Top-class public waterfront space set for Shanghai
A fashion show is held at the riverside area in Xuhui District. The city government has opened up 45 kilometers of waterfront between the Yangpu and Xupu bridges.
Shanghai plans to create a “world-class public waterfront space” when it further opens up 5.5 kilometers of the riverside by 2020.
The plan follows the grand opening of a downtown Huangpu River section late last year covering a total of 45km on both sides of the river.
The new waterfront areas to open to the public include a 2.1km-long section on the former site of the century-old Yangshupu power plant in Yangpu District, a 3km section at the south of Xupu Bridge in Xuhui District and a 400m-long section at the Yangtze River Wharf in Hongkou District.
About 1.6 square kilometers of parks and public space will replace the existing factory buildings and shipping docks in these areas, according to a new three-year plan on the Huangpu River waterfront released by the Shanghai Housing and Urban-Rural Development Commission over the weekend.
Visitors take pictures at the waterfront in Yangpu District which features many preserved industrial heritages.
Construction has started on the former site of the Yangshupu power plant, which was built by British businessmen in 1913. The plant had been supplying electricity until 2010 when it was shut down because of environmental concerns.
According to the blueprint, the iconic structure of the power plant, including the 105m-tall chimney as well as the cranes, coal transport channels and boiler houses, will be preserved.
“The former coal scuttles will be converted into kiosks for visitors to take a rest, while a huge water pool could be developed into a rock climbing pit,” said Liu Shaoxu, project manager with Shanghai Yangpu waterfront investment and development company.
Yangpu’s riverside area was once home to many of China’s earliest industries, including paper and textile mills, shipyards, water plants, coal gas plants, and a fish market — many of them dating back up to 100 years.
Many historic items such as factory houses, machines, water pipes and equipment have been integrated into the riverside development. Even the toilets for the section will be hidden inside a rusty metal box to showcase the industrial heritage of the region, Liu said.
Apart from the new sections, the already opened riverside regions will undergo an overall upgrading to better serve the citizens and tourists, according to the commission.
Most of the waterfront sections have become major attractions for both citizens and tourists after the grand opening late last year.
The lighting system, greenery and landscapes of the Hongkou riverside region, known as the North Bund, will be improved.
Additional sports, recreation, culture and tourism venues will be added to the North Bund area, said Chen Lihong, an official with the riverside development co-ordination department of the city’s housing authority.
Stretching 1.2km along the riverbank, the North Bund offers views of the Lujiazui financial zone across the river and the Bund. It has been dubbed the best place to take a postcard photo of the Bund, Lujiazui or the Huangpu River.
Visitors walk along the Huangpu riverfront in Huangpu District.
‘Crazy stair’
One of the highlights of the area is a new outdoor entertainment complex named Magic Jungle. The German-designed project features 94 challenges ranging in difficulty from low to high for both children and adults.
The “crazy stair” allows players to slide through a transparent and twisted slide while they enjoy a panoramic view over the North Bund waterfront.
A six-story giant swing can sway up to 50 degrees, while the low bungee jump is suitable for all ages.
Sidewalks stretching 45km on the banks of the Huangpu in downtown between Yangpu and Xupu bridges have been opened.
The Shanghai city government now plans to extend those paths both upstream and downstream, while improving services and scenery on the section that is already open.
According to a long-term 2035 blueprint, the Huangpu waterfront — stretching 61km between the Minpu No. 2 Bridge in suburban Minhang District and the Wusongkou port in northern Baoshan District, at the mouth of the Yangtze River — is earmarked to be a “demonstration zone for the development capability of the global city of Shanghai.”
“The Huangpu waterfront will become an international first-class public ‘sitting room’ as well as an ecological corridor,” said Zou Junwen, an urban planner with the Shanghai Urban Planning and Design Research Institute, who is in charge of the Huangpu River master plan.
Different functions such as tourism, shipping, scientific innovation, finance, cultural exhibition, media, ecological living, education and agriculture have been designed for each section of the Huangpu riverfront, Zou revealed.
