End of life in 'snail's shell' near Xintiandi
A neighborhood committee official delivers a meal to a senior living alone in the Dahua Neighborhood.
About 2,000 residents are set to be relocated from a nearly century-old community near the landmark Xintiandi area in downtown Huangpu District.
The houses in the Dahua Neighborhood, built around 1928, will be preserved after all the residents move out.
It is part of the city's ongoing massive relocation and renovation campaign to improve citizens' living conditions, while preserving the city's traditional lane-style neighborhoods.
The inhabitants of Dahua have been living in crammed quarters covering about 12 square meters on average for decades. Some have had to install a toilet beside their dining table due to the limited living space.
A number of the buildings are also in a poor condition with severe leakage problems and fire risks. During the recent Typhoon In-Fa in late July, the strongest typhoon influencing Shanghai this year, some of the residents had to be evacuated to nearby hotels as the creaking houses could hardly withstand stand the gales and rainstorm.
Zhou Liqun, Party secretary of Dahua Community, had to visit each of the households across the labyrinthine lanes and narrow wooden stairs, ahead of the typhoon.
Neighborhood committee officials evacuate residents ahead of Typhoon In-Fa in the Dahua Neighborhood.
A resident surnamed Wang has been living in a 10-square-meter apartment for 68 years.
While it is only five minutes' walk from Xintiandi, she has had to endure an inconvenient life and lack of privacy every day.
She sits on a toilet, which was installed during a previous renovation campaign launched by the government to improve the living condition, to have meals.
A public kitchen shared by three households is arranged on the flat roof, but it gets wet even during light rain.
Wang and her neighbors will happily leave their dwellings, described as "rites within a snail's shell" by local citizens.
As more than 99 percent of the residents have signed agreements with the district government, the relocation process was initiated right after the typhoon.
The city's ongoing Jiugai campaign, or renovation of old residential communities, has become the primary solution to improve living conditions, remove shantytowns and redevelop the region to help spur the city's economic growth.
The houses, built in 1928, are now in poor condition.
Residents have a choice of moving to designated housing on the outskirts of the city, such as in Songjiang and Qingpu districts or towns in the Pudong New Area, or purchase their own properties with subsidies from the government.
Since 2017, Shanghai has largely adjusted its renovation strategy from mainly demolition to preservation.
The main principle is to deepen the urban renewal process, strengthen the protection of historical buildings while improving the living conditions of residents, according to the city government.
Shanghai is to renovate another 1.1 million square meters of old residential communities in poor condition by 2022 with some structures to be preserved to restore the city's traditional ambiance.
About 56,000 households will benefit, either being relocated to modern communities or returning to renovated houses with private facilities or better conditions.
Another 484,000 square meters of old neighborhoods will be renovated before the end of 2025 to benefit another 17,000 households, according to the city's Housing and Urban-rural Development Commission.
A public hearing about the relocation campaign for the Dahua Neighborhood.
