Public Spaces Fully Embody the Core Essence of the People’s City Concept

Space is a core research thread in urban sociology. The Chicago School, the founder of modern urban sociology, proposed urban spatial structures or concepts such as concentric zones, sectors, and multiple nuclei, which dominated urban space research until after World War II. In the 1960s and 1970s, the French scholar Lefebvre, drawing on Marxist analytical methods, elevated space to a new theoretical height, proposing a series of views: the shift of capital from a first circuit in production to a second circuit in space; the transformation from "production in space" to "production of space itself"; and the inevitable emergence under the laws of capitalist operation of three contradictions: between the quality and quantity of space, between the use-value and exchange-value of space, and between the global standards of space and local meanings. However, these views received attention only in the 1980s and 1990s, subsequently triggering a general "spatial turn" in Western social science. The "new urban sociology" formed since the 1990s has pointed out the limitations of urban ecology, absorbed the critical urban theories of Western Marxist scholars such as Lefebvre and Harvey, and placed strong emphasis on global capitalism, political economy, and sociocultural space. Overall, urban space in the West is primarily dominated by capital, and public spaces are threatened by commodification and privatization.

空间是城市社会学的一条核心研究主线。现代意义上城市社会学的开创者美国“芝加哥学派”，提出了同心圆、扇形、多核心等城市空间结构或概念，主导了长至二战后的城市空间研究。20世纪六七十年代，法国学者列斐伏尔借鉴马克思主义分析方法，将空间提到全新的理论高度，提出资本从生产领域的第一循环到空间领域的第二循环，生产从“空间中的生产”到“空间本身的生产”，资本主义运行规律下必然产生空间的质与量、空间的使用价值与交换价值、空间的全球化标准与地方性意义之间三组矛盾等系列观点。但这些观点直到20世纪八九十年代才受重视，之后引起西方社会科学界普遍的“空间转向”。20世纪90年代以来形成的“新城市社会学”，指出了城市生态学的局限，吸收了列斐伏尔、哈维等西方马克思主义学者的城市批判理论，着重强调全球资本主义、政治经济学、社会文化空间。总体而言，西方城市空间主要受资本主宰，公共空间受到商品化、私有化的威胁。

Urban public space in China is also an important research topic in domestic academia. Viewed historically, although there is a trend from authoritarian politics to commercial society, from control to detachment, and from closure to openness, or a back-and-forth between closure (the ward-market system [1]1 The ward-market system (坊市制) was a spatial governance system in imperial China (especially the Tang dynasty) that strictly separated residential wards (坊) from market districts (市), with gates locked at night.) and openness (the street-market system [2]2 The street-market system (街市制) emerged in the Song dynasty, breaking down the ward-market separation and allowing shops and markets along streets, greatly expanding public space.), closure (the work-unit system [3]3 The work-unit system (单位制, danwei) was the fundamental urban organizational form in socialist China (c. 1950s–1990s), where state-owned enterprises and institutions provided housing, services, and social control within enclosed compounds.) and openness (the street–neighborhood committee system [4]4 The street–neighborhood committee system (街居制) refers to the grassroots urban governance structure of street offices (街道办事处) and residents’ committees (居委会), which became dominant after the reform of the work-unit system.), state power has always been the core determining the fate of public spaces such as streets. After reform and opening up, the introduction of the market economy made capital another factor shaping urban space. Some scholars have pointed out that public spaces in Chinese cities are more subject to the logic of power and the logic of capital, and that greater attention must be paid to the logic of everyday life in order to achieve a balance among the three.

