Co-existing City
A thesis submitted to the
Graduate school of the University of Cincinnati in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of
Master of Architecture
in the School of Architecture and Interior Design of the College of Design, Architecture, Art, Planning by
Chi Zhang B.A. Zhejiang University of Technology, 2013
Advisors: Greinacher, Udo Tang, Ming Wang, Xinhao Abstract
Since the urbanization of China exploded after 1990, old city areas encountered many problems. They were unable to accommodate so many rural migrants, and traffic congestion and dwelling problems pushed a
city’s boundary out at an incredible speed. However, people need more time and space to think about the quality of their life, and this new speed of urbanization caused new problems within cities. Take Shanghai as an example, the new area of Shanghai is not walkable because of super blocks, the division between different zones made residential areas dead at night due to limited activities and closed blocks made green spaces pointless.
This thesis seeks to examine the current mega-plot system in Shanghai’s planned new area and the old city area through a study of the historical, economic, social and living conditions that have created it, and compare Shanghai with New York, Rome and Cairo in regards to their proportion of function, road density, footprint, and zoning, and try to generate a set of form based design guidelines to improve existing conditions.
2 3
Table of Contents
Abstract
List of Illustration
1. The Facts
2. History
3. Archetype
4. Precedents & Analysis
5. Site Analysis
6. Practice
7. Conclusion
Resources
6 7 10. Chapter 2, Figure 5, 6, 7, 8, http://qn.cutt.com/160225093729920.640.441. 0.2423?viewImage2/2/w/500
11. The Patterns of the Urban Fabric of Beijing’s Hutong, Armel- le Caron, https://mir-s3-cdn-cf.behance.net/project_modules/disp/ c4059b1024470.5600c42284f3d.jpg
12. Chapter 3, Figure 1, http://www.zeigua.com/images/PreHeavenBaGua+- text.gif
13. Chapter 3, Figure 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, Zhu Wenyi, Space. Symbol. City - A Theory List of Illustration of Urban Design. Shuxin Press, 1995
1. Ghost City of China, https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&es- 14. Paris – Quartier Massena, http://www.christiandeportzamparc.com/ rc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjHjKCgx- wp-content/uploads/2014/06/CONTENU10-199511_MASSENA_170310_ NzQAhXFNSYKHUaXCfAQjRwIBw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww. plan-masse-1080x810.jpg youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DvZdBeczDLpA&psig=AFQjCNGeQEb4o- qyZLDaE0KsSC88LGzTvKw&ust=1481009434369215 15. Chapter 4, Figure 4, Allan B. Jacobs, Greet Streets. The MIT Press, 1995
2. Chapter 1, Figure 1, http://pic.bbanp.com/img/20259830006017 16, Chapter 4, Figure 5, Pan Di, Key Transport Statistics of World Cities
3. Chapter 1, Figure 2, http://cyjctrip.qiniudn.com/45186/1370671715546p- 17. Chapter 4, Figure 8, http://www.bohemiantrails.com/wp-content/up- 17sh6bk9dndr18701riv5beplj.jpg loads/2013/05/stone-street.png
4. Chapter 1, Figure 3, http://pic.to8to.com/case/1506/15/20150615_ fe84839723f09e20dd588vxljn6s6zu7.jpg
5. Chapter 1, Figure 4, http://www.sydcch.com/upimg/al- limg/090616/0Z22WK3-0.jpg
6. Chapter 1, Figure 5, Preservation Green Lab, Older, Smaller, Better - Mea- suring how the character of buildings and blocks influences urban vitality
7. Old town area of Shanghai, https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/ef/ d4/36/efd4368ed5468ce7c552094033cb2271.jpg
8. City with great vitality at Song Dynasty, http://www.iartdao.com/up- load/20151109/20151109075208_135.jpg
9. Chapter 2, Figure 1, 2,3,4, 9, http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_406290f- 50102wuo9.html
8 9 1. The Facts
Ghost city of China
10 11 1.1 The confliction between city and block. 1.2 The detailed issues caused by the conflict ion
As China has been developing at an astounding speed for two decades, a new 1.2.1 obstructing the veins of the city direction of city development appeared, but blocks, as cells of a city, have lost their way. Nowadays, the main issues for blocks in China are ‘‘mega-plot” and The veins of the city consist of the road network, the landscape system and
“imperforation.” the river system. These networks and systems are either too sparse, or not smoothly connected. Currently, pedestrian lanes have to be sacrificed if the Mega-plot represents a loss of city structure and the separation of city compo- traffic is heavy; landscape has to be abandoned if there is too much traffic; nents. roads along the river have to be given up if the landscape system needs to be Mega-plots are the result of city traffic, administrative systems and devel- denser. For example, the sidewalk of Sichuan Road, Shanghai, is only 3 feet opment models. They helped improve these aspects to some degree, but a wide. (Figure 1) mega-plot creates a mini-city inside a bigger one and does not take citizens’ rights and interests as a priority.
