Peak performance as Chengdu cleans up with park city vision

CHENGDU, China, Nov. 26, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Chengdu, capital of Southwest China's Sichuan province, has made great strides in building itself into a park city.

Tian Xianghe is a photography enthusiast living in Chengdu. Over the past two years, Tian has found it easier to take pictures of the surrounding snowy mountains from inside the city.

Tian's feeling was echoed by Zhang Wei, another shutterbug who has observed Chengdu's skyline for several years.

According to Zhang's statistics, there were 50 days in 2017 when people in the city could see the snowy mountains. The number increased to 65 in 2019. During the first half year of 2020, local people could enjoy a clear view on 37 days, Zhang said.

Behind the changes are efforts made by Chengdu to turn itself into a "park city". The park city development concept was first put forward in February 2018. It is not simply to build parks in the city, but explore a new development model and generate a driving force for high-quality urban development.

New measures have been rolled out concerning air-pollution control, soil-quality monitoring and regional cooperation in ecological restoration.

Chengdu Ecology and Environment Bureau data showed that the city recorded a new high of 287 days with good air quality in 2019 and no days of heavy pollution.

As of Oct 10, the city's average concentration of PM2.5, particulate matter with a diameter of less than 2.5 microns, was 37 micrograms per m³. It marks a decrease of 33.9 percent compared with the same period in 2015.

In addition to a pleasant environment, the park city aims to enhance the quality of people's everyday life.

The Tianfu Greenway, with a planned length of 16,900 kilometers, will eventually connect nature reserves, gardens and green spaces covering 14,300-square-kilometer across Chengdu.

More than a track, the Tianfu Greenway will become a space where people can participate in diverse outdoor activities and feel greater happiness.

Streets in old districts have been renovated by the removal of illegal structures to expand spaces, plant trees and set up cultural facilities.

When building new areas, Chengdu adheres to the park city concept from the beginning and all urban planning is based on the landscape and the environment.

Under the park city framework, an increasing number of industries in the city also have embraced the green and low-carbon development.