Shanghai: Corner Parks

It is hard to do justice the quality of public spaces and corner parks in Shanghai. This is one near our hotel. I got used to exploring it. You can see a piece of scultpture, green space, and an interesting shade area with seating.

This aerial from Google shows it. The hotel is the silver looking roofed building just across the road in this image. You can see that the park is on an intersection of six streets (not a classic cross roads), and there are walkways through the park so pedestrians can "cut" the corner.

Here's the little park from the footpath. One man asleep on a bench. In the heat of the afternoon the seats beneath the shade are packed.

Right in the middle of the park is this small enclosed area. It was popular this time of the morning, and a pedestrian thoroughfare.

I was struck by the care and attention to design detail in these little parks.

Here's another one just a bit further down Hengshan Road. A little corner park between two streets - also used as a shortcut - but also with seats under the trees - and gently shrouded from traffic.

This aerial shows you where that park is located. A small piece of land. Well used and valued - presumably - by the local community.

While I'm on the subject of parks, pocket parks, and corner parks in Shanghai - here's a video clip of one in Beijing - have a look at this one that was near our hotel - so I got used to exploring it. I shot this around middle of the afternoon. Auckland has a lot to learn about designed its little parks so they are attractive to a broad demographic, and safe to use.

And here's a Google aerial of the Beijing Park. Apologies for the picture quality - satellites must've taken these pictures on a seriously smoggy day. The top left of the circle is where the sculpture you see in the video is located, and you can see the streets that frame the park to the right, and bottom. Apart from the park, this image gives you an idea of how leafy Beijing streets are - not as good as Shanghai - but very green.