Construction of a city center on hold, Sunnyvale, CA

Recent global phenomena and by-product of the economic recession:: The unfinished project.

Around the world, the construction of new buildings has halted, and these edifices, or “monuments to failed investment” remain erect in various forms of completion/annihilation.  Many are just the foundations, or cleared and surveyed landscapes, that have become the voids of well-established urban fabrics.  Others are the secured and inaccessible construction sites, severed and obstructing desolate parts of a city.  New York (and Boston?) are keeping running tabs on these arrested developments.  See Curbed NY for the city’s latest count.

In the US, the unfinished project is often a building or two.  And while Las Vegas probably has the largest conglomeration of these domestic paused developments right now, what happens in Asia…where the building of cities occurs at speeds comparable to single building construction here?

Existing Ordos south of the river, New orthogonal superblocks of Ordos City North of the river

Main arterial view, Ordos City

AlJazeera documented Ordos City, China in this November video segment.  It is an entire new city that stands built, yet empty.  A ghost town pre-inhabitation.  This is a pattern, though, that isn’t too unlike the empty spaces of Dubai and Shanghai.  Dubai’s Burj Khalifa opened this past week with loads of available office and hotel space and people wondering if it will ever be fully occupied.  I visited other places entertaining similar ‘on hold’ scenarios: New Songdo City, South Korea and Astana, Kazakhstan.  A view down an arterial road in Ordos makes me think of identical views across central Asia and reveals that city building today hasn’t changed much over the last 50 years.

Astana, Kazakhstan

Does this mean that cities around the world are rethinking their once audacious building agendas as large-scale projects have been consequentially delayed, halted, or cancelled?  This pause in city building presents an opportunity for a deliberate and thorough investigation of the built realities of the past decade’s experimental construction era.  It also begs for a realistic and sensitive vision on how to proceed once the gears of progress begin to turn again.

Chance encounters w/the elevated landscapes of Guangzhou, near Zhu Jiang New Town

Spent the past week exploring events/meeting urban enthusiasts in and around the Pearl River Delta (PRD).  Roughly ten years ago, Koolhaas (and the GSD) recognized this region of China to be the generator of the “city of exacerbated difference” (Project on the City).  He referred to city building as an opportunity to engage in urban design at many different levels and through a variety of different cultures.  A decade later, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong have continued city building at a rate and scale that deserves further investigation.  In a sense, they have been completely transformed, re-imagined, and re-appropriated by a new population.  Within the last ten years, Hong Kong’s northern territories are infilled with new towns, Guangzhou is constructing a new city axis and public attractor weighted heavily with what LA architecture critic, Frances Anderton, raises as “architectural excess” and Shenzhen has a burgeoning new art’s district (the Overseas Chinese Territory, or OCT) inhabited by (basically) returning expats.  The delta region, due to its unique location geographically, economically, and politically, is the leading model for new cities in China.  I set out to the Shenzhen/Hong Kong biennale, themed “City Mobilization,” to find out if the fruits of this labor are applicable to a wider venue abroad.

Landscape urbanism mediates sporting venue and housing in the OCT, Shenzhen

At the opening day activities, Shenzhen/Hong Kong Architecture and Urbanism Biennale, Shenzhen’s Civic Square, main venue

Biennale theme: City Mobilization

Tessellated  urbanism, subdivide surface realized.  Saw works in-progress in the PRD, including Zaha Hadid’s Guangzhou Opera House (pictured), SOM/Smith+Gill’s Pearl River Tower, and OMA’s Stock Exchange in Shenzhen.  See flickr for more.

On the Pearl River

image from NPR, 2006

Pacific rim hopping, Los Angeles to Beijing. This time, I find myself needing personal transportation in both places. My agenda for China is to see more of the new towns I learned about on the first jaunt through east Asia. A diagram exposing urban expansion around China’s largest coastal agglomerations helps to direct my journey.

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Courtesy of National Geographic and the Data Center of Chinese Academy of Sciences

Part of Beijing’s latest plan for expansion (to accommodate 5.7 million people) includes the planning and development of 11 new towns, or satellite cities, at its periphery. I looked to the research being done by Crimson and MovingCites at the annex industrial towns of Mentougou and Pingguoyuan located towards the mountainous terrain to Beijing’s west.

