Shanghai habitat gardens: pushing urban renewal with the return of wildlife
A habitat garden at the Xiehe Jiayuan neighborhood in Changning District looks like a fairytale land with its wildlife and ecology.
"Five raccoon dogs have settled here," a man in his 70s said proudly as he briefed me about the growing biodiversity at a habitat garden in downtown Shanghai last week.
"Do they belong to one family?" I asked.
"Two families," he replied. "We've been watching them for some time."
He said he was one of the resident volunteers who regularly help maintain the habitat garden at the Xiehe Jiayuan neighborhood in Changning District. Xiehe Jiayuan means "a harmonious community" in Chinese.
"They're not easy to spot during the day," he added. "They 'come home' at night."
He emphasized the word "home" by pointing to a bushy corner of the garden where the five raccoon dogs had found shelter for a stable life in the city.
A raccoon dog is an indigenous canid. Long ago, raccoon dogs rambled across the Yangtze River Delta and many other regions, but urbanization, which often creates hardened road surfaces hostile to wildlife, has gradually driven them out of urban areas.
The Paper, a leading news outlet based in Shanghai, recently reported a "return" of some raccoon dogs to the city over the past few years. According to the report, most of these raccoon dogs have ended up in the city's suburbs, like Songjiang and Qingpu districts, where many newly built residential communities are surrounded by wildlife-friendly farmlands or wetlands.
One night last year, I saw a raccoon dog roaming a riverside lawn in my suburban neighborhood in Qingpu District. I told the story to my friends living downtown, and they were amazed. As The Paper observes, downtown neighborhoods usually have paved grounds that are "too hard" for wildlife. As such, the story of five raccoon dogs settling in a downtown residential community has taken on added significance for a city seeking better biodiversity across its landscape.
Habitat in a garden
The 732-square-meter habitat garden at Xiehe Jiayuan used to be a paved ground. It was an abandoned public space heaped with waste before local residents changed it into a habitat garden last summer with the help of The Nature Conservancy (TNC), a global non-profit organization for natural resource protection.
A habitat garden combines a wildlife habitat and a community garden. In other words, a community garden creates a "built-in" habitat for wildlife. A habitat garden usually has a greater variety of native plants than an ordinary garden does. A rich diversity of such plants can attract many native birds, bees and other wildlife.
An elderly resident walks out of the entrance of the habitat garden.
A group of elderly residents enjoy a morning walk on a riverside path, which is part of the habitat garden.
The habitat garden at Xiehe Jiayuan is the largest of its kind in Shanghai. In just one year since its transformation from a wasted space with stiffened ground surfaces, the garden has attracted many species of wildlife, such as night herons, common moorhens, spotted doves and white-rumped munias, in addition to raccoon dogs, weasels, squirrels and hedgehogs.
A Chinese bulbul came perching atop a tree as the elderly volunteer explained to me where to find bulbuls and certain other wildlife, which were rarely seen in the community before the establishment of the habitat garden.
A rich diversity of plants at the entrance of the habitat garden.
A tall fir grows among a variety of plants.
The footprints of hares and many other animals are "printed" in the earth to make children understand the physical features of different animals.
As small as it is, the habitat garden is so rich in plant species that it feels like your exploring a pristine forest. There's even a miniature conservation area near the river, where tall firs and ground cover plants grow side by side. Visitors are not allowed to step into this area designed solely to protect the earth, plants and wildlife.
According to TNC, the habitat garden has added nearly 100 new types of shrubs and flowers, while retaining about 30 plant species that existed before. As a result, more than 50 kinds of wildlife have found shelter here.
Last year, the habitat garden became a global example of biodiversity, and was showcased at the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP-15) held in Kunming, southwest China's Yunnan Province.
Urban regeneration
Xiehe Jiayuan is part of Shanghai's push toward urban regeneration. According to the United Nations, urban regeneration, also known as urban renewal, brings back underutilized assets and redistributes opportunities, increasing urban prosperity and quality of life.
Turning a wasted space into a new haven for both man and nature, habitat gardens naturally contribute to urban regeneration.
In August, Shanghai formally included the construction of habitat gardens in its latest draft blueprint of ecological improvement. According to the Shanghai Territorial Ecological Restoration Plan (2021-2035), habitat gardens are important in that they provide shelter for wildlife as well as outdoor leisure spaces for local residents.
