With its proximity to neighboring cities in the Yangtze River Delta, Hongqiao will further promote Chinese companies going global. It will be a connector for domestic and international trade and business. －Xu Jian, vice-dean of the China Institute for Urban Governance at Shanghai Jiao Tong University

Travel around Yangtze River Delta within 45 minutes

Through the improvement of road network and public transportation, the external transportation function of Hongqiao hub will be better brought into play, and the external travel time of the region will be further shortened, forming a “3×15” traffic circle, i.e. regional traffic circle within 15 minutes, urban traffic circle within 30 minutes and intercity traffic circle within 45 minutes.

In particular, starting from East Hongqiao, you can take a car or regional bus to Hongqiao hub and central business district in 15 minutes; 

By car and urban rail transit, you can reach People’s Square, Shanghai Railway Station and Shanghai South Railway Station in 30 minutes. The same applies to Qingpu, Jiading, Songjiang New City, etc; 

Taking a car ride or intercity rail transit, it will need 45 minutes to get to Suzhou, Jiaxing, Wuxi, etc.

Documentary series shows Gubei’s charm at Dubai World Expo

A number of micro renovation programs on the 670 meter long Golden Street highlighted an Arabic version of a documentary series called the Making of Shanghai that was aired on the United Arab Emirates’ major video platform Alraddar, as well as in the World Expo Museum in Dubai.

The documentary series was produced by Shanghai’s Information Office and the Documentary Center of Shanghai Media Group.

Golden Street was built in 2009. In the past 12 years, the pedestrian street has gradually become a landmark in Changning and even Shanghai. At the same time, it has also ushered in a key stage of urban renewal and management innovation.

Hongqiao Community, which oversees the street, launched Open Box program and KnockKnock program last year to attract residents, businesses, social organizations and other resources, and gave full play to them to participate in the renewal of the street.

For more than a year, the pedestrian street has been glowing with new brilliance. More than 200 businesses and six residents committees along the street focus on the three themes of green ecology, digital life and cultural innovation and art.

Cui Lixia, deputy director of Hongqiao Community, said, “The beauty of the street should not only have prosperous business, but also have a comfortable life. 

“The micro renovation of one street and one product makes the Golden Street more dynamic and warm. At the same time, we also hope to sow the seeds of co-governance, co-construction and sharing in the hearts of the street for the development of the street and empower the 15 minute life circle.”

Online platform enhances monitoring of air and water quality

The “Smart Ecology Changning” online platform established by the district ecology and environment bureau was officially launched recently to watch the air, water and improve the environmental security of Changning. 

Hence, the air quality at every construction site in Changning is being monitored in real time.

In addition to the dust on the construction site, the intelligent management of catering oil fume has also been synchronously incorporated into the platform and the district ecology and environment bureau has realized the effective supervision of more than 500 restaurants.

Changning District has 36 river monitoring sections and 18 automatic water quality monitoring stations, which monitor the water quality 24 hours a day. 

At present, these data are connected to the “smart ecology” platform, which provides effective data support for analyzing and judging river pollution.

Four economies to boost Hongqiao development

The Changning area of the Hongqiao International Open Hub will focus on the development of airport economy, digital economy, headquarters economy and open economy.

The four economies agglomerated more than 4,000 enterprises and contributed nearly 89 percent of tax revenue in the region last year.

During the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025), the Changning area of Hongqiao International Central Business District will enhance the “four functions” of global resource allocation, scientific and technological innovation, high-end industry guidance and opening-up hub portal, and strive to build a strong and active national airport economy demonstration area, Shanghai headquarters high ground and Shanghai digital economy transformation benchmark area.

Turning negative space under bridge to colorful garden

A 4,000-square-meter garden beneath the Middle Ring Bridge is now open to the public. Next to the three animal-themed spaces under the Middle Ring, the ubiquitous zebra element makes the garden unique and vibrant.

Looking from a high place, the moving line of the whole garden green space is fashionable and bright, just like a small oasis next to the forest. 

Walking into the garden, the ground paved with black and white zebra stripes echoes with the “zebra” theme quadrant next to it. 

In addition, the garden is also full of artistic atmosphere. There are container rooms on the south side of the garden, which is convenient for residents to rest.

They will be decorated with zebra, flamingo, cheetah and other patterns to echo the themes of the surrounding space under the bridge.

The 3,700-square-meter space, with the theme of pink flamingo, has a basketball court, a gym and a viewing platform.

The other two spaces, themed as cheetah and zebra, are with a sports service center, a basketball court and a baseball field.

Editor：Li Xinran Shanghai Daily