Shanghai strives to become city of parks

Last year, 162 new parks were added to the network across urban, pocket, rural and themed categories, bringing the total to 832 parks. This year, 120 more new parks will be built, including the "twin hills" within the Shanghai Expo Culture Park.

Shanghai will have 1,000 parks by late next year and hopes to have 2,000 parks by 2035, Gong said.

Shanghai's Century Park, one of the largest parks in the city that has been operating 24 hours a day since May, serves as an example of Shanghai's park-urban integration efforts.

Over 3 kilometers of the park's boundary walls were demolished to create seven new entrances. Around 43,000 sq m were also renovated, further extending greenery and converting a former parking lot into nearly 70 new spaces for public enjoyment.

"After two phases of upgrading, the park's walls have been removed and its green space has been expanded to better integrate into the surrounding neighborhoods," said Wu Gang, general manager of the park.

Authorities at the park considered local needs and service capacities through thorough evaluation and public consultation before allowing 24-hour operation.

To ensure safe, constant access, the park deployed a smart operations platform integrating drone patrols, increased security staffing and set environmental sensors to track conditions, enabling comprehensive monitoring and management.

According to Shanghai's overall plan, the city is trying to create an ecological network of parks, forests and wetland systems. This blueprint aims for the city to have over 13 sq m of park greenery per capita and a forest coverage of 23 percent.

zhengzheng@chinadaily.com.cn