Shanghai Builds for the Future
Shanghai Urban Development: The Future Is Now
So Shanghai is re-inventing itself anew, this time as the center of an
urban megalopolis.
But as its lanehouses are leveled to make way for a forest of
skyscrapers, is it in danger of losing its Chineseness?
No, says architect Ma Qingyun, because Shanghai's soul is in its
openness to change, its tolerance and its absolute pragmatism.
"That's true Chineseness," Ma says. "Everything is in constant mutation,
nothing is set as a fixity. We don't follow any spatial models. We don't
care about the look of the building, so much so everybody still lives in
Shanghai in ugly buildings. We care about how convenient life is."
Shanghai literally means "on the sea": It's the city that looks outward
to the rest of the world, to the future. But what will Shanghai of the
future look like in 20 years' time? With change so rapid and
overarching, even architects working here designing that future can't
answer that question. Ma worries about endless urban sprawl swallowing
up the countryside.
"I have hope," he says, "but what I'm so afraid of is my vision" of the
future.
cont'd....
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