Park for people

In a legacy plan for the expo area, made in 2004, the place where the culture park now sits was reserved for retail, trade and office uses.

"The land would be worth more than 100 billion yuan ($15.7 billion) if it was developed into a commercial zone according to the original plan," says Sun Yi, general manager of the Shanghai Expo Culture Park Construction Management Co.

"However, the old plan was shelved after the expo ended, and in the spring of 2017, Shanghai decided to transform this site into a park which can be compared with Hyde Park in London and Central Park in New York," he says.

Xu Dongxin, director of the greenery department of the Municipal Administration of Landscaping and City Appearance, says the construction of the 200-hectare park is in line with the city's 2017-35 master plan that aims to turn Shanghai into an "excellent global city".

"Shanghai needs skyscrapers, but it also needs more parks and lawns," says Xu.

"Returning the expo legacy site to the citizens as a public park is a perfect continuation of the Shanghai expo slogan－'Better city, Better life'."

Before the construction of the Shanghai Expo Culture Park started in the autumn of 2017, the municipal government launched several rounds of consultation with the public, and more than 1,300 ideas on how to build the park were collected from respondents, says a report by Jiefang Daily.

Wu Zhengjiang, a retired employee of the former Shanghai No 3 steel plant, had in 2017 proposed building a hill in the park. He says that waste from the plant, which used to be located within the park in the 1960s, eventually formed an artificial hill in the area.

"I couldn't believe that my suggestion was adopted and the hill will soon become reality," says Wu, who was interviewed by Jiefang Daily again when the park opened.

A 48-meter-high hill in the park will be hollowed out to host park management offices, power substations, equipment rooms and vertical parking lots. A grand opera theater, a conservatory and an equestrian area are still under construction in the southern section. These facilities are expected to be completed by 2024.

Other suggestions from residents, such as connecting the culture park with the nearby Houtan riverfront park, have been adopted. A 1.35-kilometer stretch along Shibo Avenue that once separated the two parks has been transformed into an underpass to provide people with greater convenience when moving between the two areas.