Park ‘Emotional Infrastructure’: A Cup of Coffee Pulls Out 300 Million RMB?

In front of the small wooden house in Zhongshan Park's "One Foot Garden", the barista taught latte art hand in hand. Pulling is the final process. Ms. Huang, a student, carefully raised the latte art vat, with the spout about 8 centimeters away from the coffee cup. My hands trembled a bit, but I still managed to control the flow of the milk foam: the patterned "little heart" had a delicate ending. Taking photos and retouching, she posted on her social media account: 'In the beautiful park, I'm making beautiful coffee by hand.'. She savored her own "handmade" and said to the barista, "It tastes particularly delicious

This is one of the scenes designed by "One Foot Garden" for the Changning branch of the Shanghai International Flower Festival. During the May Day holiday, two small concerts were also held. There were more than ten events throughout May, including dough sculpture intangible cultural heritage experience, floral arrangement, etc. Zhang Mengting, a partner at Shanghai Yichi Jian Cultural Communication Co., Ltd., told reporters that this is the first time the company has provided pop-up scenes in a park, exploring how to shift the park from "providing a scenic area for viewing" to "creating an immersive entry scene".

Scene consumption – This is also a step for Zhongshan Park to explore the park economy. In addition to the one foot garden, the park also introduced markets, internationally renowned IP flash mobs, and more. Wang Jing, Vice President of Changning Landscape and Greening Construction Co., Ltd., listed a set of data: During the May Day holiday (as of 5:00 pm today), the offline consumption of Zhongshan Park commercial district, the core area of Changning branch venue owners, was 301 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 13.74%; The daily average passenger flow reached 228400, an increase of 18.31% compared to the same period last year. Among them, the consumption generated by the market and activities in the public area of Zhongshan Park is about 2.5993 million yuan. The average daily passenger flow of Zhongshan Park, Linkong Huiju and Happy wutong Business District increased by 18.31%, 16.86% and 10.27% year on year respectively, and the average sales growth exceeded 10%. The Dragon Dream City Life Center, adjacent to the park, saw an average increase of 25% in passenger flow during the May Day holiday.

Explore, the park is not stingy with space. Take the "one foot garden" as an example, the park provides over 400 square meters of space on the "C-position" lawn – whether entering the park from Gate 1 or Gate 2, it is a resting place at the right distance. The main body of the pop-up location is a five or six square meter temporary coffee selling wooden house, as well as several canopies and seats. There is no shortage of coffee shops in the park that provide coffee, but there is a shortage of coffee shops that can play tricks and assemble scenes, "said Wang Jing, Vice President of Changning Landscape Construction Co., Ltd. Moreover, the commercial activities in the park should be" well intentioned ", activating the space with services and content, and improving the quality and vitality of public spaces. ”

Handmade works, concerts, intangible cultural heritage experiences, floral arrangements, and other elements may seem unrelated, but they are not simply a combination. Zhang Mengting explained that this is in line with the characteristics of the park – using slow coffee to attract people, using music to gather people, and using intangible cultural heritage and floral arrangements to deepen the experience, effectively balancing public value and commercial value. Ms. Huang told reporters that it took two hours just to experience coffee latte art. She often comes to Zhongshan Park, and this is the longest time she has stayed. She also has lunch at the restaurant in the park.

During the facial sculpture flower experience activity, a parent told reporters, "Children come not just to admire or photograph flowers, but to personally shape a flower that will not wither. This is an emotional value that goes far beyond visual satisfaction

However, after the lively festival and exhibition, can the park economy be sustainable? Wang Jing revealed to reporters that she is currently in communication with the business entities participating in this exploration to discuss the possibility of normalization. "Park markets are not uncommon, but Zhongshan Park wants to create a branded themed market. The park itself is located in a commercial district and has unique advantages. During the '55 Shopping Festival', she wants to collaborate with characteristic business entities in surrounding commercial districts and further explore vertical tracks

Regarding the question of whether it is "sustainable", Wang Yefei, Deputy Director of the Greening and Urban Appearance Bureau of Changning District, put forward the following viewpoint: parks are upgrading from "ecological green lungs" to indispensable "emotional oases". It not only provides oxygen and the beauty of nature, but also promotes social coffee, handcrafts that carry cultural memories, and music that soothes emotions. These types of park scenes are essentially building the emotional foundation of the city, which is crucial for enhancing citizens' sense of happiness and belonging.

Original title: "Park 'Emotional Infrastructure': A Cup of Coffee Pulls Out 300 Million RMB?"

Column Editor in Chief: Zhu Yue

Text editor: Zhan Yue

Author of this article: Wen Hui Bao Su Zhan