Revitalize urban public space resources and promote urban high-quality development

Urban public space has played an irreplaceable multi-function in urban life since its birth, and it is an important place to prosper urban life, highlight urban connotation and reshape urban integrity. At present, China’s urban development has entered an important period from "with or without" to "with or without". Urban public space is one of the most valuable resources to be developed in the city. Revitalizing the existing public space as a carrier to create a green, livable, convenient, inclusive and shared urban life community is not only closely related to the construction and governance of urban space, but also closely related to people’s happy life.

Taking urban renewal as the guide to realize quality improvement and efficiency improvement of public space

During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, China’s urban development has entered an important period of urban renewal. An important feature of urban renewal is to change the development mode of large-scale urban construction in the past, and turn to pay equal attention to stock upgrading and incremental structural adjustment. In the process of urban renewal, it is particularly important to respect the law of urban development and develop the value of urban public space resources. From the perspective of local practice, there are mainly three ways.

● Activate old factories or transform old blocks.

By activating old factories or transforming old blocks, the functional quality and humanistic connotation will be promoted and rejuvenated.

At present, it has become a major trend to turn old workshops into art spaces, transform abandoned industrial parks into theme parks, and update old houses and streets into cultural blocks in the center of the city.

For example, in 2021, beijing municipal commission of development and reform approved three typical demonstration projects, namely, the demonstration base of hard science and technology industry in the city sub-center, the permanent meeting place of Beijing International Design Week in Zhangjiawan design town, and the sci-fi industrial cluster in Shougang, which supported the development of high-tech industries. At the same time, it also started important life service street renovation projects, such as Baitasi block, and reconstructed the streetscape of the old city through hardware infrastructure renovation and business upgrading.

● Strengthen green ecological restoration and return to landscape cities.

By transforming the space around the lake and the river, we can return the river to the people, the lake to the people, the shore to the people, and the scenery to the people.

For example, the public spaces on both sides of the Huangpu River in Shanghai have been upgraded and improved, and efforts have been made to create charming waterfront spaces that can be walked, read and have temperature; The plan of "Two Rivers and Four Shores" in Wuhan proposes to connect the coastline, integrate the dock facilities and leave more coastal space for the citizens. The public space upgrading project on the left bank of Yongding River in Beijing uses the waterfront space resources of Yongding River, integrates water conservancy culture, Shougang industrial culture, Fengsha railway culture, Olympic culture, etc., builds an open exhibition corridor, and creates a new bright spot in the Yongding River cultural belt in Xishan.

● Open the unit courtyard and build a complete green public space system.

Through "seamless connection" between courtyard greening and urban greening, we will further fill the shortcomings of infrastructure, create an open block, and realize returning green to the people and sharing facilities.

Since 2015, Changsha, Suqian, Zhengzhou, Quzhou, Taizhou and other places have successively launched the action of opening the unit courtyard. Through high-level overall planning and systematic planning, the greening roads and facilities in the unit courtyard have been made public, and a public park green space system with activity space and service function has been created.

The above three ways are to fully develop and utilize the functions of urban public space through upgrading and transformation, to promote the realization of green, livable, open, inclusive and shared high-quality living environment, to give residents more space for fitness, leisure and public communication, and to make people’s life in the city more convenient, comfortable and better. This is the basic essence of urban renewal, and it is also the inevitable follow for the high-quality development of urban human settlements.

Building a public space governance system with urban governance as the starting point

In essence, urban renewal is no longer a simple process of urban construction, but a process of urban governance, which involves the whole cycle of urban planning, construction, management, operation and service. At present, China has entered a new stage of high-quality development, and it has also reached an important juncture in the transformation from urban management to urban governance. From the perspective of local practice, it is mainly reflected in three aspects.

● Give full play to the main role of the government in the renovation and governance of urban public space.

On the one hand, strengthen the important role of the government in top-level design, and ensure that all policies and plans can be fully and effectively implemented through the government’s coercive power, overall planning and organizational support; On the other hand, we should give play to the important functions of government system integration, supervision and assessment, and ensure the overall and systematic progress of all work.

For example, some cities regard the urban public space governance project as a popular project of the government, which is included in the key content of doing practical things for the masses, and incorporated into the relevant assessment scope of civilized city construction, garden city construction and urban comprehensive management evaluation to be restrained and standardized to ensure the smooth implementation of the project.

● Build a collaborative governance platform with multiple participation.

