Distinctive shop signs are neat and uniform, the clean and level road surface is unobstructed, and USTC cultural and creative elements dot the streets and alleys... Walking into the USTC Back Street located in the Taihu Road area, this 500-meter street adjacent to the three major campuses of the University of Science and Technology of China has now shed its former messy and congested appearance. The lively atmosphere of daily life and the scholarly ambiance blend together, presenting a brand-new image of cleanliness, order, and livability for both residents and businesses, becoming a vivid model of refined urban governance.

USTC Back Street Once Faced Governance Challenges

The USTC Back Street is an important supporting block for the urban renewal of USTC Silicon Valley. Due to its rich dining and lively atmosphere, it is affectionately called the "off-campus cafeteria" by surrounding teachers, students, and residents. This street carries the daily lives of nearby residents and the after-school vitality of USTC teachers and students. However, due to concentrated merchants and dense foot traffic, it has long faced governance difficulties such as cluttered shop signs, unauthorized roadside business operations, disorderly vehicle parking, and dirty and messy environments. In the past, property management inside residential compounds and departmental supervision outside on the street had overlapping boundaries of authority and gaps in governance connection, causing some problems to repeatedly rebound and responsibilities to be passed back and forth, becoming a long-standing tough issue in grassroots street management. To break the governance deadlock and activate street vitality, the Daoxiangcun Subdistrict joined forces with the Shushan District Science and Innovation Group to carry out comprehensive quality improvement and renovation of the USTC Back Street. Through a series of upgrading measures including facade renovation, unified shop sign standardization, wall landscape upgrades, and the incorporation of USTC campus cultural elements, while retaining the friendly and lively dining business format, the street achieved a distinctive positioning of "marketplace vitality plus campus cultural creativity," completing the transformation and upgrading of the old street from a hardware perspective. In conjunction with the block's renovation, the subdistrict also actively innovated its governance model, relying on the city's first "Neighborhood Partner" co-governance system to break down the governance barriers between residential compounds inside the walls and streets outside the walls, achieving two-way linkage and full-area co-governance, bringing new vitality to the old street.

"Neighborhood Partner" Co-Governance Ends Working Alone

In the early morning, inspection work on the USTC Back Street starts on time: along the street, staff from the subdistrict's refined management center and law enforcement team members are stationed at fixed points and conduct dynamic patrols, persuading and promptly rectifying issues such as businesses operating beyond their storefronts, mobile stalls, and unauthorized roadside stacking; meanwhile, in the surrounding 17 residential compounds, property management staff and grid workers simultaneously carry out safety inspections, focusing on livelihood and safety hazards such as hallway clutter, unauthorized electric vehicle charging via dangling wires, and blocked fire passages, comprehensively strengthening the governance defense line. "The biggest problem with governance in the past was that 'each managed only their own section without connecting to others.' Clutter and disorderly parked electric bicycles inside the compounds were managed by property management, while unauthorized roadside business operations and traffic congestion on the street were managed by law enforcement departments. Information on both sides was not shared, authority and responsibility were fragmented, and many problems had no one to handle them or were not handled thoroughly," said Zhou Zhiguo, deputy director of the Daoxiangcun Subdistrict Office. To fill governance gaps, the subdistrict delineated a clear governance map and established a differentiated closed-loop management and control model, achieving two-way efforts and seamless connection both inside and outside the walls. Inside the walls, refined management and protection are deepened to build a solid foundation for livability. The subdistrict property management center regularly carries out special inspections of residential compounds, closely focusing on residents' living experience and safety bottom lines, strictly rectifying various safety hazards and environmental sanitation issues, and efficiently responding to residents' property management demands. Outside the walls, comprehensive good governance is strengthened to regulate street order. The subdistrict implements a "road section chief responsibility system," with duty hours from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily, coordinating with public security, traffic management, market regulation, and other departments to carry out special campaigns. Adhering to flexible persuasion and warm services while maintaining rigid control to hold the bottom line, it precisely eliminates long-standing governance problems such as unauthorized roadside business operations, traffic congestion, and environmental clutter, making the entire street clean, tidy, and smooth for passage.

Resident and Merchant Satisfaction Continues to Rise

"Neighbors are one family, and governance knows no boundaries." The "Neighborhood Partner" co-governance system exclusively for the USTC Back Street, innovatively launched by the Daoxiangcun Subdistrict, breaks the traditional management mindset of each fulfilling their own duties and fighting alone. It brings property management personnel, grid workers, law enforcement team members, street-facing merchants, and residents in the jurisdiction all into the "neighborhood partner" team, building a linkage mechanism of joint consultation when issues arise, joint problem-solving, shared responsibility, and two-way communication. Today's governance model has achieved two-way complementarity and full-area linkage. When grid workers discover problems such as accumulated garbage or stalls spilling over onto the street during compound inspections, they immediately take photos, report, and coordinate handling; when law enforcement team members on street duty discover fire safety hazards or clutter stacking in residential compounds, they promptly feed the information back to property management and urge rectification, thoroughly eliminating management blind spots and ending the governance drawback of "each managing only their own section without connecting to others," with resident and merchant satisfaction continuing to rise. The USTC Back Street implements the "road section chief responsibility system." The clean and orderly environment and standardized and stable order have greatly benefited residents and merchants along the street. "The biggest fear in running a small business is disorderly competition and environmental chaos. In the past, there were many roadside stalls and the road conditions were messy," said Ms. Zhao, who runs a shop on the USTC Back Street. She noted that since the implementation of the "Neighborhood Partner" co-governance system, all merchants along the street have signed the "three responsibilities in front of the door" responsibility agreement, and everyone has joined together to protect the business environment. The street's business format is standardized, the environment is clean and tidy, and customer traffic has steadily increased. The USTC Back Street now has smooth roads and orderly vehicle traffic. Today, the USTC Back Street is gradually unfolding a new street image that is livable, business-friendly, and tourism-friendly. Next, the subdistrict will continue to optimize the "Neighborhood Partner" co-governance system, deepen the diversified linkage co-governance model, and create a premium demonstration street that is attractive, orderly, and vibrant.