中国城市公共空间也是国内学术界的一个重要研究主题。从历史演变来看，虽然有从强权政治到商业社会、从控制到脱离、从封闭到开放的趋势，或存在封闭（坊市制）—开放（街市制）—封闭（单位制）—开放（街居制）的往复，但国家权力始终是主导街道等公共空间命运的核心。改革开放后引入市场经济，资本开始成为决定城市空间的另一大因素。已有学者指出，中国城市公共空间更多受到权力逻辑、资本逻辑的制约，需要更加注重生活逻辑，以达至三者的平衡。

Although Western critical urban theory calls for "socialist production of space" and domestic urban space research emphasizes "social logic," both remain at the theoretical level and have not fully taken account of an important phenomenon since China entered the New Era, especially from the 13th Five-Year Plan onward: the large-scale construction of urban public spaces. After General Secretary Xi Jinping, on his 2019 inspection tour of Shanghai, put forward the important concept that "the people’s city is built by the people, and the people’s city serves the people," [5]5 “The people’s city is built by the people, and the people’s city serves the people” (人民城市人民建、人民城市为人民) is a guiding concept for urban development proposed by Xi Jinping in 2019 during his visit to Shanghai. many of the "people’s well-being projects" [6]6 People’s well-being projects (民心工程) are government-funded initiatives aimed at improving people’s livelihoods, such as public space renovations, elderly care, and education. implemented in Shanghai have been public space construction projects. At present, Shanghai has formed a multi-tiered public-space system covering the municipal, district, subdistrict/town, neighborhood, and community levels. A typical example of municipal-level public space is the public space along both banks of the "one river and one sea." [7]7 “One river and one sea” (一江一河) refers to the Huangpu River (江) and Suzhou Creek (河, historically called the “Wusong River”), the two main waterways running through Shanghai. At the district level, distinctive brands have emerged, such as Hongkou District’s “Citizen Station,” Yangpu District’s “Good-Neighbor Center,” Xuhui District’s “Neighborhood Hub,” Minhang District’s “Neighborhood Center,” Huangpu District’s “Zero Distance,” Pudong New Area’s “Home Service Station,” and so on. At the subdistrict/town, neighborhood, and community levels, a matrix of public spaces has been initially formed, and a typical public space that runs through all levels is the Party–mass service center. [8]8 A Party–mass service center (党群服务中心) is a community-level facility established by the Chinese Communist Party to provide services to residents, conduct Party-building activities, and serve as a platform for grassroots governance. It can be said that public space is the most intuitive expression and the fullest embodiment of the people’s city. Studying the people’s city through public space and rising from practice to theory holds great significance: it can enter into dialogue with Western urban-space research and make a major contribution to constructing a discourse system for urban sociology with Chinese characteristics.

虽然西方城市批判理论呼吁“社会主义空间生产”，国内城市空间研究强调“社会逻辑”，但都停留在理论层面，没有充分重视中国进入新时代尤其是“十三五”“十四五”以来的一个重要现象，即城市公共空间的大建设。2019年习近平总书记考察上海时提出“人民城市人民建、人民城市为人民”重要理念后，上海实施的民心工程中许多都是公共空间建设工程。目前来看，上海已经形成了市—区—街镇—街区—社区多个层级的公共空间体系。市级公共空间的典型代表是一江一河两岸公共空间。区级公共空间形成了各具特色的品牌，如虹口区的市民驿站、杨浦区的睦邻中心、徐汇区的邻里汇、闵行区的邻里中心、黄浦区的零距离、浦东新区的家门口服务站等。在街镇、街区、社区层级，已经初步形成了公共空间矩阵，贯通各个层级的典型公共空间就是党群服务中心。可以说，公共空间是人民城市最直观的体现和最充分的彰显。以公共空间来研究人民城市，并从实践上升到理论，具有可以和西方城市空间研究进行对话、着力构建中国特色社会主义城市社会学话语权的重大意义。

Guided by the people’s city concept, urban public space should always uphold and highlight "people-centeredness," including publicness, diversity, participation, and sensibility.

