The banks of Suzhou Creek have become a new urban vitality space in Shanghai

Shanghai, 8 Aug (ZXS) -- The banks of Suzhou Creek have become Shanghai's new urban vitality space

China News Agency reporter Xu Jing

"It's completely different from before, the view of the riverfront, the fresh air, the surrounding environment and architecture, the wild trees, the seats, the sculptures, all made our evening 'trip along the river' particularly interesting." Mr. Zhou, a citizen who lives in Putuo, often walks along the Suzhou River trail at night, lamenting the earth-shaking changes on both sides of the Suzhou Creek.

In the summer evening of 2023, the Suzhou River Trail in Putuo District attracted many citizens to play. Photo by China News Agency reporter Xu Jing

As the mother river of Shanghai, Suzhou Creek has rich human resources and waterfront landscape, and is a rare urban space resource in megacities. The central section of Suzhou Creek is about 21 kilometers long and passes through Hongkou, Huangpu, Jing'an, Putuo, Changning and Jiading districts.

The Suzhou River section in Putuo District is the longest section of the Suzhou River, and in the summer evening, the brilliant lights of the Twin Towers of Global Harbor and the glimpses of the towers reflected on the Suzhou River are telling the historical memory of the era along the Suzhou River; The diverse public facilities along the trail are also witnesses of urban development, attracting many citizens to check in.

Shanghai officials proposed to build an "excellent global city", and took the Huangpu River and Suzhou Creek (referred to as "one river and one river") as representative spaces and iconic carriers for building "excellent global cities", and committed to building "one river and one river" into a world-class waterfront area with global influence, among which the banks of Suzhou River are positioned as typical demonstration areas for livable life in megacities.

On both sides of the Suzhou Creek, thousands of merchants gathered and factories lined up, creating countless firsts in Shanghai and even China's modern history. With the "prosperous passing" of the industrial era, factory buildings, warehouses, warehouses, docks, etc. that once faded out of people's sight have been transformed into cultural parks, museums and exhibition halls, and traditional excellent buildings have been preserved and protected, becoming "net red" landmarks.

Today, the 42-kilometer green channel of Suzhou Creek has been fully connected, and the promenade along the Suzhou River is mostly used for tourists to walk back and forth. The completion of Jiuzi Park, Wind Chime Green Space, Music Park, etc., is also a wonderful stroke by the Suzhou River.

Suhewan Greenland is the largest waterfront green space in the eastern section of Suzhou Creek, and through the overall implementation of urban renewal and the improvement of all elements of waterfront space, it is committed to creating a high-level and landmark public activity space. Since its opening in March this year, citizens and tourists have flocked to it.

At the same time, many originally closed architectural spaces on both sides of Suzhou Creek have been transformed into public cultural spaces, and the functions of riverside cultural exhibitions have gradually been enriched, and young people who like "exhibition-style socialization" have more new choices when meeting to see the exhibition.

Wu Zhiqiang, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said that most cities have a "mother river", and the waterfront space is not only the turnover of urban natural resources, but also the gathering place of the urban landscape, but also the breeding place of urban culture.

According to Li Xiangning, Dean of the School of Architecture and Urban Planning of Tongji University, waterfront space witnesses the development history of a city, and its recovery and regeneration point to a beautiful urban image and excellent spatial quality in the future.

According to Li Xiangning, since the 20s of the 80th century, the global academic community has begun to pay attention to the governance and regeneration of urban waterfronts, such as the old buildings such as the fish market and warehouses restored at the South Street Seaport in New York, the United States have been turned into museums displaying the history of the place, and the docklands in Toronto, Canada have restored and used concrete warehouses in the waterfront to form a dock with shops, residences, restaurants, small theaters and other multi-functions, and revitalized the vitality of the waterfront space. In the course of China's urban development, classic cases of urban waterfront space renewal and transformation have also emerged. Taking Shanghai as an example, the 2019 Urban Space Art Season was located in Yangpu Riverside to introduce to the world the construction achievements and future vision of Shanghai's various waterfront spaces and quality improvement.

Liu Yun, editor-in-chief of "Thirty Years of Waterfront Space" and professor of the School of Architecture and Urban Planning of Tongji University, led young teachers and graduate students to carry out waterfront space design research as early as the 20s of the 80th century.

"Successful waterfront governance will be a vital economic wealth foundation for a city's development and an indispensable cultural factor for any civilized society." Liu Yun said that the historical style protection cultural buildings along the Suzhou Creek will be connected into a tourist route, and a single linear river can no longer meet people's needs, especially foreign tourists, who need to understand the culture of Suzhou Creek, local customs, special snacks, etc.

Liu Yun suggested that fishbone-shaped streets should be formed around Suzhou Creek, a city appearance that matches the culture along the river, and the detailed design of important commercial downtown nodes, such as street squares, street parks, etc., should also consider expanding or even extending the scenic area of Suzhou Creek into a commercial area. (End)