Hebin Building, located in the North Bund Sub-district, was built in 1930. It has experienced the glory of the Top Apartment in the Far East as the earliest waterscape residence in Shanghai. It has also witnessed the numerous high-rise buildings on both sides of Huangpu River and the gradual modernization of Shanghai. Today, there are nearly 700 households in this building, including the Old White-collars who has lived here for a long time, the trendsetters who have recently moved in, and many foreign friends. In recent years, with the comprehensive connection of riverside section in Hongkou District, the North Bund Sub-district has built a riverside reception hall to explore a new mechanism for future community’s coordinated governance from the perspective of "how to effectively use the public space of Hebin Building to provide more public services for international' community residents, with the innovative community governance project of “One Brand in One Sub-district” as the carrier.
Taking on A New Look and Upgrading Happiness
The people's city is built by people, and the people's city is for people. At the early stage of the planning of the "Riverside Reception Hall" project, the sub-district actively gave the best space: the original of the residents committee office. Through immersion building, they repaired the building according to its original style on the basis of the protection of historical buildings, and introduced cultural and artistic elements to achieve the everlasting and new effect.
In terms of space planning, the Riverside Reception Hall, combined with the space location and functions, mobilized residents in the building to participate in major research and discussion, planned spaces for sharing, consultation, neighborhood exchanges, lifelong learning and convenient services, and gradually built it into a riverside reception hall with resting and communication functions, a riverside cinema with exhibition and entertainment functions, a riverside citizens’ station with intelligent medical functions, and a riverside study with reading and immersive office functions, finally realizing the people's vision into the service scene.
For the space of the corridor, the north bund sub-district has innovatively built the time corridor of Hebin Building to show the cultural heritage and unique charm of the building. By taking its facades as the carrier, the building displays the modern, warm and reunited scenes about the building in different times in a movie way, and tells the celebrities’ lives and the family stories in the old building.
The Riverside Reception Hall has become a shared space for the residents, and gradually gives full play to the functions of the residents' guest room, the children’s activity station, and the self-service station for the masses to handle community affairs. It will become the most beautiful reception hall to carry a good life, protect the history, and constantly shape the new culture in a new era.
The Vitality in the Old Building
From the interaction in the whole process of construction to the all-round participation after the completion of the renovation project. While building a general pattern of community governance characterized by common construction, common governance and sharing in which everyone participates, makes every effort, and shares, the riverside reception hall also bears the carrier position of community service, an important platform for the community’s common governance, and other functions. With sharing, consultation, neighborhood exchanges, lifelong learning, and convenient services, it helps the old building to radiate new vitality.
In terms of taking advantage of the community platform of the riverside reception hall, the north bund sub-district actively links social resources, and invites professional social organizations to participate in community management, and explores a new way to manage the large building, with the support provided by social workers. By encouraging the residents to participate in all aspects, building a participatory museum to display local memory and individual memory, holding various cultural activities and reading parties and so on, it promotes the formation of a healthy pattern of the residents' autonomy, and integrates its soft power into the hard transformation. Meanwhile, all kinds of activities further stir the enthusiasm of community elites in the residential areas, cultivates and incubates community autonomous organizations, and collects the power of the community autonomy and co governance.
In the operation of the riverside reception hall, the sub-district actively interacts with social organizations, encourages residents in the building to explore the historical, cultural and governance values of the building, explores the public attributes and development strategies of the building's cultural assets, and inherits the building's story that belongs to the historical memory of Huangpu River and Suzhou Creek.
Taking the riverside reception hall as the starting point, the north bund sub-district, together with Xinyi Flower Shop and Goddess Cafe at the bottom floor of the building, also organically integrate with the building, further promote the community governance from the original neighborhood governance to the block governance and activate the participation awareness and action effectiveness of as many stakeholders inside and outside the community as possible, so that the old building have vitality in the new era.