About ZOOM ON THE BOOM:
Posted: October 2nd, 2009 | Author: admin | Filed under: Fun stuff: | 1 Comment »Sham Shui Po, Hong Kong
The massive change in Chinese cityscapes following the boom of the Chinese economy is captivating. And much attention has been given to the fascinating large-scale projects and ambitious architectural experiments developed in recent years. The project Urban Diversity is an attempt to go beyond glossy prestige projects and supply brief ground-level reports from the diversity of urban life unfolding in Pearl River Delta, Southern China, in 2009.
From our trip through Hong Kong, Shenzhen and Guangzhou we have selected seven samples from our field research that represent a variety of urban typologies. From a labyrinthic village fighting not to drown in the urban sea of Guangzhou; The massive new town Tseung Kwan O, to a new cultural district in an extreme capitalist environment in Kowloon. Though representing a variety of urban situations, the samples are not chosen because they are special. Rather they are chosen because they are the places of every day life.
The project combines our subjective perspective on the samples with films shot in China and a range of interviews with Hong Kong based architects and planners, opening up the complex field of planning in China. But more than a general analysis of the challenges facing urban China, the exhibition aims at an expression of wonderment towards the concrete situations, encountered in China – and a desire to try to see them in relation to the extreme complexity of Chinese urban planning. How is public space and public life created, affected and sometimes radically altered in today’s China?
There is no privileged point from where to judge quality of urban life. Yet the question of quality needs to be addressed: What kind of urban environment do city-dwellers want – and how can planning handle these needs in future? Also in a Chinese context, the question of urban quality is increasingly on the agenda.
The pace itself in China is overwhelming, as unique, historical neighborhoods, rich in public life, stories and values are turned into anonymous residential areas overnight.
It might be more evident in China than anywhere else: It’s paramount to consider complexity of cultural transformation in the city. How does planning integrate the desire for the new as well as the qualities of tradition and cultural resources? How do you improve the social and cultural fabric of a place? How is a neighborhood developed without ending up in either nostalgic conservatism or unreflected praise of the new?
Our project does not suppose to answer these questions. It presents an actual image of every day life of places and inhabitants facing big challenges and changes, in all its concreteness. Where all planning must start and end.
Members of Martens>Kirt>Linius:
Sofie Kirt Strandbygaard, architect maa
Sidse Martens Gudmand-Høyer, architect maa
Dorthe Schacht Linius, architect maa
Members of UiWe:
Christian Pagh, MA in Modern Culture and Cultural Communication
Jacob Blak, architect maa