Garden village, Nanma Town, Dongyang City, Zhejiang Province, upgraded the square between Jiulian Community and Mafu Community, adding fitness equipment and children’s amusement facilities, laying a plastic floor, and drawing a standard court. Together with the previous dance floor and elderly activity center, it formed a "pocket" fitness square that benefited the nearby people. Photo by Bao Kangxuan (People’s Vision)
In recent years, Sihong County, Suqian City, Jiangsu Province has strengthened the construction of venues and facilities around the masses, improved the fitness function, opened it to the public free of charge, and strived to create a "15-minute fitness circle". The picture shows that a few days ago, the children of the super roller skating training class in Sihong County practiced roller skating in the Weishui Wetland Park. Photo by Xu Changliang (People’s Vision)
With the improvement of people’s living standards, the national fitness enthusiasm is growing, and square dance, brisk walking and other sports are loved by more and more people. However, the noise disturbing people, venue disputes, traffic safety and other issues caused by this can not be ignored, which brings new challenges to urban governance.
How to meet the needs of public fitness while taking into account social order? As a city manager, on the one hand, the government should guide bodybuilders to abide by social order and establish a sense of rules; On the other hand, it is also necessary to increase the supply of public fitness space and focus on solving the problem of "where to exercise" for the masses.
Fitness should not affect others.
"It’s too painful to live in noise every day!" Liu Xiaoyun complained to reporters.
Throughout the year, it is not the alarm clock that wakes up Liu Xiaoyun, the office worker, but the square dance aunt who gets up early downstairs to exercise and the chorus uncle who practices singing loudly. Liu Xiaoyun told reporters that there are people dancing in the square dance and singing in his neighborhood every morning and evening. The sound is so loud that you can hear it clearly even if you close the window. What makes her headache even more is that her son in elementary school can’t do his homework with peace of mind every day, which is unbearable.
Why are public activities such as square dance so popular? Aunt Dong, who often dances square dance, told reporters: "Square dance is not difficult to learn. It can not only exercise, but also make friends. It is refreshing to come out and dance with everyone every day."
For this reason, more and more middle-aged and elderly people have joined the square dance team, but it has also brought problems such as noise and occupying the venue. Conflicts between square dance participants and surrounding residents have occurred frequently. The square dance was also confronted by throwing water bags and high-pitched guns upstairs, and even staged a fight, which not only brought harm to both sides, but also affected social harmony and stability.
Not only the square dance, but also the fitness activities such as running, whipping and playing top have been controversial. For example, the "runaway group" arbitrarily encroaches on motor vehicle lanes, ignores traffic lights, and affects traffic safety; Cyclists are crazy about "racing", shuttling back and forth on the sidewalk and accidentally hitting pedestrians; Whip-throwers dance like flies, making the surrounding fitness people jumpy … …
In this regard, Pang Jiulin, director of Beijing Chunlin Law Firm, said that road rampage and motor vehicle lane "racing" are not only uncivilized behaviors, but also suspected of breaking the law. According to Articles 31 and 61 of the Road Traffic Safety Law of the People’s Republic of China, no unit or individual may occupy roads for non-traffic activities without permission; Pedestrians should walk on sidewalks, and those without sidewalks should walk by the roadside. According to Article 57 of the Road Traffic Safety Law of the People’s Republic of China, driving non-motor vehicles on the road should comply with the relevant traffic safety regulations, and non-motor vehicles should drive in non-motor vehicle lanes; On the road without non-motor vehicle lanes, you should drive on the right side of the roadway.
"Exercise is understandable, and everyone should participate, but personal interests should not be based on the distress of others and interfere with the normal life of others." Yang Hongshan, a professor at the School of Public Administration of Renmin University of China, said.
Combining rigidity with softness to solve the problem of disturbing people
"It’s not that I haven’t complained, but it has been ineffective. When the managers came, they could only persuade the dancers to turn down the music, and when they left, the sound was loud again. " Liu Xiaoyun said helplessly.
Yang Hongshan believes that the uncivilized phenomenon of public fitness is frequent, and one of the important reasons is the lack of rules and regulations for uncivilized behavior. The existing norms are not clear enough. "Where and when to dance in square dance, what rules to follow, and the level of sound, even if it disturbs the people, who will coordinate and who will supervise, should have clear regulations."
In fact, in recent years, the governance of "disturbing people’s fitness" such as square dance has been strengthened. In 2017, the Notice on Guiding the Healthy Development of Square Dance Activities issued by the State Sports General Administration stipulated that the noise generated by square dance fitness activities should not affect the surrounding students’ classes and the normal life of residents. On August 17th this year, the Law on the Prevention and Control of Noise Pollution in People’s Republic of China (PRC) (Draft) was submitted to the 30th meeting of the 13th the National People’s Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) for deliberation, and the existing law was revised, and it was proposed to punish the noise disturbing people in public places.
Wang Yi, an expert from the Expert Committee of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, said that the relevant laws are not perfect at present, and he suggested that a law on the management of urban public spaces should be formulated to restrict the behavior of urban public spaces.
After the specification is clear, it needs to be implemented more forcefully. "The current law enforcement needs to be strengthened. If we can establish a more professional urban management team and increase the law enforcement of behaviors that affect the order of urban management, it will be of great help to reduce such behaviors." Wang Yi said.
