Symposium explores yesterday, today, and tomorrow of Suzhou Community Garden

01 Sep 2025

On 4 August 2025, the “Suzhou Community Garden ‘Yesterday-Today-Tomorrow’” symposium, jointly organised by the Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (XJTLU) Institute of Urban and Environmental Studies and the XJTLU Design School, was successfully held on the SIP campus.

This workshop focused on the future development of Suzhou community gardens, bringing together over fourty guests including academics, government officials, business representatives, and community practitioners to discuss the role and value of community gardens in urban renewal.

Participating organisations included Tongji University, Soochow University, Suzhou University of Science and Technology, Suzhou Agriculture Vocational and Technical School, Suzhou Municipal Bureau of Gardens and Greenery, Canglang Street, Gusu District, Suzhou, Xiadang Street, Suzhou Industrial Park, Linquan Community, Suzhou Stone Lake Scenic Area Management Office, XJTLU Affiliated School Nature Centre, Suzhou Industrial Park Social Organisation Federation, Suzhou Industrial Park Mufeng Environmental Service Centre, Suzhou Industrial Park Green Light Year Science Popularisation Service Centre, Suzhou Wujiang District Blue Sky Environmental Protection Volunteer Association, and Biolan Horticultural Technology (Suzhou) Co., Ltd.

In recent years, community gardens have become an important vehicle for green urban renewal, demonstrating significant effectiveness in promoting public participation, fostering ecological awareness, and improving the living environment. This workshop aimed to summarise local Suzhou experiences and learn from innovative models in Shanghai and other areas to explore long-term operational mechanisms and collaborative pathways for multiple stakeholders in Suzhou community gardens, thereby building a platform for learning and exchange.

Professor Marc Aurel Schnabel, Dean of the XJTLU Design?School, delivered a welcome address, highlighting the close relationship between community gardens and concepts such as sustainability, community vitality, and liveability. He also noted that the Design School views the intersection of various design disciplines and community gardens from a three-dimensional perspective.

Mr. Liu Wei, Section Chief of the Suzhou Municipal Bureau of Gardens and Greenery, introduced the background and progress of the “Suzhou Community Heart Garden” project. Launched in 2023, the project opened its call for submissions to the public for the first time this year, selecting over twenty community garden plots. The project’s operational model includes social solicitation, participation of volunteer designers, social fundraising, garden construction, and maintenance. When discussing the challenges encountered in the project’s implementation, he particularly emphasised the importance of “institutional innovation”. He pointed out that the construction of community gardens in Suzhou is still constrained by the existing policy framework, and how to explore flexible mechanisms without exceeding the bottom line is a key issue that needs to be considered in the future. He also mentioned the hope of introducing social capital and encouraging corporate participation in charitable donations to gradually form a diversified funding support system.

Sharing of Research Findings on Community Gardens

Research on Lushang No.2 Village Community Garden:

Lin Ji, a PhD candidate at XJTLU, shared research on the obstacles to the longevity of community gardens and the community capital of social participants, proposing solutions such as organising volunteer welfare days. Ji Lin not only analysed the practical problems faced by the garden maintenance team but also proposed a “Community Garden Operator Incentive Plan”, suggesting that the motivation and professional skills of volunteers could be enhanced through reward mechanisms and training courses.

The Impact of Community Gardens on Health and Wellbeing:

Dr. Siyu Chen from the Suzhou Garden Group shared research findings on the role of community gardens in promoting healthy behaviours among the elderly and children, such as increasing outdoor activities and improving interpersonal interaction. Through walk-along interviews and natural experiments, it was found that landscape improvements in community gardens can promote wellbeing and improve healthy behaviours among the elderly and children.

The Wujiang Experiment of Community Garden

Dr. Ying Chang, Associate Professor in the Department of Urban Planning and Design at XJTLU, introduced a compilation of research findings on Suzhou community gardens, covering theory, practical lessons, and testing frameworks to provide a reference for related practices and research. She also offered innovative suggestions for the development of Suzhou community gardens.

Sharing of Shanghai Experiences

Dr Liu Yuelai, Associate Professor at the School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tongji University, shared his team’s experience in participating in the construction of over three hundred community gardens in Shanghai and Xinjiang. Successful cases, such as achieving autonomous transformation through public participation, driving the connection of surrounding resources, and promoting the establishment of systems, provided valuable reference for the development of Suzhou community gardens. The presentation repeatedly mentioned that “community gardens are not just spaces, but also culture”.

Using the example of the “Six Ones” methodology in Xinjiang, he detailed how to systematically promote community garden construction through “one garden, one team, one system, one activity, one archive, and one brand”. He also particularly emphasised the role of “youth power”, calling on university students to actively participate in the design and place making of community gardens to empower urban renewal. Finally, Liu Yuelai shared a community garden project in a Shanghai nursing home, using horticultural therapy to increase social connections and improve social activity among the elderly.

The workshop included three rounds of roundtable discussions, delving into the mechanisms of the Suzhou Community Heart Garden project, attempting to solve practical problems and formulate preliminary action plans. Finally, all guests jointly launched the “Suzhou Community Garden Action Plan Cooperation Initiative”.

This workshop not only provided new ideas for the development of Suzhou community gardens but also built bridges for collaboration between universities, government, communities, and businesses. In the future, the XJTLU Design School will continue to focus on the sustainable development of community gardens and promote more practical applications and research.

Finally, the attendees visited the XJTLU community garden and took commemorative photos. Dr. Ying Chang, Associate Professor in the Department of Urban Planning and Design, introduced the garden’s functions and the mobile community garden project currently being collaborated on with Tongji University, as well as community garden promotion innovations.

Story provided by Ying Cheng

Edited by Yi Qian

01 Sep 2025

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