BEIJING, Jun 18, 2009 (SinoCast Daily Business Beat via COMTEX) — 11 new towns in Beijing, capital of China, have reserved more than 200 projects, with a total investment of over CNY 400 billion, revealed Liang Yi, head of the programming unit of the city development and reform bureau.

Pursuant to the plan, Shunyi new town, Tongzhou new town, and Yizhuang new town are regarded as three key new towns among the 11.

The dense smog/fog, compounded by an incoming winter front, forces a temporary highway closure into the mountains. My knowledgeable guide, JinLing, recommends we head east. Destination: Tongzhou and Yanjiao.

The approach road into Yanjiao is lined with billboards showcasing luxury residential accommodations and the logos of a handful of the region’s most prominent developers. Soon, this route will be lined with towers as far as the vista disappears into the smog. It’s easy to imagine. And in fact, becomes a reality a few kilometers down-road. Our journey lasts all day. We stop by the sales center (spec home) of the “Oriental Hawaii” and price a few units. This development includes mixed-use towers and a subdivision of single-family housing in a style mocking the cookie-cutter models of American suburbs. These units cost only a fraction of what units in the center of Beijing cost…..naturally. We tour the model house mock-up on site and choose the style of interior that most suites our taste. “This one is for the modern couple,” says JinLing as I point out the mirror on the ceiling of the Master Bedroom Suite.

I ask myself how self-sufficient these new developments will be. City planners have outlined transportation services to all 11 new towns, but some developments seem more car-reliant than others. It is interesting to see residents creating their own public and commercial spaces where there is either a lack of planned space or where the built fabric and its relationship to the street – one place where the Chinese are used to doing business – is designed at an inappropriately large scale. How will these ground-up (very culturally Chinese) initiatives manifest in the subdivision a few blocks away?

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Another type of new city springs up at the edge of the in-progress new city: the worker’s low-rise concrete city. Fueled here by an inordanant amount of outdoor pool-halls. This is the entrance road into the model home, by the way. Surprisingly, the workers’ quarters are not hidden here like they are in most places (ie. Dubai). I can see the rows of bunkbeds through the small windows from the dusty street.

Seen in the Sept. issue of Time Magazine, Circus Art Cafe, Roma

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It’s the same architecture story in Italy.  Architecture firms are keeping afloat if they have ongoing work in China.  I met Antonio Gioli, partner of gbpa architects (Milan) who admits the firm’s success is based on the opportunity to work in Tianjin and Beijing – a connection his firm secured only two-three years ago.

Italian-based Joseph di Pasquale and AM Progetti Milan are planning a new eco-city in Tianjin.  The model is on display in Milan’s Urban Center (architecture center):

“Densification as an ecological process: ….#3 Halting the consumption of new territory, controlling and allowing higher density in certain areas solely after ‘liberation’ of other urbanized areas with low density and poor quality, and reconversion of them to form part of the urban, territorial, agricultural fabric.”

Some connections (Italy-China) are cliched at best:

Tianjin’s Italian Village courtesy of fei.chen75′s photostream

Yet others seem to engage local conditions in a totally new way.

I’m excited to return to China during the final leg of travels.  The ‘big ticket this season’ is the Bi-city Shenzhen/Hong Kong Biennale.  City Mobilization is the theme for this year’s architecture and urbanism expo which kicks off December 4, 2009.  I’m interested in comparing this exhibit to the one I attended in Rotterdam.  It seems that the curator teams from both sides of the world have been collaborating.  The biggest difference, I think, will be that larger and more established firms will be participating in Asia.  Will their proposals match the size of their reputation or will the theme of the conference dictate more modest design solutions?  The schedule is still unfolding, as is mine…..although, I will be a magnet to these expo sites.

Shanghai was not at all what I had imagined.  I was expecting the big city chaos and speed of Hong Kong.  I got a city on tranquil hiatus.  Shanghai is gearing up for Expo 2010.  The city is mostly under construction and smog.  This will be Shanghai’s Beijing Olympics, an opportunity to modernize (more than it already has) and clean up.  A night out on the town was maybe been a telling summary of my whole visit.  I was trying to experience the infamous Shanghai nightlife (Time Out calls Shanghai the “whore of the east” for it) yet I felt like I could have been at any club on San Francisco’s Embarcadero.  (The drinks cost about the same price too.)  I saw a lot of upscale, modern, very western establishments (the products of globalization?) throughout the city.  I also saw more Chinese village-in-the-city typologies here, various pockets of traditional houses among the newer skyscrapers, which was an interesting contrast to the city’s gentrifying neighborhoods.  The Bund, Shanghai’s reminder of British settlement, is another point of departure; however, on this trip, the entire strip is undergoing renovation.  The boarded up promenade and blocked-off building entrances obstruct most views of the distant Pudong skyline as well as the immediate and impending colonial architecture.  As I walked past the deep recesses along the rusticated bases of these monolithic stone structures, a cool and damp air poured out onto the sidewalk.  It didn’t come without the dust and debris of the retrofit within.