Imperforation means a loss of city public space and diverse social life. Due to concerns about safety, management and cost, closed communities are really common in Chinese cities, with doorkeeper standing in front of the gate Figure 1 and poor people kept out. Imperforation turns public space private. 1.2.2 Decreasing the vitality of the city and increasing the crime rate
Actually, a closed community with a wall built along the boundary cuts the connection and communication with society and cannot really ensure safety. A closed community generally has only one single function with no one passing by during some time periods of the day. Those streets and squares with no support from the community can only be recognized as a vacant space to walk through, so there are always a lot of crime at night.
12 13 1.2.3 Generating isolation and separation, ruin the fairness 1.2.5 Decreasing opportunities for business
Fairness is an important element for sustainable social development, but in Smaller blocks offer more commercial opportunities along the many streets fact, cities in China have been separated into many closed blocks. Professor around them in comparison to the fewer streets around a mega-block. This Edward Blakely from the University of California once said, “nowadays, we structure of city blocks can maximize business profit and bring more vitality
find a new type of discrimination, which is setting security personnel and to the city. Research done by the Preservation Green lab also indicates that a building walls for community, I call it as fortressam.” In China, this kind of neighborhood with smaller blocks creates more jobs. (Figure 4, Figure 5) fortress also includes schools, firms and governments. There is no doubt that open blocks can help maintain fairness in society.
Figure 4 Figure 5 1.2.6 Bringing inconvenience to daily life
Figure 2 Figure 3 It is ridiculous that people who live in big cities with advanced public trans- 1.2.4 Ruining the landscape view of the city portation systems experience less convenience than those who live in small cities. People who live in small cities can get everything they need within A mega and single-functioned block brings the boundary as a continuous wall walking distance, but people in big cities actually spend much more time or monotonous elevation, which is boring and not friendly even to people who moving from one box to another. This affects everyone, especially the old and drive by. People are easily able to get lost in such a city landscape. In contrast, the disabled who tend to feel more frustration, or even despair. a small and open block can lead to a more diverse design and landscape, both inside and outside the block, with the inside and the outside melting together. Moreover, if the block was separate with different sides of properties, it would bring more variety to the view of the city.
