Four steps to a more beautiful urban environment

A trip to China can at best provide ample inspiration for ways to improve your living environment. During my trip to Beijing and Xi'an I found that the Chinese really have a knack for enhancing the urban setting by simple and low-cost means. The beautification process starts in the construction phase of new apartment blocks, which are often built around inviting landscaped parks featuring traditional Chinese architecture and garden elements. In addition to building these attractive gardens, playgrounds and other common outside recreational areas, a lot of small features also help make city life a little bit less gray.

When I was in China, I observed some of the many ingenious ways in which Chinese developers and proprietors try to make living in tightly built concrete edifices more appealing. Here are four easy steps to adding a touch of nature's charm to any drab, monochrome urban environment:

First of all, water. What would be more pleasant than a leisurely stroll around a pond on a sunny afternoon and pausing in the shade of the surrounding weeping willows. Add to it a small bridge across the waterway and you can just watch the magic happen, I mean, who wouldn't want a vista of a small Chinese garden from the window, albeit from the 21st floor. And of course a pond isn't the only way to go, nowadays all do-it-yourself landscape artists have the convenience of picking their favorites from a huge selection of garden waterfalls and fountains in an endless variety of materials and designs. Prevailing circumstances of course affect, and sometimes hinder, the proper maintenance of outdoor water features. In Beijing, for example, the water in urban garden ponds is often quite dirty, due to the local water shortage, which restricts its use.

Plastic flowers add a nice touch of color to the urban environment. (Image: Radio86)Second, plants. Even if the soil around the building site is so arid it couldn't support weed, there is a simple solution to creating the illusion of lush vegetation -- plastic. Whilst plastic trees might be a tad too much, adding a few silk flowers here and there will have prospective home buyers thinking that life here could be rosy. The yard that I visited had very beautiful and real looking pink flowers which absolutely shouted to come nearer stuck to the bottom of the pond. And even when you did, you still couldn't tell that they were fake. Having just a moment ago sighed at the beauty of this lonesome "water lily," I couldn't help feeling a little bit disappointed when I was told that it in fact had nothing in common with its authentic namesake...

Not all rock is what it seems. (Image: Radio86)Thirdly, fake rock always does the trick. A park with an impressive landscape rock structure is always a sure eye-pleaser and, in China at least, will probably attract a lot of curious passersby who want to see if it actually is the real thing or not... I for one went to a park in northern Beijing, thinking that the rock formation at its edge was real. I guess it depends on what you're used to seeing in parks, but I was quite surprised when I realized that the entire thing was fake after noticing a spot where the surface had been punctured revealing the interior structure consisting of some iron rods and most likely fiberglass on top...

And fourthly, always remember modern amenities. Remembering that we are in city, the proprietors of the Beijing apartment complex had not overlooked the fact that urban dwellers unavoidably produce garbage, and lots of it. For this reason, it is crucial to place trashcans at regular intervals along the path through the artificial garden, otherwise the whole thing might just This trashcan blends well into its surroundings. (Image: Radio86)get buried under mounts of gum wrappers. But this is where it gets interesting: not just any garbage can will do, it has to be one that smoothly integrates into the surrounding environment without breaking the illusion that you really are in a place of tranquility -- far away from the traffic and pollution of a major metropolis. This principle was closely followed both in the center of Beijing and on the ancient city wall of Xi'an in Shaanxi province. In the first place, the garbage containers were camouflaged to look like tree trunks, which perfectly blended into the park-like environment. In Xi'an, the trashcans on the old city wall were made in the style of 17th century China, with their faux cast iron surface texture and suitably medieval motifs.

As with all things artificial, cleaning and replacing them from time to time will help to maintain a fresh and immaculate look. A silk flower with a few missing petals and a tree trunk trashcan covered in dried-up smoothie are a sure giveaway. So, although creating the illusion of a garden environment may demand a little time and effort, it is definitely nothing compared to the work that goes with planting and caring for the real thing.