Regeneration not renewal, conference told
Experts shared their insights on regenerating old and antiquated downtown areas while protecting them at a conference on urban regeneration on December 12.
The conference was held in Zhangyuan, or Zhang's Garden, hosted by The Paper, with support from the Shanghai Bureau of Planning and Natural Resources and Jing'an District People's Government.
Consisting of two parts, the 60,000-square-meter Zhangyuan, following extensive renovation, re-emerged recently as a trendy cultural, fashionable and commercial landmark.
Attending the conference were municipal and district officials and experts.
"Since urban regeneration was first mentioned in the Government Work Report two years ago, it has been elevated into part of the state strategy. The Paper, given its consistent attention to the promotion of sustainable urban development, hosted the first conference on urban regeneration in that year," said Ding Bo, Party secretary and chairman of The Paper.
Ding expressed the hope that the conference this year, themed on symbiosis, sharing, and shared endeavors, might generate expertise that would help drive high quality urban development.
Chang Qing, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and a professor from Tongji University, said the issue in question should be termed urban regeneration rather than renewal, for the process is more about adaptive renaissance than pulverizing the old, about coexistence of the old and new than the separation of the two, and about regional collaboration than a solo act.
Chang Qing, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, explains why the term should be urban "regeneration" rather than "renewal."
Hence the significance of hosting the conference in Zhangyuan's newly opened east wing.
"What is significant about the renovation of Zhangyuan is its strict adherence to the principle of paying attention to protection as a priority, with culture at the core, and people as the essence," said Zhang Yuxin, chief of Shanghai Bureau of Planning and Natural Resources.
Zhang said that among the many challenges confronting a megacity like Shanghai were conceptualizing the mode of design, as well as revitalizing existing building resources in view of crippling constraints on new land supply,
Zhang said the updated Zhangyuan represents the latest case of regeneration in the new era that builds on a spate of successful precedents that include such notable example as Xintiandi, though such regeneration proves to be much more challenging in the current economic situation. When the property market is red hot, any number of problems could be easily harmonized by soaring property prices.
Given today's economic circumstances, Zhang made a point of leaving such problems to professionals, so that designers, architects and appraisers could conspire to address relevant issues systematically.
Culture is also a salient aspect of urban regeneration, according to Shan Jixiang, chairman of China Cultural Relics Academy, and director of the Academic Committee of the Palace Museum.
Culture is a salient aspect of urban regeneration, according to Shan Jixiang, chairman of China Cultural Relics Academy, and director of the Academic Committee of the Palace Museum.
Shan said that as the era of hectic, large scale urban sprawl is gone, we could still hope to achieve something culturally in light of the high quality development, particularly in terms of human-nature harmony, and in the enrichment of the inner spiritual sphere.
In deliberating on new urban landscapes, Shan said antiquity should be respected, though that did not mean "back to the ancients." Rather, the urban landscape should be a collage or embedding of different historical periods, rather than dominated by a specific period.
"By modeling a street on a particular antique style, it means the disruption of the natural flow of history," Shan said, adding that the more diverse the cityscape, the better it is in providing for human emotional needs.
