City's green boulevards to get label, protection

Shanghai plans to designate another 53 green boulevards, local greenery authorities said yesterday.

The boulevards will be picked from about 80 streets across Shanghai. On the list are Yongjia Road, Sinan Road, Kangding Road, Huashan Road, Fumin Road, Wanping Road and Fuxing Rd W. Most are tranquil, elegant and rich in history. They are lined with luxuriant trees like plane, camphor and goldenrain.

A total of 37 streets on the list of candidates are downtown, with the rest in suburban districts. The list, online at lhsr.sh.gov.cn, the website of the Shanghai Greenery and Public Sanitation Bureau, seeks public input and is in Chinese only. The result is set to be announced in about a week, the bureau said.
To win the coveted listing, streets must display extensive green areas. The plant coverage on sidewalks and non-motorized vehicle lanes should reach over 90 percent. Boulevards must be longer than 500 meters.

As to what designation means, the boulevards can benefit from "measures such as trimming canopies and injecting nutrient fluid to ensure trees alongside the streets, some as old as 90 years, are well protected," said Xu Dongxin, deputy director of the bureau's greenery management division. Xu said the bureau will make regular checks on the boulevards every year and remove those that become unqualified.

"We hope they can serve as a beautiful green name card of the city," Xu said.

Twenty streets in the city were designated green boulevards last year, the first time that the city used the designation. The plan is to name 300 boulevards by the end of 2015, the bureau said. Some locals liked the idea.

"I like rambling on streets with lush trees like Sinan Road, which makes me feel sort of peaceful away from the urban treadmill," said Chen Wei, a Hongkou District resident.