The renovation and governance of urban public space needs to pay more attention to the relationship between governance subjects. By building a collaborative governance platform with multiple participation, the division of responsibilities of multiple subjects is refined, and corresponding standards and incentives are introduced to realize the marketization and socialization path of urban public space management, service and operation.

Taking the "property city" in Hengqin New District of Zhuhai as an example, the government has outsourced the whole urban public services through the "property city", and the general operator of urban public services has built a platform through the Urban Governance Committee, which has become an important bridge connecting the government, the market and the society. At the same time, it has also provided the whole process management, service and operation for urban public space, public resources and public projects, built a professional platform for urban governance, and built a clear responsibility, partnership and symbiosis.

● Explore a standardized, normalized, scientific and intelligent governance mechanism for urban public space renewal.

The difference between governance and management reflects system governance, legal governance, source governance and comprehensive policy. In the process of exploring urban public space governance, all localities also improve the efficiency of urban system linkage and overall operation by reshaping urban governance structure, optimizing urban governance process and promoting urban governance technology innovation.

For example, Beijing’s transition from "whistling in the streets and towns, reporting to departments" to "handling complaints immediately" and the current active governance is not only a process of changing governance concepts and diversifying governance subjects, but also reflects the upgrading of governance methods and means, focusing on scientific, intelligent and refined efforts.

At present, the construction of new urban infrastructure promoted by various places aims to build an important tool and platform for urban governance through the application of digital, intelligent and networked technologies, and also provide important technical support for ensuring the safe and orderly operation of public spaces and accurate and efficient services.

From the above three aspects, changes in governance concepts, governance systems and governance methods can reshape the environmental order of urban public spaces, make the renovation and governance of urban public spaces more in line with the laws of urban development and people’s needs for a better life, and truly reflect the systematic thinking of urban governance and the value concept of organic life.

Promoting the Co-construction and Sharing of Public Space Based on Co-creation

Urban public space is an important carrier of the close relationship between man and nature, the main place for residents to carry out social communication, and also an important place to build a beautiful environment and a happy life in the city.

Driven by the current concept of urban development, the co-creation of a beautiful environment and a happy life has become an important model and an important follow-up to promote residents’ participation in building a beautiful living environment, which can further promote the co-construction and sharing of urban public spaces. From the perspective of local practice, it can be summarized into three forms.

● Participate in the design and construction of public space.

Community is a place where residents live for a long time, and the affairs of the community are closely related to the residents. The renewal and transformation of communities should guide residents to take the initiative to participate.

For example, many "Participatory Design Workshops" were held in Beijing Changying Small Green Space Renewal Project, and residents were invited to participate in the garden design. Under the guidance of designers, residents expressed their demand for space and suggestions and opinions on the preliminary scheme through group discussion. After the scheme integration, the functional design of "Rose Fairy Tale Garden" was finally determined, and many residents participated in it from the start of the garden to the construction, through painting bottles, paving turf, building flower ponds and building together.

● Build the environmental order of public space together.

On the one hand, in the process of community renewal and transformation, the way of mobilizing residents to contribute money, materials, efforts and methods can change residents’ attitude towards maintaining public environment and order to a certain extent, and promote residents to cherish the fruits of hard work and continuously maintain a beautiful community environment; On the other hand, under the background of community governance led by Party building, we should give full play to the political mobilization and organizational co-ordination of grass-roots party organizations, and jointly promote the maintenance of environmental order in the neighborhood by building a party building alliance of all units in the street. At the same time, community party member double registration, community volunteer activities and social organization participation have also played an important role in guiding garbage sorting and promoting the creation of green communities.

Remodeling the public spirit of urban public space

The essence of urban public space is not the architectural form or landscape style it shows, but the rich and even different urban life it contains. It is this rich and diverse life style that inspires the vitality of public space and reshapes the social structure of public space.

For example, in the scene of community co-governance, Chengdu strengthens residents’ awareness of participation, promotes communication and builds an "acquaintance community" by taking interest activation as the guide and various community activities as the carrier. On this basis, it inspires residents to pay attention to and participate in public affairs independently, and gradually realizes the transformation from "acquaintance community" to "well-ordered community".

The above three forms are all based on urban public space, and more residents are encouraged to participate in the co-construction, co-governance and sharing of public space through organizational participation, party building guidance and scene creation, so as to reshape public spirit and social order.

The author is the National Mayor Training College (Cadre College of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development)