Ecobuild Shanghai 2006

News February 2006

	Visions of two growing cities - Shanghai and Hamburg
	Interview with Prof. Zheng Shiling, Director of the Institute of Architecture and Urban Space at Tongji University and General Curator of the Expo 2010 in Shanghai

	Hamburg and Shanghai are strongly cooperating in the field of architecture and urban development. One of the experts and key figures in urban development in Shanghai is Prof. Dr. Zheng Shiling who, participating in the “Sprung über die Elbe”, is also familiar with urban development in Hamburg. In an interview conducted by the Hamburg Liaison Office he talks about parallels in urban development in the two sister cities, the urban identity of Shanghai and objectives of the Expo 2010.

	When did you visit Hamburg for the first time, which impressions did you have and in which respects did you experience similarities to Shanghai?

	My first visit to Hamburg was in 1992, which was also my first visit to Germany. We had an international design week with international professors and students in collaboration with Professor Weber from Hamburg University of Applied Arts. At that time we stayed in a little suburban area, so I had too little time to visit the city of Hamburg. In 2003 I stayed in Hamburg two times and we had the opportunity to participate in the urban development project “Sprung über die Elbe“, thus having an intensive though short time to get familiar with the city. I think that Hamburg is a very dynamic city and there is some similarity to Shanghai concerning urban development, industry or the transformation of the waterfront. For example regarding the waterfront, we have the same aim transforming it into public urban space and into a pedestrian leisure zone. In Shanghai we started this project in the late 1990s between Yangpu Bridge and Nanpu Bridge and are now continuing at the Expo 2010 area.

	What do you think is special about urban development in Hamburg and Shanghai and which parallel processes do you see?

	Certainly, Hamburg has had a long period of urban development and in this respect Shanghai is quite young. Even though Shanghai as a rural area has a much longer history than Hamburg, as the beginnings of Shanghai can be traced back to more than 6000 years ago. Shanghai as an urban area has been existing since the 1840s, so it is not as “mature” as Hamburg. In general I think that the development of Hamburg has been much more regular and continuous, in contrast Shanghai has had different phases of booming and stagnancy. At the present it is still booming and not finally formed.

	Hamburg is quite traditional in preserving its historical buildings and in forming a consistent townscape, thus obtaining and conserving a strong “hanseatic” identity. How do you see Shanghai’s identity given the rapid changes in its urban development and how can Shanghai keep its identity?

	Shanghai’s identity has always been changing because it is a city that in its history has always been learning from other cities. The city has been forming and changing its identity for about 700 years, and concerning urban development we have two aims now: The first one is to preserve the historical buildings. In 2002 the municipality has announced a new legislation concerning that, and has also named 12 historical areas. In the last year we worked out a preservation program for those areas covering more than 27 square kilometers. Since the early 1990s altogether 632 buildings and blocks have been named heritage architecture and been given special signs. Apart from that we named 32 suburban historical areas. Because of Shanghai’s 6000 years of history there also are several relicts and historical buildings in suburban areas. So all in all, Shanghai is now executing the most strict preservation program in its history. The second aim of Shanghai’s urban development is to be back among the world’s major cities again. In its history Shanghai has already had the status of a world city, which was in the 1920s and 1930s. But since that Shanghai has been isolated from the outside world for a long time. Now we want to take the opportunity and the current advantage to develop Shanghai into a world metropolis again.

	In 2003 you participated in the conference “Sprung über die Elbe”. How do you evaluate that project and which potentials do such projects have?

	It was a little strange to me because I thought that Hamburg should already have developed this area a long time ago. In fact, I consider the project as one of the most important waterfront developments in the world and Hamburg has a potential to do that. In addition, on that conference we have also had plenty of experience exchange, and personally I have also learned a lot from it. Apart from that, there are several other aspects we can learn from Hamburg. In particular, I want to point out the aspect of urban life quality, which is really fine in Hamburg. Furthermore I consider the renovation of the Speicherstadt as a good example of urban renewal as well as the quality of the new urban areas. Another important issue is the design technology and the methodology of thinking that we learn from Hamburg. On the other hand, Shanghai also had its lessons. In fact, our scale of development is too big and the development itself is much too fast, so sometimes we do not even have the time to think it in more detail.

	Famous Hamburg architect Meinhard von Gerkan designed a concept for the new Lingang Harbor City. To what extent do you see influences from the townscape of Hamburg there?

	The part that most resembles Hamburg in his conception is of course the lake in the middle of the new city. In my opinion his concept for Lingang really fits this areas features because it integrates the coastline and the waterfront with the harbor and the logistic area, thus creating a manifest shape for the whole area.

	Currently there are a lot of prominent projects of foreign architects in China as the mentioned Lingang Harbor City, the new CCTV-Tower in Beijing or the Jinmao Tower in Shanghai. How do you estimate their value for Chinese cities?

	Many articles regularly mention the need for international involvement in Chinese architecture. I think that we have to consider this more profoundly than in the past years. On the one hand we need this kind of cooperation because nowadays architecture cannot be isolated from developments in other countries and China has to be more internationalized, too. But on the other hand, up to now many architecture projects showed no context to our culture and no relation to its environment. Of course, for new urban areas there can and should be new design ideas. But for projects that are located in a city or in the context of an existing urban area the architect should definitely respect the context and accordingly adapt his buildings.

