Storyline: Shanghai has spent many years in upgrading cramped interiors to build clean and modern bathrooms with flush toilets, drastically improving the lives of alleyway residents. For decades, many residents in Shanghai’s old town neighborhoods relied on chamber pots instead of flush toilets. To tackle the issue, the city mobilized teams from municipal to neighborhood level, going door to door, hearing residents’ needs, and tracking progress month by month. With targeted, household-level upgrades, Shanghai recently completed the transformation. One resident in Shanghai's Yangpu District said that she has lived more than 60 years in her home, where all three of her children were born. "When it rained or the wind was strong, our whole family of five had to rely on a single little spittoon-like pot. We had no choice — we constantly had to carry out the chamber pot. Once, my daughter even slipped and fell in the public restroom. It was really tough back then," she said. "We’re overjoyed — truly overjoyed. And it’s not just us seniors; even the young people love it. Now that everything we need is right here at home, life just feels complete," said another resident from Jing'an District. The initiative to do away with chamber pots faced numerous challenges over the years, in part due to the diversity in home design. Yet, municipal, district and neighborhood authorities have worked together to achieve tailored, site-specific solutions. "For homes that can be incorporated into broader redevelopment plans, we resolve the issue through old-town renewal. If nearby substandard units need to be made fully equipped, we carry out demolition and reconstruction. And for households that don’t fall under either category, we install toilets directly inside the home to complete the transformation," Chen Ying, director, Urban Renewal and Development Center in Yangpu District. Homes in these aging alleys were retrofitted with proper bathrooms, complete with flush toilets and new drainage systems. "We also expanded services — adding shower rooms as part of the overall upgrade to improve living conditions. They installed grab bars in toilets and bathrooms for elderly residents, helped households set up the water heaters and bathing equipment they purchased, and even provided free electrical checks and small repairs to ensure residents were well served," said Chen Yi, deputy director, Dinghai Rd Subdistrict Office in Shanghai. The city began concentrating on old neighborhood renewal. In 2022, its effectively ended large-area reliance on chamber pots. A citywide survey in 2023 then identified over 14,000 remaining households without sanitary facilities, prompting a two-year upgrade plan. By this September, the city had completed its entire "chamber-pot to bathroom" transformation. Over more than three decades, the project has come to embody Shanghai’s model of urban governance. Shotlist: Shanghai, China - Recent: 1. Various of Shanghai's old town during urban renewal, workers 2. Various of residential area, residents, chamber pot 3. SOUNDBITE (Chinese, dubbed in English) resident in Yangpu District (name not given) (partially overlaid with shots 4-6/ending with shot 7): "When it rained or the wind was strong, our whole family of five had to rely on a single little spittoon-like pot. We had no choice — we constantly had to carry out the chamber pot. Once, my daughter even slipped and fell in the public restroom. It was really tough back then." [SHOTS OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE] 4. Residents 5. Various of interior of room 6. Resident cleaning floor [SHOTS OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE] 7. Cityscape 8. SOUNDBITE (Chinese, dubbed in English) resident in Jing'an District (name not given)(starting with shot 7/ending with shot 9): "We’re overjoyed — truly overjoyed. And it’s not just us seniors; even the young people love it. Now that everything we need is right here at home, life just feels complete." 9. Various of resident washing vegetables 10. Various of women's restroom 11. Various of bathroom after renovation in residential building 12. SOUNDBITE (Chinese, dubbed in English) Chen Ying, director, Urban renewal and development center in Yangpu District (starting with shot 11/partially overlaid with shot 13): "For homes that can be incorporated into broader redevelopment plans, we resolve the issue through old-town renewal. If nearby substandard units need to be made fully equipped, we carry out demolition and reconstruction. And for households that don’t fall under either category, we install toilets directly inside the home to complete the transformation." [SHOT OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE] 13. Various of reconstruction scheme [SHOT OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE] 14. Various of bathroom after renovation 15. SOUNDBITE (Chinese, dubbed in English) Chen Yi, deputy director, Dinghai Rd Subdistrict Office in Shanghai (starting with shot 14/ending with shot 16): "We also expanded services — adding shower rooms as part of the overall upgrade to improve living conditions. They installed grab bars in toilets and bathrooms for elderly residents, helped households set up the water heaters and bathing equipment they purchased, and even provided free electrical checks and small repairs to ensure residents were well served." 16. Various of residential buildings, residents 17. Various of public washroom 18. Cityscape [Restrictions: No access Chinese mainland]