On the morning of November 17th, at the venue of thematic exhibition “People’s City:  Shanghai’s Best Practices in Building a People’s City,” the Shanghai Federation of Social Science Associations launched the “This is Shanghai” Readable City Social Science Popularization Event, showcasing the urban governance concepts behind Shanghai’s achievements in building a “people’s city. A diverse crowd, comprising both adult and children visitors, showed up.

This event specially invited associate professor Chen Jing of the Department of Landscape Architecture at the College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tongji University, to deliver an excellent lecture titled “The Art of Time and the Power of Gardens: Exploring the Green Spaces in Shanghai’s Urban Landscape”, bringing an exciting interactive experience.

Prof. Chen Jing’s lecture was highly informed with her academic insights and extensive practical experiences. It took the audience on an imaginary guided tour of Shanghai’s urban gardens, allowing them to experience the unique charm of the city’s green spaces. Around the three keywords  of “growth,” “connection,” and “healing,” she elaborated on the cultural connotations of Shanghai’s urban gardens and their important role in modern urban construction. By presenting powerful cases and conducting in-depth analysis, Prof. Chen demonstrated how gardens serve as a bridge connecting cities to nature and how they carry the historical memories of the city and, at the same time, embody hopes for future development.

In the lecture, Prof. Chen not only shared her professional academic knowledge but also conveyed her deep affection for the city’s green spaces. She observed that, sowing in spring, planting in summer, harvesting in autumn, and storing in winter, we continuously grow and grow, both physically and intellectually in the cycle of the seasons, kept company by different flowers during the year. Codes for wisdom and philosophy are in nature’s endowments. Urban gardens are not only just green embellishments of the city but also an important part of urban culture. They can enhance the quality of the city, improve the living environment for residents, and provide public spaces for citizens to relax, to get close to nature, and to engage in social interactions.

In the hands-on experience session, visitors were taught to make dried flower bookmarks, immortalizing the natural beauty of the urban gardens in these keepsakes, enjoying being in sync with nature and feeling the mixture of calm and strength brought by the greenery of the city.