Parking is a major challenge in Nanchang’s older residential neighborhoods, but there are model solutions to address it.

Who is responsible for managing parking within residential compounds—where vehicles are parked haphazardly and the environment is often dirty and disorderly—and even how parking fees are collected and by whom? These long-standing challenges plaguing Nanchang’s older neighborhoods have now found a model solution. “In our community, residents have the final say on where cars are parked and how parking fees are collected and spent.” In Jiangong Community, Xihu District, Nanchang—a neighborhood with a history spanning more than 60 years—the Residents’ Self‑Governance Committee organized a community-wide vote to address the challenge of inadequate parking, establishing clear rules for charging fees for both on‑site and off‑site vehicle parking. Since implementing paid parking on vacant lots within the compound last November, the committee has generated over 48,000 yuan in revenue, all of which has been allocated to upgrading and renovating the community.

Vehicle parking within the premises is orderly.

He Youheng provides a detailed breakdown of the fees for journalists.

Parking barrier gates and fee details for Jianguang Community

“Prime‑location” neighborhoods implement paid parking.

As everyone in Nanchang knows, Beijing West Road in Xihu District, located in the heart of the city, was once home to the provincial government and other government offices. The street is lined with shops one after another, and every inch of land is worth its weight in gold. Finding a place to park here is truly no easy feat.

And on Beijing West Road Within the courtyard of JianGong Community, No. 218, both visitor vehicles and registered cars belonging to residents, government offices, and enterprises can enter and exit freely and park securely—provided they have paid the parking fee.

“Here, how cars are parked, how parking fees are collected and by whom, and how the collected funds are used—everything is decided by all residents!” He Youheng, a 71-year-old resident, is both a longtime “native” of Jianguang Community and a member of its Residents’ Self‑Governance Committee. Having lived here for more than 50 years, Mr. He has served on the committee for over two years, watching as the committee steadily empowered community residents to take charge. Now, thanks to the introduction of parking fees, the community has finally amassed a substantial sum to finance future renovations of aging infrastructure, a development that fills him with pride.

“Charging for parking in our community not only provides residents with a clean, well-organized parking environment, but also offers convenient parking for visitors and those coming to run errands, while generating funds to repair potholes and upgrade the sewage‑system overflow—truly killing three birds with one stone!” said He Youheng. At the outset of implementing on‑site parking fees, the decision was made by a vote of “majority rules,” yet several households initially opposed it vehemently. Now, eight months later, as He Youheng puts it, “If only we’d done something this good sooner!”

Community Origins “Paralyzed” Residents Jointly Discuss Solutions

To recount the process by which Jianguang Community implemented paid parking spaces, we must first provide some background on this typical old‑style residential neighborhood in Nanchang. It is located on Beijing West Road in Xihu District. The Jiangong Community, located at No. 218–246, was originally known as the Provincial Construction Corporation Compound and the Construction Engineering Group Compound, and was first built in the 1950s. Today, Jiangong Community is home to more than 3,150 permanent residents and hosts a variety of enterprises and institutions, including a hospital, a hotel, and a research institute, as well as one primary school and one kindergarten.

Since In June 2010, the former family committee of the Provincial Construction Engineering Group was restructured and established as the Jiangong Community. Following the group’s withdrawal, this community—boasting more than six decades of history—fell into a state of paralysis: with the property management company and administrative office having departed, issues ranging from public health and security to parking remained unaddressed and underfunded, leading to a steady deterioration of the community’s environment.

Zhu Hongjin, director of the Judicial Office of Dinggong Road Subdistrict in Xihu District, stated that, In 2016, Jianguang Community established a temporary residents’ management committee, with committee members selected by the subdistrict office, community organizations, and all residents, who were eager to improve the community’s current situation.

In April 2017, following the injection of 140,000 yuan in upgrade and renovation funds by the Dinggong Road Subdistrict Office, Jianguang Community officially established a Residents’ Self‑Governance Committee on the basis of its temporary management committee. With the committee’s approval, the community installed two sets of surveillance equipment and 26 cameras… However, the entire 140,000-yuan renovation budget was exhausted, leaving other improvements related to the community’s sanitation and environment pending.

