapes of the scenic spots, he thought about how to move such a beautiful view into the community. This year, the community carried out the renovation of rainwater sewer pipes, and a public green space was damaged by the project, so they used the existing materials to transform it into a community garden. Drawing design drawings, moving stones, connecting electricity and water, the team members personally worked, which lasted more than a month to complete the design and transformation of this landscape.
△ Design sketch of Dai Juncheng's team.
Ling Twelve Residential Area is a relocation community for nearly 30 years, a few years ago, the green area inside the community was small, and the phenomenon of idle vacant land being built indiscriminately was common. At that time, Dai Juncheng, who had just retired, knew several other people in the team, some people could paint, some people could do carpentry... A team of 5 people was formed, often transforming a little micro-landscape in the community. Around 2018, Dongming Road Street used the autonomy fund project to carry out green micro-renewal in specific areas, allowing residents to participate in the construction of the community green environment, and this uncle team named "Color Rhyme" immediately signed up to participate and gradually gained fame. Today, the "Color Rhyme" green protection team has expanded to more than 100 people, and more than 10 micro-landscape community gardens with pattern characteristics have been created in the public green belt.
△ Fuzi Garden designed by the "Color Rhyme" team.
Guiding residents to participate in community building doesn't stop there. After recognizing the wisdom and potential of residents, Dongming Road Street has focused on creating a diversified, collaborative and professional team of community planners, jointly established a community garden and community construction experimental center training base in the street with Tongji University, designed a customized version of the "participatory community planning" series of courses, and adopted a variety of methods such as special lectures, group discussions, and case design to comprehensively improve the planning ability level of street cadres, local planners and ordinary residents, so as to make the construction of community gardens more professional.
Community governance fully involves residents
The first Community Garden Festival jointly carried out by Dongming Road Street, Tongji University and the team of Clover Hall is another new exploration of the construction of "Community Garden". Through design competitions, garden construction, guided tours and academic exchanges, the event conveyed the concept of participatory planning to more people.
Located at the west gate of Sanlin Garden, the "Xixi Garden" is the earliest entries in the competition, jointly designed and created by China University of Geosciences, East China University of Science and Technology, and Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology, from muddy mounds with almost no greenery to a small paradise with painted paintings, flowers and swings, which the surrounding residents praised. Zhang Haobin, a second-year graduate student at China University of Geosciences, arrived in Shanghai half a month early to carry out the design in order to participate in the competition. He was also impressed by the event: "What you want to design and how to do it, and communicate fully with the residents." Before arriving in Shanghai, he docked with the residents of the community. From the design of the scheme to the later construction, almost every step is completed by the participants and residents.
△ Xixi Garden at the west entrance of Sanlin Garden.
According to him, the contestants need to carry out garden design at the specified points, and these points are distributed in Sanlin Garden, Cuizhu Garden, Yongtai Flower Garden, Crescent Moon One, Ling Zhao Fourth, ling Zhao Fifth residential area, a total of about 40. Students participating in the community competition must cooperate with local residents in the process of garden construction to complete the design work construction activities. In other words, residents, as the main body of participatory community planning, have become the main role in this garden festival.
Liu Yuelai, chief curator of the Dongming Road Community Garden Festival, director of the Community Garden and Community Construction Experimental Center of Tongji University, believes that community building is a new way to overcome the dilemma of community publicity and achieve community governance innovation. This kind of construction requires the participation of the whole people and respects the subjectivity of the residents. On the road to sustainable development of community gardens, the original organizers of the project can only play the role of the tip of the iceberg, and the key to sustainable growth is the participation of community residents in co-creation and co-governance. "As the country's first street-level community garden exhibition, the Community Garden Festival can communicate the importance of participatory planning in sustainable development to more people."
In this regard, Shen Chunlei, secretary of the Party Working Committee of Dongming Road Street, also deeply felt. He said that only by fully mobilizing the enthusiasm and initiative of the vast number of residents, absorbing the wisdom of the people in the people's suggestions, and making residents become builders of a beautiful home, actors of community governance, and judges of the effect of governance, can community work be done vigorously and soundly. Next, the street will continue to deepen the exploration of participatory community planning, adhere to the whole process of participation, all ages, and all fields, and constantly create a new realm of people's community governance.
Column Editor-in-Chief: Mao Jinwei Text Editor: Mao Jinwei
Source: Author: Li Si