以人民城市理念为指引，城市公共空间应始终坚持和突出“人民性”，包括公共性、多样性、参与性和感受性。

First, prioritize publicness. General Secretary Xi Jinping put forward the people’s city concept on the Yangpu Riverside; the riverside represents Shanghai’s urban public space and embodies the publicness of the people’s city. Shanghai’s people’s well-being projects also first grasped the key link in people’s city construction—public space—leaving the best public resources to the people, responding to public needs to the greatest extent, and safeguarding the public interest to the greatest degree. While continuing to build and maintain public spaces at multiple levels from municipal to grassroots, attention should also be paid to the use of space, especially using space as a vehicle to cultivate a public cultural spirit guided by the core socialist values. [9]9 Core socialist values (社会主义核心价值观) are a set of 12 official values promoted by the Chinese Communist Party, summarized as prosperity, democracy, civility, harmony, freedom, equality, justice, rule of law, patriotism, dedication, integrity, and friendship.

一是优先公共性。习近平总书记是在杨浦滨江提出人民城市理念的，而滨江代表的是上海城市公共空间，体现的是人民城市的公共性。上海的民心工程也正是首先抓住公共空间这个人民城市建设的牛鼻子，把最好的公共资源留给人民，最大范围地回应公共需求，最大程度地保障公共利益。在继续建设维护从市到区到基层多个层次公共空间的同时，还应注重空间使用，尤其是以空间为载体培育社会主义核心价值观引领的公共文化精神。

Second, emphasize diversity. “The people” form a whole in the political sense, but in the social sense they are diverse. Most of Shanghai’s people’s well-being projects target key social groups such as "the old, the young, the old neighborhoods, and the remote areas." [10]10 “The old, the young, the old neighborhoods, and the remote areas” (老、小、旧、远) is a policy shorthand used in Shanghai to refer to priority groups: the elderly (老), children (小), dilapidated old neighborhoods (旧), and remote suburban areas (远). However, social groups are differentiated not only by lifecycle (e.g., old and young) and residential space (e.g., old neighborhoods and remote areas) but also by material interests, levels of need, and other forms of diversity. It is necessary to better achieve full coverage of beneficiaries and all-around response to needs, while continuing to tilt toward social groups that face economic difficulties or are lagging behind, so as to effectively advance common prosperity for all the people.

二是注重多样性。人民在政治意义上是整体，但在社会意义上具有多样性。上海大多数民心工程都目标清晰地指向“老、小、旧、远”等重点社会群体，但社会群体除了有“老”“小”等生命周期的划分，有“旧”“远”等居住空间的差异，还有物质利益的分化、需求层次的不同等多样性。要更好地体现受益群体全覆盖和需求回应全方位，并继续重点向那些在经济生活上面临困难或处于滞后地位的社会群体倾斜，以切实推进全体人民共同富裕。

Third, increase participation. From “the people’s city is built by the people” to “building an urban governance community in which everyone participates, everyone is responsible, everyone contributes, and everyone shares,” [11]11 “Everyone participates, everyone is responsible, everyone contributes, and everyone shares” (人人参与、人人负责、人人奉献、人人共享) is a vision for urban governance community building, often cited in Shanghai’s people’s city practices. the people’s participation is the living soul of the people’s city. It is necessary to further strengthen the people’s whole-process participation from both the source and the process, implement a long-term mechanism for the construction and operation of public spaces and people’s well-being projects, and manifest whole-process people’s democracy. [12]12 Whole-process people’s democracy (全过程人民民主) is a concept of democracy promoted by Xi Jinping, emphasizing the people’s participation in all aspects of political life—from elections to decision-making, management, and oversight.

三是提高参与性。从“人民城市人民建”到“构建人人参与、人人负责、人人奉献、人人共享的城市治理共同体”，人民的参与性是人民城市建设活的灵魂。要继续从源头和过程两方面进一步加强人民的全过程参与，落实公共空间和民心工程的建设与运营长效化机制，彰显全过程人民民主。

