An aerial photo of Xinglonghu Park, Chengdu. (PHOTO:VCG)

By?Md Altab Hossin?

Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province in southwest China, is a blessed megacity. It was the starting point of the ancient Southern Silk Road trade route, and today is an important cluster for the Belt and Road Initiative, and the central hub and economic gateway of southwest China.

Chengdu is also known as the "Land of Abundance,""Capital of Cuisine" due to its various spicy dishes such as the hotpot and mapo tofu, and the "Hometown of Pandas."

Without resting on these laurels, the city is making great efforts to achieve all-round economic, innovative, green, sustainable, and high-quality development. Chengdu's green and sustainable development focuses on transforming it into a park city, and a key part of that is building the Tianfu Greenway, the world's longest planned urban greenway system, which will be 16,900 km long and connect ecological areas such as parks and other green spaces. By the end of 2023, Chengdu had already built over 1,500 parks of various types (such as the People's Park, Huanhuaxi Park, and the Culture Park), with a total area of more than 8.800 hectares, and has preliminarily established a benchmark of "city within a park."

In addition to the construction of new parks, it is also focusing on planting trees on its roads. By July 2023, over 95 percent of the city had been greened. The ecological zone around the city, a super "green ring", has 100 km of connected first-class greenways with 18 characteristic parks and 54 forest clusters.

According to the draft of the Chengdu Park City Green Space System Plan (2019-2035) submitted for review, by 2025, Chengdu will have an urban green space ratio of no less than 40 percent, a per capita park green space area of no less than 14 square meters, and a park green space service radius coverage of no less than 90 percent. These parks give vitality, comfort, and energy to the city, enabling residents to enjoy the beauty of the green environment, breathe fresh air, and keep physically active and fit.

While creating a more scenic ecological environment in parallel with modern construction, the city welcomes more talents and enterprises to jointly promote its high-quality development.

Dr. Md Altab Hossin is a Bangladeshi foreign expert at the School of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Chengdu University.