14 15 1.3 Current situation of Shanghai’ old area is just competition game of pseudo-classic architecture, which is running the area instead of getting better. Today, Shanghai’s old city area is mainly the oval area embraced by Renmin Road and Xinhua Road. In this historical area, we can see houses of the Qing In the old city area of Shanghai, we can easily find road names such as Reed Dynasty, Shikumen communities, shops, temples, churches, gardens, ba- mat, Cao cang, Bamboo line, Blouse Dr Fang, which are all named by indus-
zaars, etc. These buildings created a beautiful, historical view when combined try or celebrity. In a modern city, these names glisten with a sense of history. with those organically grown buildings later in this area. It still holds a lot of However, many cities are keen on the construction of expressways and trunk residents and small businesses at the moment, forming a small self-sufficient roads, and tend to neglect secondary roads, bicycle and pedestrian systems, society. If the surrounding old port area along the river which covers an area which makes arterial roads suffer from overload and traffic congestion, and of about 4 square kilometers is also included, this historical commercial and increases the burden of the city. residential area is brimmed with attractiveness like the ancient towns, histori- cal and delicate, but it now survives in the gap between the past and the future, However, compared with many successful cities which have a network of and is gradually abandoned as time goes by. smaller roads, Shanghai has more than 25 million residents, and the popula- tion is still increasing. This low-density and low-height model of city develop- However, this region is the favorite of Shanghai residents, especially old ment is not suitable because land is in very short supply. natives, because it contains small format shops with apparency, century-old shops of all kinds (food, clothing, department stores, household items, antique calligraphy and painting, service life, etc.). These businesses are thriving as they were formed slowly and organically over time, and each of them has been through many years of accumulation. The cultural connotation of this area cannot be separated from its historic architectural style and the small- scaled road network.
The current urban renovation cannot satisfy residences at all, because it is
pushed by commercial interests too often. Under this situation, the renovation Old town area of Shanghai
16 17 2. History
City with great vitality at Song Dynasty
18 19 2.1 West Zhou Dynasty (BC 1046~BC 771) 2.3 Song Dynasty (AC 960~AC 1279)
The West Zhou Dynasty was documented as a time in which the first block With small businesses increasing rapidly, the barriers between blocks were was created under the name of yanli. According to Kaogongji, the Capital was discarded during this time, and the internal roads within blocks became city 2,880m squared with three doors on each side, and it was cut into 81 blocks roads. This was the most dynamic time of economic activities in Chinese
by six criss-cross main roads and eight branch roads, so that each block was history. China came into an open block period. According to records, a block 320m squared. (Figure 1) Each block held no more than 100 residents. typically has one of the three different sizes -- 100m x 600m, 120m x 700m, or 130m x 150m. (Figure 3)
Figure 2
Figure 1 2.2 Sui Dynasty (AC 581~AC 618)
During this period, the city was still separated into rectangular blocks, but the blocks began to differ in size. Those located at the center or in the business district were smaller, and others were 440m squared with 3,000~10,000
residents each. (Figure 2) Figure 3
20 21 2.4 Modern China
Modern China was a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society; the pattern of the city was a collage because of this multi-player game. (Figure 4)
2.4.1 Old city
Blocks were mostly around 50m squared, with narrow and walkable streets.
2.4.2 Concession Area
Influenced by Western city plans, the blocks were mainly 80~100m on the Figure 4 long side, and the plan didn’t allow for many auto-vehicles.
2.4.3 Newly planned area
It was planned by the government, and combines a grid system and a radiant system. Blocks were still small and similar to those in the old city, but this scale brings big traffic problem in a city full of automobiles.