Fourth, enhance sensibility. Whether public space and people’s city construction are effective ultimately depends on the people’s sense of sensibility. The evaluation of the people’s sensibility should be strengthened. In terms of content, this includes not only a sense of gain, happiness, and security but also a sense of identity, belonging, and achievement. [13]13 “Sense of gain, happiness, and security” (获得感、幸福感、安全感) and “sense of identity, belonging, and achievement” (认同感、归属感、成就感) are standard phrases used in Chinese official discourse to measure people’s subjective wellbeing. In terms of method, it can rely on government departments’ satisfaction surveys of practical projects, draw on livelihood and public opinion research by professional institutions, and also make use of real-time interactive big-data platforms such as the "12345 Citizen Hotline," "One Network for All Government Services," and "One Network for All Urban Management." [14]14 The “12345 Citizen Hotline” (12345市民热线) is Shanghai’s non-emergency government service hotline; “One Network for All Government Services” (一网通办) is Shanghai’s online platform for administrative services; “One Network for All Urban Management” (一网统管) is Shanghai’s integrated urban management system using big data and AI.

四是增强感受性。公共空间和人民城市建设的成效性如何，最终要看人民群众的感受性如何。要加强对群众感受性的评估，在内容上，既包括获得感、幸福感、安全感，也包括认同感、归属感、成就感；在方法上，既可以依托政府部门的实事项目满意度测评，也可以借助专业机构的民生民意调查研究，还可以发挥“12345市民热线”“一网通办”和“一网统管”等实时交互大数据平台的作用。

Surveys reveal that problems still exist in the construction and operation of urban public spaces: waste of space resources and low utilization efficiency; excessive self-construction and self-operation with little cost awareness; overly rigid functional prescriptions and insufficient fine-grained management; limited types of activities and failure to attract many people. To enhance the capacity and potential of using public spaces as vehicles to create a high quality of life in the city, we can start from improving public-spatial governance and strengthening supply-side structural reform.

调研发现，城市公共空间建设与运营尚存在空间资源浪费和利用效率不高、自建自营过多和成本意识不强、功能规定过死和精细化管理不够、活动类型有限和吸引人群不多等问题。为提高以公共空间为载体打造城市高品质生活的能级与潜力，可从提升公共空间治理入手加强供给侧改革。

First, spatial goals should guide public spirit. Public space carries public spirit and community consciousness, emphasizing the “shared.” Spiritual sharing requires visual sharing to reinforce it; therefore the chaotic situation in which space names and images vary arbitrarily should be changed, and, like community Party-building service centers and community affairs reception centers, unified signage standards should be appropriately adopted. Spiritual sharing also requires political sharing to lead it; Party-building leadership should not be confined to Party-mass service centers but should cover more community public spaces, so that people can see at a glance that these are public spaces provided by the Chinese Communist Party and, upon entering, develop a feeling of intimacy, trust, and identification with the Chinese Communist Party.

首先，空间目标是引领公共精神。公共空间承载的是公共精神和共同体意识，强调的是“共”。精神上的“共”需要视觉上的“共”来强化，要改变空间名称和形象杂乱的状况，像社区党建服务中心、社区事务受理中心那样，适当统一标识规范。精神上的“共”更需要政治上的“共”来引领，党建引领不应局限于党群服务中心，而应覆盖更多的社区公共空间，使人们一望便知这是中国共产党提供的公共空间，一入就生对中国共产党的亲切感、信任感、认同感。

Second, spatial functions should highlight public governance. Spatial functions have an explicit and an implicit layer. Service and activity spaces are the explicit layer; deliberation and governance spaces are the implicit layer. The two layers must be integrated; an explicit layer without an implicit layer should be avoided. The manifest function of space is to change from "going into the homes of the masses" to "inviting the masses in" under the new situation where in-person mass work has become difficult, by providing services and organizing activities within the space. The latent function of space is to change "strangers" into "semi-acquaintances," turning the space into a platform for community deliberation and public governance, thereby making grassroots democracy truly function. In public spaces, specific life-politics issues such as garbage sorting, civilized pet-keeping, and elevator installation can be discussed, which is beneficial and harmless to social governance.