"Civilized urban public space was not formed in a day. Punishment is not an end, and regulations alone cannot be done once and for all. " Yang Hongshan believes that publicity and education should be strengthened to guide people to establish a sense of civilization and improve their own quality.
"Legal education should start with dolls." Wang Yi believes that legal education should be strengthened from kindergarten and primary school, and the proportion and class hours of legal courses should be increased, so as to enhance the public morality of the whole people and form a self-discipline atmosphere in the whole society that does not cross the border and affect others.
In addition to hard law enforcement, there are also many places that try to use technical means to solve such problems skillfully.
Recently, the smart square dance system installed in Shanghai Minhang Gumei Population and Culture Park has been well received by nearby residents. The system uses directional sound technology to control the sound propagation range within the included angle of 30 in front of it. The sound in the directional area is clear, but the sound on the side and back decreases rapidly. The sound that is vaguely similar to the "buzzing" of mosquitoes is heard at the side 70 meters or the back 50 meters. In order to strictly control the upward transmission volume and avoid disturbing the residents of nearby high-rise residential buildings, the grape trellis where the system is located is equipped with a ceiling.
Since its installation one month ago, the street office has received almost zero complaints from residents about square dance. A resident living nearby said: "After the ceiling is installed, the sound of square dance can hardly be heard at home."
More and more cities such as Beijing, Nanning, Chengdu, etc. have sprung up "silent square dance": without high-decibel loudspeakers, the whole square is quiet, and the aunts and grandmothers wearing wireless FM headphones move neatly and dance.
Reasonable planning of urban space
In the view of Zhang Shangwu, a professor in college of architecture and urban planning, from the disturbance of square dance to the occupation of roads by "mobsters" and "bikers" all reflect the contradiction between the supply of public services and the demand for national fitness.
Li Jia, a cycling enthusiast, is often troubled by the difficulty in finding a venue suitable for cycling and fitness. "Bicycle lanes on many roads are very narrow. In many places, bicycle lanes and car auxiliary roads are mixed, and electric cars and pedestrians often appear on bicycle lanes, which is very unsafe." Li Jia told reporters.
According to the data released by the State Sports General Administration, by the end of 2020, there were 3,713,400 sports venues nationwide, covering an area of 3.099 billion square meters, with a per capita sports venue area of 2.20 square meters. This has improved compared with previous years, but it is still far below the level of neighboring countries such as Japan and South Korea, and there is a big gap in outdoor sports infrastructure.
"This is not unrelated to China’s past urban construction standards and construction concepts." Zhang Shangwu pointed out that in the past, urban planning and construction mainly focused on the traffic function of streets, but paid insufficient attention to the slow traffic and daily life functions and activities, and the residents’ daily fitness space was insufficient. In modern urban life, streets are increasingly endowed with multiple roles. An ideal street is not only an infrastructure for vehicles and pedestrians, but also an important space carrier for urban life and public activities. The new street space design should adapt to the new social needs.
In this regard, many experts interviewed by the reporter said that it is necessary to work hard in increments, increase the supply of fitness venues, open up some sections for sports enthusiasts, and designate special fitness venues.
From the Healthy China Action (2019— 2030), to Opinions on Strengthening the Construction of National Fitness Facilities and Developing Mass Sports, National Fitness Plan (2021— 2025) and other documents have been issued. In recent years, the state has continuously introduced relevant policy guidelines to promote the creation of a "15-minute fitness circle" and fully solve the problem of "where to exercise" for the masses.
Recently, the National Development and Reform Commission organized and implemented the short-board project of national fitness facilities, and arranged for the central budget to invest 2 billion yuan to support 177 public service facilities projects in sports parks, national fitness centers and public stadiums, including standard track and field runways and standard football venues, social football venues, fitness trails and outdoor sports.
Zhang Shangwu said that the redistribution of public activity space should be carefully calculated, and the rational use of public space should be guided and the potential of space resources should be tapped and integrated through urban planning and legal construction. "For example, we can integrate the internal space of some units with the urban space, and coordinate the playgrounds and small green spaces within some schools, enterprises and institutions to be open to the public for use in a specific period of time, so as to improve the efficiency of space utilization. Of course, this is inseparable from the improvement of the city’s refined governance capacity. " Zhang Shangwu said.
Revitalize Kugaji, marginal land and other resources, and plan to build multifunctional sports fields, sports parks, fitness trails and stadiums that are close to the community, accessible and open to the public … … Everywhere is already in action. Beijing will open bicycle lanes, build 36 kilometers of community hiking trails in 2020, and complete the comprehensive management of 378 kilometers of slow-moving systems; Chengdu issued the first "Guidelines for Setting Sports Space at Home" to promote the implantation of sports facilities in "Silver Corners in Phnom Penh" such as old factories, roof spaces and spaces under bridges, and 50 "Community Sports Corners" at home will be built this year; Jiangsu has accelerated the construction of sports parks, and has built more than 1,300 sports parks covering urban and rural areas, with a per capita public sports area of 3.15 square meters … …
I believe that with the joint efforts of all parties, people with different sports needs can have somewhere to go, and "where to exercise" will no longer be a difficult problem.
