Debate on opening time of Minhang Cultural Park丨闵行文化公园24小时开放大讨论

Swipe for Chinese version

What would it take for New Yorkers to agree for Central Park to be open 24 hours?

Contrary to non-New Yorkers' common sense, Central Park is not open 24 hours a day. People found in the park during closed hours between 1 AM and 6 AM can be fined 75 dollars. Regulations are enforced by NYPD, and neither are parks in cities like Chicago, like Grant Park downtown or Washington park down south.

If a city wants to open them 24 hours, people would be like, what about the hobos and the psychos? What about people being mugged? What about the "taxpayers" money? Because this is Western democracy!

But the journalist didn't know people in China would say the same things. She's at Minhang Cultural Park in Shanghai, which is pending 24-hour opening time with a quarter of the size of Central Park.

And to get this park 24-hour open, people around here started a furious discussion.

"Who would go there at midnight?"

"I would."

Over decades, Shanghai government has this vision to turn this metropolis of 25 million people into a garden city, which likes Singapore.

Now the word on the street is that it's thinking about 24-hour opening up to 30 parks.

Everybody came to the meeting, the professionals who work here, lawyers, small shop owners and people who live here.

"The park is like the furniture to their homes. Why would you think you can use furniture for only 8 hours a day?"

"Why would taxpayers pay for the extra hours for abnormal people like you? Who want to go at midnight?"

See, the "taxpayers" and the "psychos" stick to their arguments.

"We put up the signs. Legally, there's a term called 'assumption of risk'." Assumption of risk means one understands they go somewhere at their own risk.

In the US, a person who suffers an injury at a park can only seek compensation from the government if they can prove it did not manage to warn, remove or repair dangerous conditions that occur. So signs have been put up.

"Play activities, bear your own risk."

"The dogwalkers, people doing tai chi, people who asking money, people selling stuff."

"I would like to go at night."

"It's good for your health."

"Really unnecessary in winter."

It's funny how all the safety issues people are worried about are falling into the lake, which is still very unsafe.

"Will homeless people go in and make it unsafe?"

The kind of a safeness caused by homeless people in Shanghai, which is barely existed.However, in the US, is not even the same dimension. In Chicago, where the reporter lived for 2 years, no sane person would go to a non-downtown park after dark. She guesses that's why there's a famous nail polish called "Lincoln Park After Dark", but there's no "Shanghai Park at 2 AM".

After due consideration of these concerns, the park sets up security cameras everywhere. All waterfall areas will be closed off late at night. It's also promised to install infrared alarm system around the lake and in the woods, which is linked into police. Park security will patrol at night to guide any potential campers or noise makers away. Landscape people will create more entrances, so the park can really be part of the community.

After about a month, the park's closing time was pushed back from 9 PM to 12 AM. It is now getting ready to open 24 hours in an orderly fashion. In China, "in an orderly fashion" means whatever is about to happen, will take place gradually while taking into consideration public opinion. And that's what it took to open a 24-hour park to the public in Shanghai.

Do people "break each other's necks" to get things done where you live? Let me know in the comment section down below.

怎样才能让纽约人同意中央公园24小时开放呢？

与非纽约人的常识相反，中央公园并不是24小时开放的。在凌晨1点到6点之间的公园关闭时间内，被发现的人将被罚款75美元。法规由纽约警察局执行，芝加哥市中心的格兰特公园或南部的华盛顿公园等城市的公园也不是24小时开放的。

如果一个城市想24小时开放，人们会说，流浪汉和精神病怎么办？如果有人被抢劫呢？纳税人的钱呢？因为这是西方的民主！

但是记者不知道中国人也会说同样的话。她现在位于上海闵行文化公园，该公园正在准备实行24小时开放，它的面积大约是美国中央公园的四分之一。

闵行文化公园作为闵行最大的城市公园，周边商区、校区、居民区齐聚，公园开放备受关注。要不要24小时开放？开放区域如何确定？如何开放？如何保障深夜游园安全？如何更好地为市民游客提供最佳游园体验？