其次，空间功能应突出公共治理。空间功能分表里，服务和活动空间只是表，议事和治理空间才是里，要表里合一，忌有表无里。空间的显功能，是在群众工作上门难的新形势下，变“走进去”为“请进来”，在空间里提供服务开展活动。空间的隐功能，则是变“陌生人”为“半熟人”，使空间成为社区议事和公共治理的平台，使基层民主真正运转起来。公共空间里可讨论垃圾分类、文明养宠、加装电梯等具体的生活政治议题，对社会治理有益无害。

Third, spatial planning should raise the level of fine-grained management. The 15-minute community life circle [15]15 The “15-minute community life circle” (15分钟社区生活圈) is an urban planning concept that aims to provide residents with access to daily necessities—such as shopping, medical care, recreation, and public services—within a 15-minute walk from home. should as far as possible integrate various kinds of public space construction plans; the focus should be neither on the overly small neighborhood committee level nor on the overly large subdistrict level, but on the intermediate neighborhood level. In spatial layout, the existing situation of commercial facilities, government services, and public amenities should be fully considered. In spatial modes, public spaces can make up for insufficient commercial services, engage in differentiated competition with commercial services, integrate with commercial spaces, or cooperate with government-service reception. In site selection, scientific, detailed, and comprehensive analysis of the adjacent residents’ demographic, economic, and social composition should be conducted—just like commercial site selection. In spatial design, emphasis should be placed on professional all-space design and social whole-process participation. In terms of starting points, the three forces of administration, professionalism, and society should be integrated.

再次，空间规划要提高精细水平。15分钟社区生活圈应尽可能多地统筹各种公共空间建设规划，着眼点不宜是过小的居委，也不宜是过大的街道，而应是中间层次的街区。在空间布局上，要充分考虑既有商业、政务、公共设施的状况。在空间模式上，可对商业不足予以弥补，可与商业服务错位竞争，可与商业空间相互融合，也可与政务受理展开合作。在空间选址上，要像商业选址一样，对周边居民的人口、经济与社会构成作科学细致全面的分析。在空间设计上，要强调专业化的全空间设计、社会化的全流程参与。在起点上，要将行政、专业、社会三支力量相融合。

Finally, spatial operations should disseminate successful experience. For instance, integrated operation: as far as possible, all the spaces of a neighborhood or even an entire subdistrict should be operated together, to solve the problems of institutional barriers and spatial isolation. Integration also brings scale; only with scale can there be break-even and diminishing marginal costs, and thus economic benefits. Another example is professional operation: spaces should be entrusted to third-sector organizations or social enterprises for operation; they have a set of professional knowledge, processes, and methods that can effectively solve the problems of limited activity types and failure to attract many people. Another example is socialized operation: integrated and professional operation should not be confined within subdistrict or district boundaries and performed only by localized social organizations; on the contrary, it should break down subdistrict and district boundaries and promote the socialized operation of spaces. Attention should also be paid to "Internet + operation": when scale becomes large, the number of people increases, activities become dense, the area expands, and spaces become lively, problems of management, coordination, and allocation inevitably arise. Online applications must be promoted for "Internet + operation," achieving seamless integration between online and offline.

最后，空间运营须推广成功经验。比如整体化运营。尽量对一个街区乃至一个街道的所有空间一起运营，以解决体制壁垒分割、空间不相往来的问题。整体化还可带来规模化，有了规模才会有盈亏平衡和边际成本递减，才能有经济效益。又如专业化运营。要将空间委托给第三方的社会组织或社会企业来运营，他们有一套专业化的知识、流程、方法，可有效解决活动类型有限、吸引人群不多的问题。再如社会化运营。整体化、专业化运营不能局限于街道、区域内部，由属地化的社会组织来做，相反要打破街道、区域的边界，促进空间的社会化运营。还要注意“互联网+运营”。规模大了、人群多了、活动密了、区域广了、空间活了，必然带来管理、协调、分配等问题，必须推广线上应用，进行“互联网+运营”，实现线上线下的无缝衔接。

(The author is Director and Research Fellow of the Institute of Sociology, Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences)

（作者系上海社会科学院社会学研究所所长、研究员）

Online editor: Huihui

网络编辑：慧慧