Three beckoning Shanghai wetland parks - one on Expo's waterfront doorstep - demonstrate new green technologies and ideas for urban living.

Two are reclaimed industrial brownfields transformed into "green lungs" that purify air, water and the frazzled urban spirit. One is the restoration of an endangered wetland.

All three are stunning World Expo success stories representing the turnaround of destructive urbanization.

Houtan Park, a 14-hectare greenland in Zone C of the Expo Pudong site, is a brilliant exposition of urban reclamation along the Huangpu River.[Shanghai Daily]

All are easily accessible and have educational facilities.

They are award-winning Houtan Park right on the edge of the Expo site along the Huangpu River waterfront; Dongtan Wetland Park on Chongming Island, a natural wetland easily reached by highway bridge; and Paotaiwan Wetland Park in Baoshan District where the Huangpu and Yangtze rivers converge.

Houtan and Paotaiwan parks are reclaimed from polluted ship building and steel industry sites in a major environmental cleanup - just part of the city's efforts to go permanently green for the Expo and beyond.

Dongtan also generates electricity with bird-friendly slow-moving turbine blades.

Houtan Park

Houtan Park is a brilliant exposition of urban reclamation along the Huangpu River in the heart of the city. Birds soar and nest in the man-made, recreated wetlands and skyscrapers tower in the distance.

The 14-hectare park lies in the southwest part of Zone C in the Pudong New Area, stretching in a narrow band 2 kilometers along the Huangpu River. The polluted area was used as a steel factory, wharf and shipyard. A few buildings have been retained and incorporated into the educational design.

The award-winning ecological park was designed by Harvard-educated Professor Yu Kongjian from the urban planning department of Peking University. It opened in April after almost three years of work on the environmentally degraded site.

It can accommodate Expo visitors who wend their way through the tall high grasses. It also demonstrates green technologies and pollutant filtering systems. Every day its layers of soil, rock, sand and terraces produce 2,400 cubic meters of non-potable river water for use around the Expo site. Each day it saves US$500,000 in treatment of polluted water.

The scenic area features wild grasses, native plants, trees and crops, many of them blooming. There are green terraces, waterways, a 2-meter-high waterfall, winding paths and appealing views of the skyline.

The project statement says: "Houtan Park is a regenerative living landscape on Shanghai's Huangpu River riverfront. The constructed wetland, ecological flood control, reclaimed industrial structures and materials, and urban agriculture are integral components of an overall restorative design strategy to treat polluted river water and recover the degraded waterfront in an aesthetically pleasing way."

Aspects of Shanghai's industrial past remain. A shipyard wall has become a hanging garden of trailing plants. Nearby is a cafe and visitors can savor the scenery and enjoy performances.

A floating garden wharf replaces an old wharf and is covered with plants and flowers.