By Chen Yi
From November 27 to 29, the 2022 Shanghai International City and Architecture Expo was held in Shanghai Exhibition Center. As an important event of the "World City Day", the expo focused on city construction and renewal, green buildings and dual carbon goals, smart cities and refined management with the theme of "Action, from Local to Global - City Renewal, Green Wisdom", and highlighted the practical achievements of Shanghai in promoting the city transformation and the sustainable development.
Sixteen districts in Shanghai all debuted in the expo, among which Hongkou demonstrated the construction concept of "People's City" and "Park City" and the city renewal practice of protection, development and utilization in the whole process of historical context through two exhibition areas: "Park Reconstruction" and "City Renewal, Activation and Utilization".
The "Park +" Practice Area
With the renovation of Heping Park as the main part and the partial renovation of Luxun Park as the auxiliary part, the whole process of renovation was deeply analyzed by means of greening real-scene configuration, image and text introduction of renovation, multimedia, sand table and other exhibition methods to show the practical achievements of Hongkou in exploring the renovation of the old parks in recent years.
Heping Park is open to the public 24 hours after renovation. Centering on the three design concepts of boundless, renewal and interaction, the transformation project created eight new scenic spots, such as Mingxiang Fuliu, Heyuan Wanfeng, Huafang Yueyin, and expanded 12 "park +" functions, including “+ nature education classroom”, “+ fitness for all ages”, “+ pet dog paradise”, “+ resilient city”, all of which were a vivid expression of the concept of "park city".
At the expo, the Reconstruction Practice Area of Heping Park in Hongkou Exhibition Area has 8 sections in total. Among them, the 12 "Park +" composite functions enabled the audience to experience the transformation achievements of Heping Park by immersive scene experience and audio and visual effects through the real plant habitat.
City Renewal, Activation and Utilization
Jinchao 8 Lanes, located in the North Sichuan Road Sub-district of Hongkou District, repaired 12 preserved and protected buildings in the principle of repairing the houses according to their former appearances. Therefore, their architectural functions were optimized, the architectural value was improved, and the historical information and the original architectural style were completely preserved, which was a vivid interpretation of "buildings can be read, streets are for people to walk, and the city has temperature".
Meanwhile, in the process of reshaping the style and features of Jinchao 8 Lanes, Hongkou effectively implemented the renewal in protection and better protect it in renewal. It used modern culture and art to interpret the current trend of life, improve the style and features of blocks, and continue the Shanghai-style culture.
The Hongkou Exhibition Area of the expo displayed the 20 firsts in the history of Hongkou District and Jinchao 8 Lanes and the achievements of urban renewal in the form of graphic introduction, sand table and others.
In recent years, Hongkou has given full play to the resource advantages of "three cultural birthplaces", actively explored and promoted the mechanism of protection, development and utilization of historical context in the whole process, paid attention to the inheritance of history and cultural context in urban renewal, and improved the soft power of the downtown area. Besides, Hongkou continues to strengthen and expand the "Park +" function, integrates green and low-carbon, smart and innovative ideas into the construction of city parks and green spaces, with an aim of constantly improving the people's sense of happiness and gain.