Because Shanghai is focusing on the future, there are various exhibits, models, renderings and souvenir shops for this coming expo.  Haibao, the expo’s friendly blue mascot is plastered all over the city.  Interesting fact: among all the foreign pavilions being built for the expo (currently 21) the USA will not have a structure among them.  According to Director of SOM Shanghai Silas Chiow, US corporations have been hesitant to invest (this is how the expo is financially backed) because the call for collaboration came at the realization of recession back home.  He gives a dismissive shrug when I ask if SOM is designing anything for the Expo.  “The Chinese people want Chinese designers,” he admits.

This was unheard of about 5 years ago.  Large corporate architecture firms were being sought out at all costs by the east.  China hired firms like SOM for the name (and reputation).  SOM would be responsible for schematic, and often design development, phases of a project, while the final construction documents, administration, and build out were handed over to the local Chinese firms.  There were milestone projects sometime around 2003-2006 in which SOM, and others, were able to see projects through to their completion.  This was a huge step forward quality control wise for these firms who found that while China built faster than anyone else, the construction often lacked the precision and standards of craftsmanship known in the west.  I am honored to have had the opportunity to catch up with Chiow and the situation in China.  He is an inspiring architect who has lived and worked in Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, the US and has started roughly 3 architectural offices in the span of his career.

I am fortunate for students and professors from Tongji University who taught me about the intricacies of all the new towns and cities springing up around Shanghai.  Although, at best, these are themed suburbs, they point to another way that China is aiming for a “better city, better life” (the tagline for Expo 2010).

One more thing.  To be fair, Shanghai wasn’t completely tranquil at all times.  I was one member in a herd of thousands of others being pushed through the underground throughfares of People’s Station during rush hour.  It is the central point through which all the city’s modes of transit pass/transfer….as well as this sea of commuters.  It makes me wonder about the implications of a way station….and thesis.

BTW, thesis kids, I’m thinking about you.

Just got to Shanghai where the high-speed internet is plentiful!  Latest photos from Shenzhen and Hong Kong posted.

And, due to popular demand, check out the Shenzhen metro system.
Aaron, when were you in Shenzhen and why?

Back in the peaceful and sprawling green swathe of Shenzhen.  I was lucky enough to find a translator and enthusiastic guide, Mr. Jeffrey Li, for a final day of poking around in the city’s villages.  According to the researchers at Urbanus, there are roughly 40 ‘Villages in the City.’  I had heard a number closer to 200.  The city is in a state of flux; it is constantly growing.  Some villages are being demolished to make way for more office high-rise towers.  I saw the demolition debris during my first trip down Shennan Road and wondered if this building type and the life within would soon be erased from history.

Xiaodu Liu says this isn’t a Chinese phenomenon.  He cites similar examples from Bangladesh and somewhere in eastern Europe.  He recommends some hot spots for village exploration as well as his firm’s book, Village/City City/Village.

The trip got ethnographic really fast.  Li and I arrived at the site, and we could have been in Emeryville.  California on the outside and China just beyond the crust.  This village in the city was wearing a mask, but through the cracks and crevices, we saw those handshake-sized alleyways, the shops of everyday things, and the people that call this neighborhood home.  We walked the streets and ate at a local restaurant.  The villages are a great case study in the necessities of daily life.  Essentially, basic needs are all you find.

We went up into one of the typical six-story village towers.  (Seven floors requires an elevator, so that constraint has generated the form of these buildings.)  We met a family (Man and Woman A) living in one bedroom of a two bedroom apartment.  They were beyond hospitable – invited us in, offered us a drink and a chat with english-speaking brother/friend, Vincent (Cheng Zhi).

