Abstract
Soft location factors are of great importance for the attractiveness of cities striving for the establishment of service-oriented local economies. This concerns cultural and educational infrastructures, leisure facilities, and the general quality of living, among others. This chapter investigates how the city of Shenzhen goes about making use of its green spaces in developing a strategic approach toward becoming a “green” and “ecological” role model for Chinese megacities and how different park facilities contribute to the urban development in the rapid urbanization process. This chapter will put a particular emphasis on the question of as to how far the elaborated strategy of the production and upgrading of public open spaces, in particular parks, serves the needs of a prospering local population. It will also indicate how this strategy is designed to help attract well-educated professionals and contributes to attracting visitors, thus generating tourism-related income. For this purpose, the chapter also addresses understanding the definitions of park types according to different functions.
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- 1.
The official approval date of establishment of Shenzhen SEZ was on August 26, 1980 (Liu 2006).
- 2.
The urban development concept of “Spatial Development Model of Belt Cluster Structure” was put forward by Spanish engineer Arturo Soria Y Mata in 1982. It was an experimental concept of Chinese modern urban planning and was first implemented in urban planning of Shenzhen’s SEZ (Li and Wang 2007).
- 3.
- 4.
According to China’s “standard for classification of urban green space” in 2002, the concept of “comprehensive parks” is defined as a green space of a relatively large scale (land area of at least 5 ha and total area of at least 10 ha) that is suitable for public outdoor activities and includes various functions and appropriate facilities. Meanwhile, the comprehensive parks are divided into city parks and regional parks. The functions of comprehensive parks are defined as various cultural and recreational facilities, children’s playgrounds, quiet resting areas, and possible entertaining sport facilities, according to China’s “standard of park design.”
- 5.
The “five lakes” are Xili Lake, Xiangmi Lake, Shiyan Lake, East Lake, and Silver Lake. The “four seas” are Shekou Sea World, Shenzhen Bay, Xiaomeisha Sea World, and Dayawan.
- 6.
“Tefa” is the abbreviation of the Chinese words “Development of Shenzhen SEZ.” Shenzhen Tefa Group Co. Ltd. was founded in 1981 and is the first nationalized company in China which engages in high technology, tourism, real estate, trade and business, as well as finance. The significant tourism project of Shenzhen Tefa Group is the “Xiangmi Lake” vacation village which is accompanied by the first amusement water park in China in a Disney style.
- 7.
Shenzhen OCT Co. Ltd. was founded in 1985 and is one of the largest state-owned group companies in China engaging in tourism and culture, real estate and hotels, as well as electronics and packaging.
- 8.
“CTS” is the abbreviation of China Travel Service (CTS) Hong Kong Ltd. founded in 1928, it is China’s largest travel group and state-owned enterprise under the direction of the State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of China’s State Council. It now engages in tourism, industrial investment, real estate development, and logistics trade.
- 9.
The translation of the Chinese concept “Shengchan lüdi” is in accordance with “Standard for basic terminology of landscape architecture” of China’s standard (CJJ/T91-2002).
- 10.
Shenzhen was the first city to get rid of entrance tickets for municipal parks in China.
- 11.
The concept of “City of Parks” was put forward by the Municipal Government of Shenzhen in 2006.
- 12.
The Municipal Government of Shenzhen has put forward the concept of “four [problems] difficult to continue” that urban development of Shenzhen faced in 2005.
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Zhao, J. (2014). Parks as Soft Location Factors. In: Altrock, U., Schoon, S. (eds) Maturing Megacities. Advances in Asian Human-Environmental Research. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6674-7_13
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