A glorious bird's-eye view of Hohhot. [Photo/Hohhot Convergence Media]

In recent years, Hohhot – capital of North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region – has made significant strides in developing its eco-friendly and garden-style urban spaces, bringing vitality to every corner of the city.

To date, it has upgraded and optimized 684 boutique green spaces, including pocket parks and street-corner microgreens, bringing the total number of parks to 1,009.

"When our residential complex was newly built, the surroundings were just bare yellow earth with no trees," said Mr Zhou, a resident of Gemdale Jiangshan Fenghua community in the city.

"Thanks to the efforts of the landscaping department over the years, tall, upright street trees now line the roads and the vacant lots around us have been transformed into pocket parks. We finally have spaces for leisure and exercise," he added.

The green space ratio in Hohhot's built-up areas increased from 40.34 percent in 2022 to 41.05 percent in 2024, while its green coverage rose from 43.21 percent to 43.92 percent in the same period. Moreover, the total green area in the city’s built-up zones reached 11,127 hectares – an increase of 127.84 hectares over two years.

Hohhot has also expanded its greenway network to 679.12 kilometers, including 16 standalone loop trails each over 5 km long. The city has developed five exemplary loop routes, ranking first in Inner Mongolia for total length, visual quality and management.

In the process of urban greening, Hohhot is placing a great emphasis on institutional development and standardized management. The city has fully implemented a tiered maintenance system for green spaces – and over the past three years, it has introduced 17 local industry standards.

These standards cover the entire lifecycle of green space management – from planning and design to construction, maintenance and plant cultivation – forming a comprehensive and systematic framework.

This solid institutional foundation aims to ensure the sustainable development of urban greening, allowing every patch of greenery to be carefully nurtured and maintained.