CHONGQING (CQNEWS) -- Recently, the reporter learned from the Municipal Urban Management Bureau that Chongqing is sprinting to create a national ecological garden city this year, and it has completed 13 indicators among 18 indicators, and 80% of the other 5 indicators. It is expected to meet all the standards this year.

Construction of urban green roads

Highlighting the characteristics of a landscape garden city

The coverage of the service radius of urban green roads is one of the important indicators for the creation of a national ecological garden city.

The reporter recently came to Jinhai Avenue, Liangjiang New Area, and observed that the green road is divided into two parts with green and blue lines, namely slow road and fast (cycling) road. “There are no many roads suitable for cycling in Chongqing, and this is one of them. The special cycling path avoids the fear of being hit by a car on highway or hitting someone along sidewalk.” Cycling enthusiast Li Li always rides for an hour before work every day, and feels especially energized when going to work.

The reporter noticed that there are also facilities such as post stations where people can rest, public restrooms, and direct drinking water facilities. “This section was put into use at the beginning of this year, and we are still installing guide signs, leisure seats, planning parking areas, and improving the function of green spaces,” the relevant person in charge of the Municipal Management Center of Liangjiang New Area introduced.

“In the final analysis, the urban green road is a return to the main position of people in the city, providing residents with more space for outdoor activities and improving the travel environment for the public.” Liao Congquan, the Director of the Urban Landscaping and Greening Management Division of the Municipal Urban Management Bureau, said that the urban green road can be divided into three kinds.

The first is for river sightseeing. Based on the construction of Binjiang Road, the green road for river sightseeing is cultivated and extended to connect Binjiang Park, Binjiang Square and Binjiang Viewing Platform, forming a green road for citizens to enjoy the riverside characteristics.

The second is for fitness and climbing. Relying on the city’s unique mountain resources, Chongqing makes good use of the original forest vegetation, builds hiking trails, opens up leisure platforms, and improves supporting facilities.

The third is for urban leisure. Chongqing connects city parks, community parks, residential neighborhoods, business districts and other important sources of vitality within clusters in the city to form more complete and continuous public open spaces, which facilitates community activities such as walking and leisure for community residents.

“Accelerating the construction of urban green roads and highlighting the characteristics of landscape garden city can make the fast-paced city life gradually slow down, so that citizens can see the green at close range and enjoy the scenery when they go out.” Liao Congquan mentioned that the green coverage of the downtown area has exceeded 43%, reaching the standards for creating a national ecological garden city.

Urban ecological restoration

Better green space layout and better quality

“To create a national ecological garden city, ecological priority should be the first principle. In addition to increasing green spaces, the city should also strengthen the city’s ecological livability, enhance the health and comfort of the city, and repair the ‘scars’ brought about by industrialization and urbanization,” said Liao Congquan.

As the “city’s green heart” for the development of West (Chongqing) Science City, West (Chongqing) Science City Zhaishanping Ecological Park is located on the west side of the Science Valley, and the east slope of Zhaishanping, covering a total area of about 150,000 square meters. The reporter went up the stairs along hiking trails, and reached the core area in a moment. There is Guanyun Top and other distinctive sites for taking photos. Especially at Guanyun Top, the magnificent scale of the Science Valley complexes can be seen in full view.

“It was an abandoned slope. We reserved the original loam wall, and built a space for citizens to have a rest based on it. The building wastes piled up here were used to build a children’s playground, and the abandoned fish pond has become a natural wetland after ecological restoration,” said Li Bin who is a staff member of Chongqing High-tech Industrial Development Zone Urban Construction Affairs Center.

“As an old industrial base, Chongqing results in many environmental and ecological problems in the process of urbanization,” said Liao Congquan. In order to solve the urban “bald spots”, Chongqing started with the implementation of “afforestation and beautification of 1,352 slopes and cliffs”, covering an area of more than 30 million square meters; and carried out ecological restoration for the hydro-fluctuation belt along two rivers and four riverbanks…

Improved construction management and control

Ensuring healthy development of urban landscaping and greening

In the long run, building a national ecological garden city and ensuring the healthy development of urban landscaping and greening have to start from planning, and to be ensured through system. Chongqing is carrying out the preparation of Chongqing Urban Greening Planning, putting forward the development strategy of urban and rural integration of urban greening, and determining the comprehensive objectives and requirements for the construction of green spaces in the city and the area that match the overall goal of building a new example of high-quality development and high-quality life.

On the other hand, according to the latest revision of land space planning, the Municipal Urban Management Bureau has launched a new round of preparation and revision of Urban Green Space Systematic Planning, which will more reasonably lay out green spaces in urban planning, increase the proportion of park green spaces, enhance the radial area of park green spaces, and form a gardening and greening planning system with industry development planning as the leader, based on the urban green space system planning of the city, districts and counties, and supported by special and regional planning.

In addition, Chongqing is carrying out the status quo green line delineation, to enhance the urban green space management level of refinement, so that the public participate in the supervision and management. According to the Urban Green Line Management Measures and other regulatory documents, Chongqing will incorporate the established park green spaces, protective green spaces and square lands into the status quo green line, and set up public signs or green line boundary monuments to meet the relevant requirements of the urban green line control and supervision. (Translated by Liu Hongyan, Fathom Language Limited)