Reminiscent of the density of Beijing’s Hutongs, these village towers offered more space, and seemingly, were more livable.  I was carrying some Hutong postcards in my bag, so I took the opportunity to ask the family if they would rather live in the lower style villages or the tower.  They like the space that the tower provides.  I asked about their opinion of the city too.  They like the transportation in Shenzhen.  Really, though, Man and Woman A are like so many others here, working to send money back to their families living in inland China.  They are here for survival rather than by choice.  Their ‘one child per family’ (Child A) is actually back ‘home’ as well.

The winding space of the streets below is really fascinating.  Walked around some more, photographed, and wondered how my thesis might be able to accommodate degrees of public architecture like this.

The post title:  I was at the markets today.  If you didn’t know, China is renowned for its ability to copy brand name merchandise.  Since most of the factories where the actual products are manufactured are nearby, it is not surprising that their fakes are very good.  Clothing, watches, bags, electronics, books – you name it – China copies it.  Some would argue that, just as the architecture is often a ripped-off version of a Western building, China isn’t really producing anything new, just recreations and simulations of other things.  Anyway…I saw a knock-off Banana Republic blouse….the brand’s impeccable font replaced with the words, “Banana Empire.”  Nice.  It’s true, some things can’t be replicated.

Noodles for lunch: $0.88
Tiffany earrings: $2.20
Switching flights because I showed up at the airport on the wrong day (I’ve done this twice now): $0.00  (It wasn’t free last time.)
Power to the people: priceless

A day in the life of a new city explorer.  I usually set off with a map on which I’ve outlined a few research-based destinations, a compass, water, comfortable shoes, a camera (or two), a sketchbook, and my ipod.  By the time I reach the metro, I’ve charted out a course for the day.  There’s always room for flexibility and chance.  There’s always time for thinking and getting lost.  And, when I don’t have a guide to show me around…. getting lost is part of the agenda.

In contrast to existing cities, new cities are typically more organized, peaceful, safe, and clean.  Systems of transportation, infrastructure, and development have been designed to work in concert from the beginning.  There are simply less people populating the public ways.  There is a certain minimalism about it all.  Some years ago I saw a Mies exhibit in Chicago in which the Art Institute was displaying some original drawings and reconstructed models of Crown Hall and the IBM building.  The exhibit finale was an erie animation of the IIT campus.  We stood in the dark watching slow-moving people float around Miesian free space while ghostly notes reverberated from different corners of the room.  Weird, right?  But kind of cool.  I am reminded of that otherworldly sensation when I walk around these new spaces.  Especially when I have something like the Cinematic Orchestra flooding my noise canceling headphones.  In India, this type of isolation wasn’t possible.  Welcome to China.

I floated off the metro into the central hub of Hong Kong’s Sha Tin.

Sha Tin: Sha Tin has grown from a rural township of about 30 000 people in the early 1970s to a major community of about 624 500 people today. Sha Tin New Town (including Ma On Shan) has a total development area of about 3 591 hectares for a planned population of 735 000. The new town is built on land mainly reclaimed from the Tolo Harbour.
Published by the Information Services Department,
Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government
Feb 2009

I was curious to see what made this place tick.  I walked around a massive upscale shopping mall adjacent to the train station.  Typical.  Almost really disappointed, until I discovered the hierarchy of shopping and living that radiated from this central mall (that they actually call “New Town Plaza”).  The further I walked, the more local Chinese establishments I ran into.  I had homemade Hong Kong Honey Tea in one glass cubicle.  Entire blocks are layers of streets, elevated walkways (so cars and pedestrians are separated), and towers of housing above.  This made for some really interesting sections.  I think this type of layering is worth studying.  I documented activity with time lapse photography and I plan on drawing up some sections to show these slices of the city and the activity that takes place within.

But China isn’t totally immune to ‘the crisis’ (I hate that word.)  There is a new city called Dongguan, another Pearl River Delta city just outside of Shenzhen, that has arguably fell to its demise because of its dependence on foreign exports.  It is a sprouting city, completely based on manufacturing, and gets its labor force from small villages in inland China.  A Chinese man staying at the hostel here (who lives and works in New Zealand as a regional planner) told me that nearly 1,000 factories closed down right before the Chinese New Year because foreign investors could no longer afford to buy products.  He has heard that the city, now in jeopardy of becoming the newest ghost town, has turned into a crime infested no man’s land.  The unemployed are robbing, stealing, and maybe worse.  He advises me NOT to check it out.  It would be a lie to say that I am not extremely curious to go anyway.