22 23 2.5 New Republic of China a Cartesian grid, allowing the city to function as a “living machine.” Le Corbusier explains: “The city of today is a dying thing because its planning Ville Radieuse (The Radiant City) is an unrealized urban masterplan by Le is not in the proportion of geometrical one fourth. The result of a true Corbusier, first presented in 1924 and published in a book of the same name geometrical lay-out is repetition, The result of repetition is a standard. The in 1933. Designed to contain effective means of transportation, as well as perfect form.” 1
an abundance of green space and sunlight, Le Corbusier’s city of the future would not only provide residents with a better lifestyle, but would contribute In this plan, Le Corbusier designed a city with 1.5 million occupants, the to creating a better society. Though radical, strict and nearly totalitarian in its block was cut by a 400m x 400m road network, and the distance between order, symmetry and standardization, Le Corbusier’s proposed principles had buildings was also 400m with the aim to allow for fresh air and sunshine. an extensive influence on modern urban planning and led to the development of new high-density housing typologies.1 However, at that time, this 400m x 400m block shocked Westerners, No city wanted to try it. If we compared the plan with the existing structures of Paris In accordance with modernist ideals of progress (which encouraged the and Manhattan, we could find out how incredible its scale was. (Figure 7) annihilation of tradition), The Radiant City was to emerge from a tabula rasa: it was to be built on nothing less than the grounds of demolished vernacular European cities. The new city would contain prefabricated and identical high- density skyscrapers, spread across a vast green area and arranged in
Figure 5 Figure 6 Figure 7
1. ArchDaily. “AD Classics: Ville Radieuse / Le Corbusier.” Last modified August 11, 2013. 1. ArchDaily. “AD Classics: Ville Radieuse / Le Corbusier.” Last modified August 11, 2013. http://www.archdaily.com/411878/ad-classics-ville-radieuse-le-corbusier http://www.archdaily.com/411878/ad-classics-ville-radieuse-le-corbusier 24 25 With the analysis of The Downtown Athletic Club and Rockefeller Center, China as a socialistic country, was substantially influenced by the Soviet R.K. came out a fictional conclusion: “the Metropolis strives to reach a Union. When we look at the five-ring highway system of Beijing and the inner mythical point where the world is completely fabricated by man, so that it and outer ring highway system of Shanghai, we find them both similar to the absolutely coincides with his desires. The Metropolis is an addictive machine, structure of Moscow’s highway system. Additionally, the connections between from which there is no escape, unless it offers that, too.....1 those huge blocks are also largely for auto vehicles.
Through this pervasiveness, its existence has become like the Nature It The free market system, based on private ownership in Western countries, has replaced: taken for granted, almost 1n\lIsible, certainly indescribable. created the pattern of Amsterdam. In this system, the amount of tax is decided This book was wntten to show that Manhattan had generated its own by the width of the road, so many European roads are long and narrow with metropolitan Urbanism - a Culture of Congestion.2 space prioritized over architectural form. That’s why the imagination of the Radiant City has never been achieved in Western cities.
Nevertheless, what was rejected by Western countries was great success in communist countries. As the leader of the Socialistic Union, the Soviet Union The free market system, based on private ownership in Western countries, built 500 brand-new industrial cities in order to develop the barren Siberian created the pattern of Amsterdam. In this system, the amount of tax is decided area. With each of these cities exactly following the plan of the Radiant City, by the width of the road, so many European roads are long and narrow with the Soviet Union was trying to create a utopia of communism. For example, space prioritized over architectural form. That’s why the imagination of the Yekaterinburg, which was an important industrial city of the Soviet Union, has Radiant City has never been achieved in Western cities. a very similar block dimension to the one proposed in Radiant City. (Figure 8) 2.6 Conclusion
Comparing the city pattern at different periods in Chinese history following the time line in the same scale shows that the block structure today is actually a retrogress to ancient times. (Figure 9) We should take history as a mirror and
Figure 8 correct the mistake immediately. 1. Rem Koolhaas, Delirious New York, 293. 2. Ibid 26 27 Figure 9
28 29 3. Archetype
The Patterns of the Urban Fabric of Beijing’s Hutong by Armelle Caron
30 31 As it is mentioned in Chapter 2, the difference between Chinese mega-plots 3.3.1 Attenuation of single building and those of the Soviet Union is the wall built along the boundary. This chapter will examine the role this wall played in China in several aspects. In the boundary-archetype, part of the walls transform into buildings. Take the traditional Chinese courtyard house (Figure 3) as an example, we can see
3.1 Theory of Fengshui that the rooms sit along the boundaries to embrace the courtyard in the center. So the communication and family events happened mostly outdoors in the
The theory of Fengshui is an important constituent of Chinese traditional courtyard. There is no difference in elevation between a building and a wall culture, which is the ancient long-term life experience summary. Even though besides height. its scientific significance cannot be proved, it still indicates the Chinese mental desire of living and social activities. The Tai Chi map (Figure 1) of Fengshui room theory best explains Chinese buildings’ introversive character. court wall wall 3.2 Boundary-Archetype
Because of the introversive character, the Figure 3 archetype of Chinese architecture is actually a space with a closed boundary, called Figure 1 boundary-archetype.
