Street-side power distribution boxes are surrounded by flower belts and turned into photo spots; bus stops are covered with vines and transformed into green canopies; and the "gray spaces" in urban corners become micro gardens full of blooming flowers. These ecological landscapes now commonly seen on Beijing's streets have a unified national construction guide. The reporter learned yesterday from the Beijing Municipal Forestry and Parks Bureau that two national standards, the Guidelines for System Planning and Design of Urban Public Facilities and Urban Furniture and the Guidelines for Maintenance and Management of Urban Public Facilities and Urban Furniture, have officially been implemented. The concept of "garden-style urban furniture" creatively proposed by Beijing, together with its practical experience, has been fully incorporated, marking a leap from "capital exploration" to "national standards" and setting a new benchmark for ecological construction of urban public facilities nationwide.

Urban furniture covers public service facilities such as trash bins and bus stops. It is not only a carrier of urban functions, but also an important part of a city's appearance. In building a garden city, Beijing has innovatively proposed the concept of "garden-style urban furniture," deeply integrating urban furniture with ecological greening and allowing cold public facilities to "grow" greenery. In July 2025, Beijing issued special implementation opinions and construction guidelines, specifying that construction should be based on local climate characteristics, give priority to planting in real soil, use mainly climbing and woody plants supplemented by herbaceous plants, and apply refined techniques such as climbing upward, hanging downward, embedding in facades, enclosing around facilities, and guiding from the sides, so that greenery grows around public facilities. Where real-soil conditions are unavailable, flower boxes and planters are used as supplements, balancing ecological durability with landscape artistry.

The vitality of a concept lies in practice. In 2025, Beijing held the national design and construction competition for "Golden Corners and Silver Edges" urban micro gardens and built 100 micro gardens in the core area, bringing "garden-style urban furniture" from concept into reality. In Desheng Subdistrict, the "82-Meter Smile Garden" artistically screens street-side power distribution boxes with flower belts and pairs them with nectar plants to attract insects, turning idle space into a green healing place loved by residents. A total of 120 "urban galleries," including Qianxing Road in the city sub-center, Huashi Street in Dongcheng, and Wulituo East Street in Shijingshan, have turned commuting routes into scenic corridors. Thirty garden-style demonstration blocks, including Liyuan in the city sub-center, as well as award-winning projects such as the Chaoyang Greenway and Haidian Jing-Zhang Railway Site Park, have also brought international recognition to the capital's garden city construction. These vivid practices have verified the feasibility of the concept and accumulated valuable experience recognized by the public.

Beijing's pioneering exploration has been highly recognized at the national level. During preparation of the two national standards, the Beijing Municipal Forestry and Parks Bureau and the Beijing Institute of Landscape and Traditional Architectural Design were invited to participate in drafting, transforming practice-tested concepts and methods such as "gray-green integration" and "collaborative design" into technical criteria applicable nationwide. The national standard documents clearly require that urban furniture planning and design should "coordinate surrounding greening landscapes and reasonably integrate with green plants," making Beijing's experience a shared guideline for promoting urban ecological improvement across the country.

"From top-level design to practical verification, and from local experience to national standards, Beijing has created a garden city construction path led by innovation," said Fu Li, deputy head of the Forest Chief System and Garden City Work Office of the Beijing Municipal Forestry and Parks Bureau. Beijing is accelerating the formulation of local standards to further refine construction specifications for "garden-style urban furniture." In the future, more wisdom from the capital will continue to be shared, allowing the beautiful scene of "the city in the garden and the garden integrated into the city" to bloom in more cities across China.

Source: Beijing City Sub-center News