As Beijing starts to emphasize the concept of "Fenceless Parks", many parks have removed their fences, allowing the scenery inside to extend outside the parks.

A visitor photographs lilacs at Haidian Park

In 2023, Beijing announced it will continue to promote the construction of "Fenceless Parks", and will remove the fences already built on 20 parks, subject to local conditions, following explorations of this concept in Chaoyang and Haidian districts made in 2022.

There are no longer "fences" between Haidian Park and the surrounding roads. The Shuangqiaoshiyun Scenic Area in the southeast corner of the park features a body of water with aquatic plants and a fountain that plays at regular times, and now, these captivating surroundings can be enjoyed without setting foot into the park itself, marking the integration of the park into the city.

Since July 2022, Haidian District has started removing and optimizing park fences, and so far has removed 73,000 linear meters of fences in 67 parks. At present, 80 percent of the park fences in the district have been removed, enhancing visitors' sense of fulfillment. Chaoyang District has removed fences at 43 of its parks, in a push to make the parks more open and welcoming.

Areas, where fences have been removed, have also been delicately rearranged by the parks. Artistic landscapes and flower boxes have been placed at the entrance of the Yuandadu City Wall, and landscaped gardens have been set up in the green areas along the park paths, providing spaces for people to sit down, read and chat.

Visitors photograph the fenceless Yuandadu City Wall gate, which now features an artistic landscape garden.

Beijing Changchun Fitness Park is located near several residential communities, such as Cambridge Water Town and Guangda West Park. According to the person in charge of the park, in the past, residents needed to go through the park from the east gate to the west gate and then detour and turn back, just to take the bus at Landianchang Station on the west side of the park. After the removal of the fences, a small trail was paved on the south area of the park, leaving the park exit facing the bus station, cutting out four or five hundred meters from the walk.

Yuandadu City Wall is a long and narrow park, and although it was built with 19 entrances, it still took a while for visitors to get from one entrance to another because the park is 4.8 kilometers long. After the fences were removed last year, the number of entrances and exits doubled to nearly 40, making it much easier for visitors to enter and exit the park.

The new landscaped garden at the entrance to Yuandadu City Wall

Haidian Park originally built two entrances on its east and west sides, in accordance with the location of public transport stops. After the fences were taken down, entry to the park became far more convenient with six points of access. The fenceless park also now makes it much more convenient for citizens to access the public facilities in the park.

After the fences were removed, the public could use restrooms inside Haidian Park without detouring to the entrance. Instead, the bathrooms can be reached directly through the newly opened access points.

According to Mu Songlin, deputy director of the Institute of Urban Studies at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing's "Fenceless Parks" are very meaningful and in line with the goal of low-carbon and green development in the new era. By maintaining development while reducing scale, Beijing has achieved the concept of the "three reductions": namely of population, urban and rural construction land and construction area. Plans for high-quality development in Beijing are also meant to be incremental. Fence-free parks are an innovative initiative that effectively improves the efficiency of green space utilization in Beijing.

With fence-free park areas, Beijing residents can pursue a better quality of life. The surrounding residential and commercial spaces become linked, which not only eliminates public detouring and spatial sight obstructions, but also enhances convenience and comfort for all visitors, and transforms the parks on residents' doorsteps into 24-hour "green living rooms" and even gyms.

Warning signs indicating prohibited behavior in the park, set up at entry and exit accesses in Haidian Park

To keep order, Haidian Park increased the strength and frequency of security patrols, and put up clear signs indicating prohibited behavior in the park at each entry and exit point. The frequency of park radio announcements was also increased.

After the removal of the fences at Evergreen Fitness Park, some visitors started parking hire bicycles at the entrance or within the park. To deal with this issue, the park and the City Management Committee, along with bicycle hiring companies, worked together to create about 20 bicycle parking spaces around the park, encouraging green travel to the park by providing reasonable parking.

In 2023, Haidian District plans to add entry signs to 56 key parks to further clarify prohibited behavior. Meanwhile, video monitoring equipment will also be installed at 263 points in 42 key parks to improve the level of technology-based management.

A number of parks also said that as the public increasingly begins to enjoy the convenience of these parks, these uncivilized behaviors have been observed to gradually lessen. Sometimes, visitors will even remind their peers not to step on the lawns.

Mu Songlin, deputy director of the Institute of Urban Studies at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, suggested that real-time monitoring of the park's environment also be realized with advanced information technology such as 5G, big data and cloud computing.

This year, Beijing will conduct pilot "Fenceless Parks" projects in each district, building on the experience of Chaoyang and Haidian. Selections will be made in accordance with local conditions, and historical parks and parks that require protection on cultural heritage grounds will also retain their fences. In the future, the newly established parks, in principle, will no longer set fences unless they are essential. The future of Beijing's parks is the worthwhile connection of beautiful, fence-free landscapes to the inner city.

(Source: The Beijing News)