Shenzhen's first lakeside ecological greenway for marathon running, the Niuhushui Greenway in Longhua District, has formally opened to the public free of charge.

The greenway, located at Guanlan Cultural Town, spans 9.9 kilometers. It begins from Changkeng and Shimajing reservoirs in the south, across Golf Avenue, and ends at Niuhu decentralized treatment facility. It is also the first lakeside track designed according to national micro marathon runway standards that links a lake and a reservoir.

An aerial photo of the lakeside ecological greenway for marathon running in Longhua. Photo from Wenhua Longhua

The runway's overall spatial structure is named “One Corridor, Three Sections and Three Cores,” which is composed of one water corridor, three major urban themed sections, and three themed characteristic cores. It activates the waterfront space's vitality with four slow traffic corridors while linking the entire region.

There are abundant cultural resources on both sides of the lake that connect the Mei Leun Museum, New Who Art Village, Guanlan Print Village, Chen Yanqiao Exhibition Hall, China Printmaking Museum, Mission Hills Ecological Sports Park, Mission Hills New Town, and other cultural and tourism spots.

The construction of the greenway follows the “sponge city” concept throughout the design and building process. It comprehensively adopts sponge facilities such as permeable paving, ecological grass ditches, sunken green spaces, rainwater gardens, vegetation buffer zones, and ecological wetlands, creating an ecological corridor with landscape scenery.

The planting design in the river area makes full use of narrow green strips to plant tall shade trees, and creates a complete shade system by partially planting characteristic flowering or colorful leaf plants to enrich the plant species along the line. Surrounded by mountains and rivers, the winding roads are suitable for leisurely walks and jogging. 

Metro: Line 4 to Guanlan Lake Station (观澜湖站), Exit D

Transport: Drive to the southwest parking lot of Guanlan Lake Golf Practice Range (main entrance station of lake way)