14 urban parks belonging to four periods including before 1995 （periodⅠ）， 1995-2004 （periodⅡ）， 2005-2017 （periodⅢ）， and after 2018 （periodⅣ） were used to study the changing characteristics of interspecific relationships of woody plants in urban parks in Shanghai City during different periods of construction. 1 434 plant community plots of 10 m×10 m were investigated. The variance ratio method （R_V）， chi-square （χ2） test and Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient test were used to analyze interspecific associations for 29 arbor species and 27 shrub species with an important value （IV）≥ 5. The results showed that the overall associations between arbors and shrubs in each period had a significantly positive correlation （R_V>1，P<0.05）， and gradually increased with the extension of construction time， with the R_V increasing from 1.43 in periodⅠto 1.98 in periodⅣ. The interspecific relationships in the layer of arbors had significant differences， with insignificant negative associations being the main feature in the early period （periodⅠ），manifested as differences in habits of species. A significant positive correlation was formed in the later period （periodⅣ）， manifested by similar demands of ecological niche. The layer of shrubs maintained strong positive association throughout all periods， with the R_V reaching 1.98 in periodⅣ and the proportion of positively correlated pairs of species in the Spearman’s rank test accounting for 23.81%. The proportion of positively correlated pairs of species between the arbor and shrub layers increased from 5.06% in periodⅠto 5.98% in periodⅣ， while the proportion of negatively correlated pairs decreased， with a continuous enhancement of overall interspecific association. Thus， it is recommended that priority should be given to replacing arbor species with negative associations for renovation of parks in the early period. Newly constructed parks should be equipped with positive correlation combinations in the layer of arbor and the layer of shrub should be strengthened with clustered configuration of suitable native species to improve the stability of plant communities.