Riverfront spot to be transformed into cultural and recreational area (2)

Residents move out

Meanwhile, the first 20 households moved from their old homes on Luxiangyuan Road in Huangpu District yesterday, marking the beginning of the renovation of Shanghai's biggest area of dilapidated houses.

Adjacent to Yuyuan Garden and the Bund, Luxiangyuan area features some of the oldest houses in Shanghai. Before the relocation project, the building density in the area was more than 80 percent and in some extreme cases, a family of four lived in a room of 3 square meters.

The neighborhood boasts 5,056 households and 4,053 of them have accepted a compensation plan and agreed to move, according to the district's renovation headquarters.

More than 9,400 new houses in the suburbs have been built to compensate the residents in the neighborhood, which helped speed up the process, according to Zheng Songying, a director of the office.

Although most of the old residences in the 120,000-square-meter neighborhood will be demolished for new buildings, 300,000 square meters of buildings, including temples and shikumen (stone-gate) houses, will be preserved, authorities said.

Odd Travel Sports Top 15 expat destinations 2012 Gun battle happens in Shanxi? Useful tips for new moms [Special] Autumn Complexion   in Beijing Stunning autumn scenery of Anhui Top 10 worst Chinese cities for commuters