	On the other hand, which chances do you see for Chinese architects’ projects in Germany?

	In my opinion, this is really difficult. Every country has its own system for architects’ license, so for Chinese architects there are still too many administrative barriers in Germany. However, the project of “Sprung über die Elbe” has provided a good initiative and I hope for more collaboration opportunities in the nearer future.

	Hamburg and Shanghai visitors always report about being impressed by the different scale of colors: Which role do colors play in a city’s character?

	The color of a city stands for a mindset and is also a kind of a collective memory. For example, in northern China cities are more colorful, in the south there is more usage of nature colors and thus modest coloring. But still I think that for every kind of city the most important color should be green and become manifest in gardens, flowers and other natural environments. There is no need for too many colors for the buildings.

	Which role does Fengshui play in contemporary Chinese architecture and which potential do its principles have for application in Germany?

	First of all I think that Fengshui is no theory. It is more a conduct of comportment or behavior to be in harmony with nature. In ancient China people thought that the architecture of the ancestor’s tomb would affect people’s future. From this and similar ideas the Fengshui ideas evolved. These principles still contain some very rational fundamentals such as the selection of the site, the buildings’ direction, principles of urban planning or the importance of people’s relationship with the sun and nature. Usually we don’t consider contemporary Chinese architecture to be explicitly Fengshui, but in our minds we implicitly do respect the relationship between human beings and nature. I think that is the most important aspect of Fengshui and it has been playing a role up to today. However, Fengshui ideas should not be obeyed out of superstition as it is still done sometimes.

	What do you as curator of the Expo 2010 consider the main task of this world exhibition in Shanghai?

	The most important task for Shanghai is to transform into a major world city again. We have to catch up the pace of the world development and the Expo 2010 in our city is the best opportunity for us to do that.

	ecobuild shanghai 2006, a cooperation project between the cities of Hamburg and Shanghai, is an awareness raising campaign resulting in an exhibition of energy efficient buildings projects in November 2006. How will ecological building and energy efficiency be represented on the Expo 2010?

	Ecological building will definitely be a highly important theme on the Expo 2010 in Shanghai. From the year 2003 on Shanghai has started to pay more attention to ecological building projects. Consequently, a major conference on sustainable urban development has already been held. Shanghai will be a leading city in ecological development in China and the Expo will handle this issue as one of the most important themes.

	How do you estimate the current awareness for ecological building in China among architects and urban developers on the one side and customers on the other side?

	Until now there has not been much awareness and hardly any consciousness for ecology in China. Most importantly, there has to be awareness among the government and among the Chinese population. Architects serve the society; so if people have no demand or no consciousness for those issues, architects also have almost no possibility to realize their projects. Presently there are no strict regulations for ecological building in China. So now our primary objective is to establish legislation and to educate people in this respect. Recently, the Chinese government has released several regulations on restricted energy consumption and energy saving and this already had a small but visible effect. So we have to continue this development.

	What should be done to urge awareness for ecological and sustainable building among the Chinese population?

	We should use every kind of possibility, especially by means of mass media to rise awareness for the saving of our resources. But most importantly again, we have to urge the central government officials. For example, in the past few years architects have been constantly rising questions of environment protection and energy efficiency in the People’s Congress. But of course you can’t put such ideas in people’s minds in just one day. Those issues need their time. But I can assure you, that it has been gradually getting better since the late 1990s. Consider for instance the preservation of historical buildings: Beginning in the early 1980s we have been urging the government to protect historical sites but they would not except those. I remember the year 1983 when I had an argument with an architect who wanted to demolish the south building of the Peace Hotel. He said, it was an old building and we had to tear it down in order to obtain space for new buildings. If an architect would express such an idea today, he would be severely criticized and most people would think he had gone crazy.

	In a situation where awareness is only slowly emerging: would you have any ideas and recommendations of simple and low investment techniques for energy saving?

	I favor measures like natural ventilation or the usage of renewable energies like solar power. Furthermore, water can be saved reusing it twice or three times. Another important issue is to prolong the lifetime of buildings that are presently being constructed. Up to now Chinese regulations have aimed on a lifetime of only fifty or even twenty years for new buildings. I believe that a major key task is to aim on a lifetime of more than one hundred years to create sustainable urban areas.

	Where do you see Shanghais development in fifty years from now?

	Currently, Shanghai is a rapidly developing and booming urban area. I think that in fifty years it will be much maturer and will avoid most mistakes that have been made until today. In addition it will be a much greener city, people’s life will be longer and more pleasant. If you compare the city’s situation as it was ten years ago and how it is now you will see that Shanghai has already undergone a considerable amount of positive development.


	Prof. Dr. Zheng Shiling (b. 1941) is Director of the Institute of Architecture and Urban Space at Tongji University. He served as president of the Architectural Society of Shanghai and as vice president of the Architectural Society of China in the years 1996 – 2005. In 1998 he was appointed Director of Shanghai Committee of Urban Space and Environment and Director of the Expert Committee for the Preservation of Historical Areas and Heritage Architecture. In 2003 he participated in the “Sprung über die Elbe” conference on Hamburg urban development. Prof. Zheng is General Curator of the Expo 2010 in Shanghai.

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