Above and below: A well-shaded pond is seen in the habitat garden in the Hongxu neighborhood.
As a pioneer in ecological restoration, Changning District has built eight habitat gardens in different communities, the earliest being built in the Hongxu neighborhood in 2019, which spans 450 square meters. It was also converted from a wasted corner.
While I sat on a wooden chair in this tiny but thickly wooded garden, on a hot afternoon last week, a flower petal fell to the ground made of varnished wood. The sound of the petal pounding the wooden floor was so clear that I suddenly realized how quiet the space was, despite its closeness to the city's middle-ring road, a traffic artery.
If I had had no other errands to run that day, I would have preferred to stay in the miniature habitat garden all afternoon, in the cool shade of both deciduous and evergreen trees. It was a small world of tranquil wildlife.
A habitat garden benefits not just wildlife. It's also a place where nature is healed through human effort, and in turn gives us a sense of peace.
As I sat and pondered over the fallen petal, a middle-aged resident, clad in smart casual attire suitable for a community walk, came and took pictures of birds chirping in trees. She nodded a smile when she turned around and saw me, but we did not say a word. Subconsciously, we would not spoil the moment of silence.
The "bridge of soul" in the habitat garden in the Xiehe Jiayuan neighborhood
At Xiehe Jiayuan, there's a small, wooden bridge with rope rails. It's a "bridge of soul," said the elderly volunteer. When I sauntered on the bridge, which is submerged now and then in the misty water that serves to irrigate the plants and cool the air, it felt like wondering through a fairytale. It was a spectacle as much for the mind as for the eye.
The eight habitat gardens in Changning District have transformed more than 3,500 square meters of hardened road surfaces in residential communities into fertile soil for forests and wildlife. This figure may not be statistically significant, but every small step matters as Shanghai strives to become an ecologically habitable city by 2035.
Keeping memories alive
Encouraged by the initial success of the eight habitat gardens, Changning District will build a new one next year that spans about 1,000 square meters. The new project, located in the Chengqiao Ercun (No. 2 residential quarter) neighborhood, is called "Yi Habitat Garden." Yi means memory in Chinese.
"We will grow many new plants that flourish in different seasons, so that elderly residents can enjoy the atmosphere all year round," a young staff member of the neighborhood committee told me in an interview two weeks ago. She added that an elevated water ditch will also be built to attract different types of birds, while "a grandmother's garden" will be created near the ditch, where elderly people can exercise their mind and body in the field while learning to grow various plants.
"There're many elderly residents in our neighborhood, and some of them suffer from Alzheimer's disease. We hope to delay their memory loss by increasing their physical contact with nature", she said, explaining the meaning of "Yi" in the name of the new habitat garden to be completed next year.
The main site for the future habitat garden at Chengqiao Ercun
This area will be turned into a "grandmother's garden" in the future habitat garden.
Chengqiao Ercun, which was built in 1988, has many elderly residents.
As I looked around, I found the 1,000-square-meter ground earmarked for the future habit garden had already been converted into a sponge space in 2018. Although it's still paved, it could slowly absorb rainwater into the earth. When it becomes a habitat garden next year, the area will be further ecologically friendly, as more native plants will be grown over the reclaimed soils.
"There's a big home for the elderly near our neighborhood, and gradually we will become a habitat garden open to all Alzheimer's patients who live in the vicinity," she said.
Chengqiao Ercun was built in 1988. Over the past three decades or so, trees here have grown into "skyscrapers" providing a nice shade and shelter for residents. Still, the variety of plant species had to be improved for the construction of the future habitat garden, she added.
Green, green everywhere
Strictly speaking, the concept of a "habitat garden" is relatively new to Shanghai. It was first proposed by TNC in 2017, and the first project, as said before, was launched in 2019 in a neighborhood near the city's Middle Ring Road. Habitat gardens must meet strict standards, such as using native plants and reducing chemical fertilizer.
As I looked for habitat gardens across downtown Shanghai over the past two weeks, I accidentally discovered quite a few community gardens which are not strictly identified or designed as "habitat gardens," but they actually provide habitats for wildlife in their own ways.
A rich variety of native plants are grown in the Knowledge & Innovation Community Garden near Fudan University in Yangpu District.
In Yangpu District, for example, I found a 2,200-square-meter farming garden featuring a variety of crops like sesame, rice and cotton as well as a cluster of native plants.