As indicated in Figure 2, ancient Chinese moved part of the wall inward, so that a closed space can have connection with the outside, and it is still visually a continuous wall in elevation to provide privacy at the same time. That’s why the shifted part of the wall is called a shadow wall. Figure 2 32 33 3.3.2 Simplification of building 3.3.4 Axis?
As the building containing the characters Much research nowadays uses the axis system of a wall in the boundary-archetype, the to analyze the structure of an ancient Chinese ancient Chinese buildings mainly adopt an city, but actually the ancient city should be
all-purpose design, which makes the build- explained with the boundary-archetype. If we ings look all the same besides scale, no mat- extracted the wall system of ancient Beijing ter what function the building performed. (Figure 6), we could see that the spaces were defined by the walls. In a Chinese drama The master plan of Zhou’s king city is a Figure 6 called Meilong Zhen, the king said, “I lived in typical indication. (Figure 4) We can hardly a large rectangle inside which there is a small- distinguish between the palace for living Figure 4 er rectangle, and there are smaller ones inside and those serving other functions. of that.” Nowadays, many cities built their highways in a ring system, including Beijing, 3.3.3 Building-hierarchized Shanghai and Chengdu, and many people use the system to explain the area they live in. ` Because of the attenuation of a building and all-purpose designed building, the ancient 3.4 The formation and development of street Chinese building can only be recognized by Figure 5 the height of the wall and scale of the The streets which are the main space for com- building, which created the Chinese building hierarchy. munication in Chinese cities were also derived and evolved from the boundary-archetype. As it is shown in Figure 5, the height of the wall indicates the class of the
inhabitant of the space from Great Wall representing the country as a whole to The Chinese house is a typical boundary ar- short walls representing the normal poor citizen. chetype, then, the family became larger Figure 7
34 35 with several generations living together, the court gradually changed from a square to a rectangle with seniors living nearby the memorial tablet-room and the younger generations living close to the entrance. When the family became even larger, the increasing privacy for small single families and land use limitations made the rectangular court a street, but it still has a memorial
tablet-house at the end and a memorial gateway at the entrance. This can also explain why the streets, instead of squares, are the main public space in China. The parks and squares of China nowadays were mostly planned after the Peo- ple’s Republic of China was established.
3.5 Conclusion -- rule no.1
The walls which form closed blocks in China cannot be simply demolished; it has to be replaced by other public function as a connection of a block to the outside, so that the block can be open and guarantee the Chinese cultural- ly-based mentally desires at the same time.
36 37 4. Precedents & Analysis
PARIS – QUARTIER MASSENA by Christian De Portzamparc
38 39 This chapter will identify the elements and facts affecting the street working hour (Figure 1) by analyzing and comparing New York, Rome, Cairo and Shanghai in various aspects such as function, road, footprint, building height, etc.
Figure 2
4.1 Function and proportion 4.2 Road density and hierarchy
There is no doubt that the street working hour is deeply affected by the func- Road density and hierarchy are important indicators showing whether a tions a block contains, but the 500m squared objects of study in these four city is walkable and efficient. If we compare Shanghai’s city pattern in the cities all contain various functions (Figure 2). So what makes the street hour same scale with those of New York, Rome, and Cairo, according to Allan B. different? One of the facts should be the proportion of functions. Comparing Jacobs’s drawings (Figure 4), we could easily find that the road density in
the four study objects’ function proportion, we will see that Shanghai has a Shanghai is much lower than the other cities with hardly any hierarchy. Key scale of commercial and residential activities similar to those of New York Transport Statistics of World Cities (Figure 5) compares road features of ma- City, which is larger than those of Rome and Cairo; but it is obvious that the jor cities in the world and shows the road density problem of Chinese cities. proportion of public facilities and institutions in Shanghai is too low compared
with all the other cities. So Rule 2 is that the proportion of public facilities and Thought the cities in the table below are based on different cultures, the road institutions should be increased. density and hierarchy which make a city efficient and walkable should be sim- ilar. So here comes Rule 3: the blocks of Shanghai should be further divided into smaller ones to provide higher road density and richer road hierarchy.