1月29日，闵行区人大与闵行区政协联合推出“人民城市议事厅，基层治理大讨论”活动，践行全过程人民民主理念，来自公园附近的300多位市民齐聚文化公园内的宝龙美术馆，就闵行文化公园是否24小时开放开展了一场大讨论。

“谁会半夜去？”

“我啊~”

几十年来，上海政府的愿景是把这个拥有2500万人口的大都市变成一个花园城市，就像新加坡一样。

现在坊间传言说他们正在考虑，将有30个公园全天候开放。

“开放了，公园就是我家后花园”“公园打开围墙后跟商务区有机融合，无界交流对园区有很大吸引力”一开始就有市民表达出对公园24小时开放的支持。

“公园就像一个城市家具。你听说谁家家具每天只能用8个小时？”

但是有人马上提出疑问“为什么我们纳税人要给像您这样不太正常的人支付额外的时间？谁想半夜去？”“上海所有已开放的公园有多少人深更半夜去跑步？”“莘庄公园晚10点到凌晨4点的人流量每月约100人，平均每天3人，冬天基本没人，吴泾公园晚上散步的基本不会超过21点，夜晚群众游园兴趣并不高”“文化公园有多个场馆，遛狗的、打太极拳的、摆摊的怎么管？”“晚上露营、宠物、烧烤都是问题”“建的时候没想过要开放，才会有那么大水域，围墙拆掉已是很大突破”……

讨论中，大家争得“不可开交”，摆事实、讲道理、列数字，充分发表意见。各方除了以数据等对公园24小时开放后的管理提出了一系列分析外，同时以提前所做功课为基础，谈调研情况、分享国外治理经验和国内其他城市优秀案例，针对目前可能遭遇的噪音、安全保障、宠物管理等问题提出可行性设想。

“我们贴了提示。在法律上有一个基本概念叫做‘风险自甘’。”自甘风险意味着人们知道他们去某个地方要自己承担风险。

在美国，如果一个人在公园里受伤，只有在他们能证明政府没有设法警告、消除或修复发生的危险情况时，才能向政府寻求赔偿，所以已经竖起了一些标志。

警告标示：游玩活动产生的风险请自己承担。

有趣的是，人们担心的所有安全问题都落到了湖中，这仍然非常不安全。

“比如说会不会有一些流浪汉会存在安全隐患？”

在上海，无家可归者所带来的安全感几乎不存在，而在美国，这种安全感甚至不在一个维度上。在记者居住了两年的芝加哥，没有一个理智的人会在天黑后去非市中心的公园。她猜测这就是为什么有一种著名的指甲油叫做“林肯公园后的黑暗”，但没有“凌晨两点的上海公园”。

在充分考虑了这些问题之后，公园在每个地方都安装了安全摄像头。所有流水区域将在深夜关闭。它还承诺在湖周围和树林里安装红外报警系统，与警方相连。公园保安将在夜间巡逻，引导任何潜在的露营者或噪音制造者离开。景观设计人员将创造更多的入口，这样公园就可以真正成为社区的一部分。

公园的关门时间从晚上9点推迟到深夜12点。它现在正准备以一种有序的方式24小时开放。在中国，“有条不紊”意味着无论将要发生什么，都应在考虑民意的情况下逐步进行。这就是在上海向公众开放24小时公园所需要的。

从围墙打开到24小时开放，除了空间的打开、时间的打开，更需要的是从公共管理思维到社区治理思路的打开和转变。

讨论闵行文化公园是否需要24小时开放，以便相关部门全面妥善掌握需求、解决各类矛盾问题，由此推动的不仅仅是“空间围墙”的打开，更是“管理围墙”的打开，通过不断地提问与协商过程，激活自治共治思维，探索未来无界管理的形成，这也是“人民城市议事厅，基层实践大讨论”活动带来的思考与启迪。

在你住的地方，人们会为了达成目的而“掐架”吗？可以在评论区留言。

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Source: Minhang Daily, International Channel Shanghai

Edited by Wu Wangtiancheng

Reviewed by Mao Jie, Yao Yiying, Ye Mei