The DECK by VIASCAPE Design – Community Garden & Pocket Park in Shanghai

Located within the historic Youyou Community, one of Shanghai’s earliest self-built residential settlements, The DECK represents a transformative approach to urban public space design. Established in the early 1990s on expropriated farmland, the community originally lacked centralized spaces for social interaction. Narrow, mixed-use streets, congested parking, and a fragmented greenbelt contributed to a confined and introverted spatial experience.

Before renewal, the DECK site was a disordered greenbelt with tangled vegetation and zigzagging paths, offering almost no active public areas. Its spatial complexity and lack of openness hindered community engagement, highlighting the need for a revitalized green public space that fosters social connectivity.

Design Concept

From the outset, VIASCAPE Design rejected traditional multi-level park structures and conventional scenic motifs. Instead, the design embraces simplicity, direct spatial expression, and maximum openness. The focal point of the project is a 90-meter-long, 15-meter-wide elevated Deck, which acts as both a physical and symbolic gesture of shared community space.

The Deck respects the site's existing trees and carefully integrates surrounding urban elements—residences, roads, and the nearby river—into a cohesive spatial narrative. Its elevated design provides residents with an enhanced green public space, fostering social interaction, play, recreation, and visual connectivity.

Integration with Langshuibang Creek

The eastern boundary of the site borders Langshuibang Creek, a key urban public landscape previously inaccessible to Youyou Community residents due to high riverbanks and enclosed vegetation. By elevating the Deck 1.5 meters, residents can now enjoy unobstructed views along the river, towards new landmarks like the Pudong Library, and across the skyline to the "Three Iconic Towers of Lujiazui." This design fosters a sense of urban connectivity, allowing the community to engage with Shanghai’s larger cityscape.

Spatial Strategy

The DECK’s spatial design emphasizes linear continuity, functional diversity, and playful interaction:

1. Central Green Courtyard: A rectangular green space in the Deck’s middle mitigates noise and enhances a sense of enclosure while maintaining openness.
2. West Entrance Relaxation Zone: Integrated benches and preserved cedar trees create casual resting spaces, blending garden atmosphere with street front.
3. Elevated Deck Features: A seamless ramp (0 to +1.5m) and stepped activity zones encourage playful engagement. The highest platform incorporates trees to define subspaces for small-scale social interactions. Stepped seating transitions the Deck toward the riverside, promoting leisure and visual connectivity.
4. A seamless ramp (0 to +1.5m) and stepped activity zones encourage playful engagement.
5. The highest platform incorporates trees to define subspaces for small-scale social interactions.
6. Stepped seating transitions the Deck toward the riverside, promoting leisure and visual connectivity.

This approach allows spontaneous activities like children’s self-initiated play, adult exercise, and intergenerational recreation—fostering social interaction in a compact yet versatile urban green space.

Community & Urban Impact

Functionally, The DECK operates as a pocket park within a high-density urban context. Beyond providing recreational opportunities, it embodies a vision of landscape equality, offering the Youyou Community access to urban public spaces traditionally dominated by nearby high-end housing.

Following approval in 2021, VIASCAPE initiated a “15-Minute Walk Circle”, connecting the Deck to transportation, cultural facilities, and adjacent public landscapes through an accessible 1.8 km loop. The intervention integrates:

• Waterfront walkways
• Bike parking
• Recreational and commuter paths
• Kindergarten waiting areas
• Small-scale leisure spaces

This “from point to line, from line to loop” strategy demonstrates a replicable model for bottom-up urban renewal in dense Chinese cities, reinforcing community-driven landscape planning.

Future renewal of Youyou Park, adjacent to the Deck, is recommended to align with the Deck’s design principles and the 15-Minute Walk Circle framework, ensuring a holistic approach to public space programming and environmental quality.

All Photographs are works of  CreatAR Images