Lianyungang Gives Public Access to Most City Park Green Spaces

From: Lianyungang Updated: 2023-02-19 09:14

The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of the People's Republic of China recently issued a notice that China would carry out a pilot project of opening up and sharing urban park green spaces, encourage all regions to increase accessible and experiential activity sites and improve supporting service facilities. Our city attaches great importance to the planning, construction and utilization of park green spaces. Previously, the vast majority of urban park green spaces in our city have been opened up and shared, and many beneficial attempts in green space management and maintenance have been made. Higher requirements are put forward for this pilot project. Relevant departments are planning to upgrade and transform the park green spaces, so that citizens can get closer to "poetry and distance" near home, and the subsequent green space management and order maintenance will be more perfect, which also requires citizens to be more self-disciplined in sightseeing.

Over 300 green spaces have taken the lead in giving public access

In recent days, despite the still cold weather, the plum blossom in Cangwu Green Park still blooms as scheduled, attracting many citizens to visit the plum garden in the northwest of the Green Park to appreciate flowers. Cangwu Green Park is a veritable urban central park green space, which has been open to the public for free since its completion in 1997. Wang Limin, who lives in Zhenxing Apartment on the west side of Cangwu Green Park, walks in the park with his wife almost every day. He is satisfied with the park's hardware and software supporting facilities, "There are flowers in three seasons and green leaves in four seasons, and there are also plenty of water landscapes. It is a rare green space in the city."

Liu Zhizhou Mountain Sports Park, which was put into use in May 2021, is also open for free. This park, located at the edge of the city, has natural landscapes and a special green lawn tent area. For those who bring their own tents, the park management only charges a little for garbage disposal. Citizens can enjoy delicious picnics in the forest and grassland without leaving the city. In balmy temperatures, citizens often go there in groups. The Crescent Island Ecological Park also offers free access to the public and provides camping services. Every weekend, many citizens will go there for leisure and fitness or watch flowers and birds. This wetland has been trending online in recent years.

In fact, long before the relevant notice issued by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of the People's Republic of China, Lianyungang city has implemented free access to urban parks in advance. According to the relevant person in charge of the Municipal Housing Construction Department, up to now, our city has built 24 comprehensive parks, 22 community parks, 86 special parks and 167 pocket parks. In addition to large park recreation facilities and some special park services, the above-mentioned park green spaces are free of charge. Relevant responsible units have made great efforts to expand the ecological service function of park green spaces and have a good practice of opening-up and sharing, which has greatly optimized the urban living space and highlighted the unique charm of the city of mountains and seas.

"Park+" brings "simple pleasures" to citizens

Urban parks are an important carrier to improve the urban ecological environment and the citizens’ life quality. Our city always attaches importance to the construction of park green spaces and supporting facilities. According to Wang Yali, director of the Greening Supervision Division of the Municipal Bureau of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, in recent years, our city has successively issued normative documents such as “The Plan of Lianyungang Urban Green Space System”, which clearly defines that the construction of the city's park green spaces will rely on the natural ecological base surrounded by "mountains, seas, rivers and wetlands", and an ecological space structure of "one bay, two corridors, ten belts and multiple points" is going to be built. Cangwu Green Park is a park green space that is open and shared with successful practices. It has become a popular science world for people to know plants. It is also equipped with fitness equipment and a large ring greenway. More than 5000 people come here for morning exercise and fitness every day. People can also visit the "Urban Study" in the park and listen to the voice of nature with the fragrance of books.

The unique Seaside Park, which is close to the sea, is an open urban park with a combination of blue and green. Visitors who enter here can not only appreciate the green trees and grass, but also enjoy the pleasure of catching the sea. Yuzhou Park, Cherry Blossom Park and Qingkou Ecological Park have well implemented the concept of "park+", allowing the public to have fun in leisure and fitness. In addition to fitness and leisure, people can also receive law popularization or incorruptible government education at Beigu Mountain Ecological Park, Xinpu Park, Quyuan Park and Youth Park. Creative Green Park and New Silk Road Horizon Park convey the scientific concept of "sponge city". The concept of "park+" makes leisure become an imperceptible and beneficial education and "simple pleasures" of citizens.

The pocket parks such as Xinhaiyuan in the West Community and Yulan Garden in the South Community, built in the early years, are ingenious and excellent places for leisure and fitness of community residents. Some pocket parks like Begonia Garden on Yudai River Road, have also become popular science parks for legal education and knowing plants. At present, there are 167 pocket parks with different themes and functional configurations in the city, which has improved the park green space service circle and green coverage rate and people's happiness and sense of gain. The green ecology of urban park green spaces is deeply integrated with people's life.

Free access to all demands everyone’s care

The city's parks and green spaces are generally open and shared, which well meets the needs of citizens to get close to nature, but some problems in the process of opening up and sharing cannot be ignored. With the increasing number of citizens and tourists, there are too many residual traces and excessive trampling of tents in some open suburban green spaces, which undoubtedly brings different degrees of damage to the lawn and green plants and also increases the maintenance cost. And that is by excluding garbage removal and other problems.

It is indeed the most troublesome problem for the management to deal with garbage thrown at random by citizens when they visit parks. At least two vehicles of garbage have to be transported out of Cangwu Green Park every day. Tourists' mercilessly destroying flowers is also unavoidable, and some citizens and tourists also organize barbecues or other activities by using open fire in urban parks. According to Liang Ziyun from the Science and Technology Department of Cangwu Green Park, blooming plum flowers and elegant willow branches are a characteristic landscape of the green park in spring, but many people always reach out to pick plum and willow and weave wreaths and straw hats while having fun. Therefore, the management has to increase human protection in corresponding areas at the right time. In recent years, with the gradual deepening of the construction of civilized cities, such uncivilized activities are becoming less and less, but the cost of park green space management is still rising year after year.

In order to strengthen the management and maintenance of green spaces, our city is actively exploring the market-oriented operation mode of green space management. At present, the property management and maintenance of many park green spaces have been entrusted to a third party, and professional enterprises with high technical level have been introduced for unified management. Urban landscape experts point out that urban green spaces have their own special management mechanism and should not be simply let go. In addition to scientifically planning the management and maintenance of the open area of green spaces, it is also necessary to implement humanized management and advocate civilized and happy enjoyment of the lawn. Even during the opening and sharing period of the lawn, it is also necessary to appropriately increase the number of security personnel, cleaning personnel, gardeners and other service personnel to maintain the order and on-site environmental sanitation and the corresponding regional landscapes without being affected. In addition, digital means can also be used to enhance the park green space management service capacity. At present, developing a tent or parking space reservation system at some parks in Shanghai, which not only facilitates tourists but also avoids disorderly entry into the park, is a good strategy to strengthen the management of open and shared park green spaces. Of course, citizens should also consciously care and protect green spaces, stick to civilized park tour at all times and enjoy the precious and comfortable green spaces in the city.