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October 22, 2016

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Bold move to reclaim riverbanks for locals and tourists

IN six years of living in Shanghai, I’ve come to discover my adopted China hometown has a major common characteristic with my adopted US hometown of Los Angeles. Both are major cities that are quite comfortable for people to live there, but are far less notable as tourist destinations.

In this week’s Street View, our city is in the headlines for major new plans that promise to make huge swaths of land on both sides of the Huangpu River friendlier for not only local residents but also tourists.

I’ve seen the main plan discussed several times before, but the latest reports say the work is already nearing completion on building riverside promenades for people to walk a long distance on both sides of the river.

We will soon see a 22-kilometer continuous path on the Puxi side of the river with the old Bund in the middle, and a similar-length path on the Pudong side.

The restoration of a historic market at the Bund is also near completion and the market will reopen next year as the centerpiece of a new shopping and cultural complex called Bund Central.

These kinds of projects are exactly what Shanghai needs to improve life for both tourists and locals, drawing on the city’s historical sites and the river flowing through its center to create attractions and spaces with their unique local flavor. The Huangpu riverfront is especially important in Shanghai’s identity since the city’s earliest settlement is in today’s Yuyuan Garden area, a short walk from the bank, and its more modern history is firmly anchored by the series of colonial-era buildings on the Bund.

Shanghai’s plan contrasts sharply with other major Asian cities like Hong Kong and Singapore where city officials are often beholden to real estate developers and therefore can’t create these distinctive pedestrian-friendly attractions. Hong Kong, for example, has only a handful of short walkable stretches along the scenic Victoria Harbor that lies at the center of the former British colony. Most of the harbor is lined with buildings, roads and other impassible areas, depriving the public of places to relax and enjoy views.

Shanghai and many other Chinese cities were even worse in the 1990s and the first decade of this century with most of their urban waterways inaccessible to pedestrians due to heavy development along their banks. My earliest memories of cities like Shanghai, Chengdu and Guangzhou in the 1980s include a clutter of homes, shops and other buildings on the banks of major rivers flowing through their centers, making it impossible for pedestrians to see ships in the river.

Shanghai and many other cities have been gradually reclaiming those riverbanks and knocking down older structures to make way for pedestrian-friendly parks, restaurants and shops. But the plan unveiled by Shanghai is one of the most ambitious I’ve seen and has the potential to truly transform the city by returning the Huangpu River to its original position as the center of our city.

The broad promenade on the Puxi side will extend all the way from Hongkou in the north down to the Xuhui District in the south, with the Bund in the middle. While the one on the Pudong side will extend from the Yangpu Bridge in the north to the Xupu Bridge in the south, through Expo Park and Lujiazui Financial District.

Upon completion of the project next year, people should be able to take long jogs and walks along either side of the river and eventually enjoy a number of parks and pedestrian-friendly shops and attractions along the way.

Meanwhile, a neoclassical building on Nanjing Road E. has been undergoing a major renovation since 2013 and will become a five-story market when it reopens next year. It and six other buildings will form the Bund Central complex and become another attraction for locals and tourists, though we’ll have to see how well the plan was executed before passing final judgment.

Shanghai certainly isn’t alone in doing this kind of restoration and is taking its cue from western cities that have also made similar overhauls of waterside areas once crowded with factories and wharfs. But I do quite like Shanghai’s aggressive approach to reclaiming the entire riverfront, which is far more ambitious than what you find elsewhere.

Such a plan will obviously force Shanghai to make some sacrifices, since such land is so valuable and might be worth much more if developed as luxury homes and skyscrapers.

But in the longer run it could help to rebuild the city’s reputation as both a major tourist destination and one of China’s most livable cities.

 

Editor’s note:

Doug Young has lived and worked in China for 15 years, much of that as a journalist for Reuters. He currently lives in Shanghai where he teaches financial journalism at Fudan University. He writes daily on his blog, Young’s China Business Blog (www.youngchinabiz.com).




 

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