Figure 1
40 41 In 4.3.1, it is shown that Shanghai has enough commercial space, but the streets are still less densely populated. 4.3.1 Footprint
If we disassemble the four cities concerned into individual footprints (Figure 6), we will see more types and smaller scale of buildings in New York, Rome
Figure 4 and Cairo, than in Shanghai. It explains that a great division of property lines also help build the variety of a block, but in Shanghai, the property is main- ly defined by block. So Rule 4 is that after being divided by streets, a block should be further divided by property lines.
Figure 7
Figure 5 4.3.2 Zoning
Looking at the zoning maps based on existing buildings, (Figure 9) we see clearly that the functions of New York, Rome, and Cairo, are well-integrated, but those of Shanghai are mostly separate; and also New York, Rome, and Cairo have high proportions zones mixing commercial and residential func- tions with commercial space on the lower levels and residential space on the upper levels (Figure 8). This type of mixing really helps extend the street hour for the residential area.
42 43 New York Figure 8
Rome
Cairo Figure 9
Shanghai Figure 6
44 45 5. Site Analysis
The road density around site is much lower than that of old city area of Shanghai. Public events are mainly centralized around commercial area, with a few happen around ste.
The zoning map shows that the functions are clearly separated in the new planned area of The Public transportation is very advanced at Shanghai. new planned area of Shanghai.
The landmarks are maily located at commer- cial area of new planned area of Shanghai. The height of buildings is lower around site than that of commercial area.
46 47 6. Practice
48 49 6.1 Co-existing city
Too often we take a precise yet limited view to a problematic urban design, exaggerating the extension of the issues we focused on while neglecting other elements that also influence the outcomes of a design process. In this project,
I tried to identify and melt individual design elements in both horizontal and Step 6: Several green spaces are set along the northern and southern sides as vertical directions. The final design is organized around a central court, takes connections with the outside. advantage of the old Shanghai layout horizontally, and combined the scale of Step 7: The layout of the first level mainly follows the style of the old Shang- old Shanghai with that of new Shanghai. hai city. The majority of it serves commercial functions such as dining, shop- ping, entertainment, etc. Two lines of buildings in the middle are a school and 6.2 Design process a library. Step 8: The second level contains museums, exhibition space, cinemas, and Step 1: According to the layout of the Forbidden City and a traditional the massing corresponds to the contemporary Shanghai city. Chinese court house, I found the importance of central court to Chinese Step 9: The residential communities sit on the edges of the foundation, em- people, so the city plaza sits at the center of the site, which functions as a bracing the central court in the middle. temporary market in the early morning, and a transportation center with Step 10: The second level is connected by overhead corridors, which is in- subway and bus stations at day-time. spired by High line. Step 2: Four main roads are designed along the sides of the central plaza with three lanes in each direction, dividing the site into nine neighborhoods. Step 3: A neighborhood plaza is designed in the center of each neighborhood as a public green space serving the neighborhood. Step 4: Secondary roads are designed along the sides of neighborhood plazas with two lanes in each direction, cutting a neighborhood into smaller communities. Step 5: The communities are for pedestrians only.
50 51 Residential Community
52 53 6.3 Residential community
The residential community also follows the central court design and sits on the edges of the foundation, embracing a central court in the middle. The two buildings on the southern side are lower than the two on the northern side
to allow more sunshine for the lower floors, and viewing layers of back sets of architectural style provide a good view for the viewing platform, with the central court and ample sunshine put into the best use. All of the buildings are connected in the upper level to ensure safety while the court is open to the public.