It's called the Knowledge & Innovation Community Garden, located in an open space near Fudan University. It even has a mini-garden of traditional Chinese medical herbs, such as cassia, whose seeds are good for improving vision.
A mini-garden of medical herbs within the Knowledge & Innovation Community Garden
The best part of my experience at the farming garden last week was that I could learn to work the land with a hoe and irrigate plants with a hose.
"Cover the mouth of the hose with your thumb, so that you can spray over the tender plants instead of 'drowning' them with a burst of water," Madam Yin taught me as she handed a long hose over to me.
She is about my age and takes care of the farming garden's daily maintenance. She even taught me how to compost and dig the earth with a spade. Despite my lack of prior knowledge in those areas, I learned quickly.
As I sprayed over this urban farm, a young, white-collar lady asked me for a favor, apparently mistaking me for an agricultural professional.
"Hi brother, could you help irrigate my plot as well?" she asked, pointing to a 1-square-meter vegetable garden walled with short wooden panels.
"Sure," I said gladly, and sprayed over her tiny field like a professional farmer or an agricultural expert.
She said she works in a nearby office and rented a small plot of farmland where she learned to grow vegetables on her own.
Madam Yin taught me and a college intern how to spray water on tender plants.
After I finished my manual work in the field, Madam Yin taught me with great patience how to identify various crops and native plants.
Ever since I was a child, I had been hearing about sesame, but I didn't know what it looked like until Yin showed it to me. It stood towering over most other plants and crops in the garden.
A sesame stalk in the Knowledge & Innovation Community Garden
Unlike Changning District's habitat gardens, the Knowledge & Innovation Community Garden, completed in 2016, is Shanghai's first open community garden. It's located in an open space between several residential communities, but not within any one of them. Kids from very different family backgrounds can play together on equal footing in this "urban oasis."
The colorful characters on Madam Yin's hat are written by kids who come to play in the farm garden.
"Take a look at the characters on my hat," Yin said. "The kids who came to play here all like me, so they wrote 'I love you' on my hat in colorful characters."
In many ways, the Knowledge & Innovation Community Garden can be classified as a combination of community garden, urban farm, and wildlife habitat.
Indeed, a few years after the operation of the open community garden, TNC set up a demonstrative habitat garden in it.
Communal spirit
A large residential community in the Pudong New Area provides yet another example of how local residents have improved the city's ecological environment.
At Ling Shi'ercun (No. 12 residential quarter) neighborhood on Dongming Road, every corner has been turned into a botanical garden, big or small.
Aunt Shi points to a garden of cockscomb flowers.
"Look at these cockscomb flowers", a woman surnamed Shi said to me. "My husband grew them all! He is a retired technician and can do many things by himself."
She said most of the neighborhood's street corner gardens have been created by the residents themselves. "We bought seeds ourselves and created different landscapes by ourselves," she said with a hearty smile.
"Our community is 28 years old, and we've done our best to beautify it in accordance with the spirit of urban regeneration," said an old man surnamed Zhang, also a retired technician. He is head of the community's leading volunteer group dedicated to improving biodiversity.
A mini-landscape created by residents in the Ling Shi'ercun neighborhood.
Neighbors appreciate their own "creation" in the neighborhood.
Each mini-garden, created by different members of the neighborhood, may not have a very rich diversity of native plants, but collectively, the huge neighborhood looks like a giant park of plants and pavilions.
A kid was running after some squirrels as I sauntered through the vast neighborhood. As I sat down in a well-shaded pavilion, I found myself immersed in the humming aliveness of autumn insects one would hardly hear in the city's "concrete forests" of high-rises that "grow" on hardened asphalt grounds.
In the nearby Ling Shisancun (No. 13 residential quarter) neighborhood, a girl returning from school gave a "wow" when she passed by a street corner mini-garden.
"Wow, when did these flowers appear in this corner?" she stood and asked her grandfather, who apparently had no ready answer.
A girl returning from school wonders at a new street corner garden in her neighborhood.
A resident familiar with the street corner garden told me that it began to be built around June, but took its final shape only recently. No wonder many of the residents hadn't noticed the gradual change of the street corner.
The girl's "wow" dawned on me that even a small amount of natural beauty would strike accord with an innocent mind holding nature in awe.
It is this innate inclination toward harmony between man and nature that has set so many citizens in Shanghai to embark on a colorful course of ecological restoration.
