East China’s Jiangsu province has made unremitting efforts to coordinate the renovation of old communities, improve public services, and protect historical and cultural heritage, accelerate the pace of urban renewal, refresh the city, and boost residents’ sense of happiness.
Old movie posters, old-fashioned TV sets, and tape recorders, walking on Nanhu East Road in Nanjing, you will feel as if time has traveled back to the past.
The residential areas on both sides of the road built 40 years ago used to be the largest and most well-equipped communities in the province, reminding people of the most flamboyant place in the old city of Nanjing.
In order to retain the "Nanhu Memory" in the process of urban renewal, the local government adopted a micro-update, bringing residents an immersive experience of the 1980s.
The fence on the side of Nanhu East Road has been renovated into a "Life Museum" and Times Video Plaza, with characteristic scenery walls such as biscuit wall and sports theme wall interspersed.
The coexistence of the old and the new, the coexistence of fireworks and vitality, has become a new highlight of the old residential area and a new place frequented by citizens.
Resident of Nanjing
This scene is in line with the sense of our time when we were young, and this background can also arouse some memories in our hearts.
Resident of Nanjing
Bicycles, watches, and cameras, were all necessities when people got married in the 1980s, but things have changed dramatically now. I live have a sense of happiness and security during my life in Nanhu.
Nanhu is labeled as a "foodie paradise" because of the abundance of various delicacies such as noodle restaurants, fried skewers, and casserole. In this urban renewal, time-honored snack bars and grocery stores have also been updated.
Zhang Xin, Deputy General Manager of Nanjing Jianye Urban Construction Group Co., Ltd.
After the urban renewal, we have highlighted the food, including special snacks, showing the breath of life.
Dong Wenliang, Director of the Second Construction Division of Nanjing Municipal Construction Committee
In the next step, we will follow the concept of building a people-friendly city, coordinate with all parties, mobilize all sectors of society to participate in multiple management and coordinate the production and ecological life elements, and promote the further optimization and improvement of urban quality, and make our city glow with more vitality.
Nanjing and Suzhou have become the first pilot cities from Jiangsu in the country’s urban renewal project. The two cities have made continuous efforts to renovate old communities, old street blocks, and old factories to preserve the city's memory, enhance industrial activity, and make the city more beautiful and alive.
In the Libaodi Huayuan Community in Tianning District of Changzhou, the bumpy road has become flat and spacious, and the cobweb-like wires have been buried underground. Residents of the community have relished every change in the new environment.
Zhao Runqin, Resident of Changzhou
I live on the 6th floor, I never thought that our old community could be equipped with an elevator. We are all old and we need to rest two or three times when we climb to the 6th floor.
Last year, Jiangsu renovated 1,402 old urban communities, benefiting 1.6 million residents. In 2022, Jiangsu will renovate 1,405 old urban communities to promote the construction of safe, healthy, well-equipped and well-managed residential communities to improve residents' sense of happiness.