Accordingly, the Jian Gong Community Residents’ Self-Governance Committee solicited opinions from all residents: first, what are the most pressing issues the community currently needs to address; and second, where will the funding come from?

“Difficulty finding parking,” “potholes on the roads,” and “sewage‑tank overflows” are the three major challenges raised by residents. Following collaborative discussions, it was decided to tackle the issue of parking scarcity as the key entry point for the community’s overall improvement and renovation.

brewing Parking fees will be implemented on campus starting in five months.

“The community is home to more than 1,200 households. To gather public input on parking fees, the self-governance committee distributed “Opinion‑Seeking Forms” to every household, asking each to sign and vote on how parking fees should be set and who should collect them.” As the community’s parking‑fee management represents the first resident‑led self‑governance initiative within the jurisdiction of Dinggong Road Subdistrict in Xihu District, Hu Liu, director of the Jiangong Community Residents’ Committee, participated throughout the process and helped organize a community‑wide vote to address the challenge of inadequate parking.

On June 22, 2018, the JianGong Community Self-Governance Committee collected 904 copies of the “Opinion Solicitation Form.” According to the tally, 899 households supported on‑site paid parking, while 5 opposed it. The vast majority of residents endorsed on‑site paid parking and resolved that the Residents’ Self‑Governance Committee would establish a fee‑collection system based on the principle of “differentiated pricing for inside and outside areas.”

“The so‑called ‘distinction between insiders and outsiders’ means that vehicles belonging to residents of the compound and those of their immediate family members are charged at a single rate, while visitor vehicles are billed separately. All parking revenue is managed and spent entirely by the residents themselves, with no involvement from the subdistrict office or the residents’ committee,” said He Youheng. He added that the implementation of on‑site parking fees took five months, from soliciting public input in June 2018 to formal adoption in November of the same year. The lengthy process of setting the fee structure was due to the fact that nearly every household submitted comments and suggestions, which the nine members of the residents’ self‑governance committee had to carefully consider and address one by one through individual outreach.

The allocation of income must be made public. Entirely used for community redevelopment.

The parking fee structure at the Jian Gong Community’s on‑site parking lot—“self‑managed, self‑funded”—is notably affordable compared with neighboring government offices and street‑side spaces: monthly parking for residents is 60 yuan; direct relatives of residents enjoy one hour of free parking, after which charges are 3 yuan per hour; visiting vehicles get half an hour free, with rates increasing by 3 yuan per hour thereafter, capped at 30 yuan. Hu Liu explained that from the outset, a strict rule was established: monthly revenue and its allocation must be publicly disclosed, and all funds are to be earmarked exclusively for community improvement and renovation projects.

To ensure orderly and safe parking, the residents’ self-governance committee has hired… Seven security guards have been hired, and toll‑gate barriers have been installed for paid parking. According to the reporter, since the introduction of paid parking, the Jiangong Community has seen a marked improvement in its parking environment. From November 2018 to June this year, after deducting expenses such as security salaries and maintenance costs, the community’s on‑site parking fee revenue totaled RMB 48,957.30.

On July 6, the JianGong Community bulletin board posted the “Detailed Statement of Revenue and Expenditure for On‑Street Parking Fees Managed by the Self‑Governance Committee” for June of this year. According to the statement—compiled and published by residents themselves—the community collected a total of RMB 27,235 in parking fees during June, including RMB 6,765 from vehicles registered outside the community. After deducting security wages and essential expenses of the self‑governance committee, and following expenditures on clearing the community’s septic tank and repairing streetlights, a surplus of over RMB 3,649 remained. As stipulated, this remaining sum will be held by the self‑governance committee and accumulated monthly for “major future use.”

“This money will go toward repainting all the parking spaces within the compound. We’ll set aside whatever’s left and aim to pave every street—big and small—throughout the entire community, while also repairing all the sewers and septic tanks!” He Youheng told the reporter that he’d return to Jiangu Community in six months to take a look; by then, the neighborhood would have taken on a whole new look.