A traditional Chinese court house enables several generations to live under the same roof, yet an apartment cannot afford this. The main reason is that an apartment doesn’t provide enough privacy for each generation, so people, es- pecially the younger generation, prefer to live as separate small families now. So the floor plan in this project puts family activ- ity space in the middle area with three private spaces surrounding it, each having its own bed- room and living room.
54 55 Public Activity
56 57 58 59 The central part of the exhibition space is removed, and the southern surface facing the inside slopes following the angel of morning sun light. These two strategies are both intended to bring more sunlight into the central court on the first level.
6.4 Commercial space Modern buildings generally use thick, straight columns as their main struc- tures because of economic and efficient considerations, but this kind of struc-
Instead of a shopping mall style, the commercial space on the first level ture feels cold and chilly and makes the environment unfriendly to people, intends to be a walkable open space to encourage people to enjoy outdoor especially when it is exposed to the open air. In this project, the floating activities, so the enclosed form with a court inside or the form with randomly exhibition space is actually supported by many tree-shaped structures. This placed shops is not accepted here. In this project, buildings sit along the four structure is combined with eight-inch hollow steel pipes, mimicking the shape edges of the block to form a commercial street facing the main street, while of a tree. It helps softening the overall atmosphere in the central court, and the inside court provide the shops a relatively quiet space to enjoy sunlight. will be pleasant to the eye in spring and summer, when the pipes are covered So there can be a cafe or outside dinning space. Some of the commercial by Liana. blocks have exhibition spaces sitting on the top, which is a response to the contemporary Shanghai city.
60 61 6.5 Corridor in the air 6.6 Neighborhood green space
The overhead corridor is basically inspired by High line as a strategy to The neighborhood green spaces are mainly serving their corresponding provide people with a walkable and friendly space in spite of the scarce land communities, and each park has two exits leading to the overhead corridors supply in the city, while connecting the second level residential communities to make the first level smoothly connected with the second level. Some of
and exhibition spaces. these green spaces may serve as sports parks with basketball courts in place underneath the corridors, some can be children’s playground, some others The corridor spans over neighborhood green space, not the central space. may host vendor stalls or grocery stores, and still others may become storied Different from New York, Shanghai has a long and scorching summer, so the parking lots, putting the space into full use to create different themes for each corridor also offers cool shade with cirrus growing overhead . Each individual green space. part of a corridor contains two exits which include both an elevator and stairs to form a seamless shift from the first level to the second.
62 63 Final image
Road network Zoning Green space
Primary road Residential Exhibition Shopping Eating Central square Neighbourhood
Secondary road Entertainment Education Cinema Residential Second level
Walking path Transportation Outside connection
Sudway Connection Space
Bus Connection route
64 65 6.7 Final image 7. Conclusion
The final master plan has built a rich hierarchy of roads containing main In this thesis, I have focused on methods of probing both small-scaled roads, secondary roads, pedestrian path and second level pedestrian and bicy- and mega-plot urban forms. Based on research, I revealed the benefits and cle path. The final plan offers various kinds of green space such as the central conflicts between these two forms. In the final design, I introduced an entire plaza, neighborhood green space, overhead corridor park, and residential hierarchy of roads to solve the traffic problem in the old city area of Shanghai, court. and the mega-plot urban form become walkable at the same time. The new vertical massing combination ensures micro-urbanism, and solves the problem The urban scale is now combined of high-rise residential towers, contempo- related to the short land supply. This mixed zoning creates a vivid city that rary scaled exhibition spaces, Shanghai old town scale commercial communi- functions around the clock, so that the city is not dead at night anymore. ties. Furthermore, the design follows entirely the central court design principle to provide residents with a chance to enjoy the traditional Chinese lifestyle. The zoning now involves a diverse mixture of shops, residential space, exhibi- tion halls, entertainment facilities, educational spaces, and restaurants. However, the city lost its peculiarity. In order to solve this problem, the commercial communities on the first level should be given more possibilities of organic growth in the future, while keeping in under the control of the property line.
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68 69