Shanghai launches 34 projects to improve residents' livelihood

Shanghai has initiated 34 public welfare projects for this year, covering a wide range of areas such as senior care, child-friendly society, job promotion, and public service.

Senior care

• In 2025, Shanghai plans to provide in-home care for 4,000 elderly citizens, add 3,000 new elderly care beds and 800 beds for severely disabled people, and renovate 3,000 beds for nursing old people with cognitive disorders. Currently, the city has a total of 176,000 elderly-care beds.
• It will create 30 new community canteens for seniors and set up 30 more elderly-care homes in rural areas, to make the total over 400 and 100, respectively.
• In addition, 30 new bus routes will be designed to serve and support the elderly, increasing accessibility and convenience for senior populations. More than 140 such routes are in service.

Child-friendly initiatives

• Shanghai plans to have air conditioning in every suitable primary and secondary school classroom.
• It will install child-friendly facilities in 25 parks this year.
• It will organize 550 camps during summer vacation and 200 in winter vacation for primary school students this year. Since 2014, the city has organized more than 4,400 such camps with about 100,000 volunteers, reaching out to about 420,000 students.

• It will add 3,000 seats in public kindergartens for toddlers and improve the quality of 260 "Baby Houses," facilities under a citywide pilot project that offer day-care services for children below 3 years old in neighborhoods, commercial and business complexes. Last year, the city created 5,155 kindergarten seats for toddlers and 9,034 seats at community nurseries.

Live and work

• Shanghai intends to add about 30,000 beds in affordable housing intended for people supporting city development and management, including deliverymen.
• The city will help 80,000 households in villages to beautify their courtyards.
• It will also build or upgrade 1,000 break rooms for front-line workers.
• 500 community employment service stations will be built as part of the "15-minute employment service circles."
• The city intends to train 50,000 more highly skilled workers, including technicians.

Convenience

• Shanghai plans to upgrade the operations of 100 waterfront service stations along Suzhou Creek and the Huangpu River.
• It plans to install 2,200 luggage lockers in Metro stations this year. According to Shanghai Shentong Metro Group, the city had 1,760 luggage lockers spread across 61 locations in 32 Metro stations as of September last year.
• It will also upgrade and renovate 80 standardized food markets.

Health care

• This year, Shanghai intends to build 40 community outpatient surgery rooms, 40 community nursing centers, 10 community rehabilitation centers and 50 community or village clinics featuring traditional Chinese medical services. There are already 92 community nursing centers and 143 community rehabilitation centers, providing services such as health management, wound care, stoma care, and a variety of rehabilitation treatments.
• In addition, the city plans to install 7,500 more automatic external defibrillators (AEDs) in residential neighborhoods and public spaces, as well as train 80,000 certified emergency responders.

Fitness and Wellness

• There will be more room for exercise and greenery services, with 30 new community fitness centers set to open this year.
• Shanghai will build or renovate 130 public sports pitches, 50 public fitness trails, 500 public recreational fitness places, and 50 fitness facilities at communities or workplaces this year.
• It also plans to develop or upgrade 60 pocket parks, or mini recreational parks, as well as providing 24-hour access to 20 additional urban parks. It opened 141 new parks last year, bringing the total to 973. Of these, 849 parks are open 24 hours a day, accounting for 87.3 percent.

Barrier-free service

• It will support barrier-free renovations for 5,000 families with severely challenged members.
• 400 new-energy buses with lower floors will be added to the fleet, and 100 more bus terminals will be refurbished to make transit easier for elders and those with disabilities.
• Another 1,000 public toilets will be renovated to make them more accessible to the elderly and children.

Lifelong learning

• This year, Shanghai will build another 200 spaces for family reading experiences and other parent-child activities.
• 500 new night schools will offer 1,000 courses.

Urban renewal

• The city will also complete the restoration of 150 kilometers of old water-supply pipelines.
• It will install smart water meters in 30,000 households with elderly citizens or those with special needs.
• It will create 65 community-based micro fire stations.
• It will upgrade 200km of rural roads.

Care for minors

• To prevent juvenile delinquency, the city will create 352 teams in communities with members from the police, judicial offices and law firms.
• 300 families with children living in poverty or without custody will have their homes renovated.