A Future Beyond Imagination

LIU SHILIN

WHEN American historian Jeffrey Wasserstromcame to Shanghai in March2009， a year before the World Expo2010， he exclaimed， “Shanghais futureis beyond imagination.” At that time， Shanghai hadcarried out riverbank management in some sectionsof the Huangpu River， one of the two mother riversof the city， and restored its cultural functions. Overa decade later， perhaps Wasserstrom would exclaim even more as the region along the Suzhou River， theother mother river of Shanghai， has also turned froman “industrial rust belt” with dilapidated urban areasinto an innovative public space. Together， the tworivers exemplify urban renewal and cultural revival.

A Facelift for Shanghais Mother Rivers

In the past， the main areas along the two riverswere chock-a-bloc with factories with roaring machines，wharfs that were busy day and night， andcrowded and noisy commercial and residential areas.The two rivers were heavily polluted and the malfunctioningcity struggled to meet residents needs.Then in 1990， Pudong， a district east of the Huangpu，was designated a new area that would be a hub ofinnovation， investment and entertainment. Today，it is arguably the most beautiful urban landscape inShanghai with the Oriental Pearl Tower， one of theworlds highest TV and radio towers， standing as atowering landmark， complementing the architecturalcomplex on the west bank of the Huangpu.

The transformative changes on both sides of theHuangpu can be attributed to the Shanghai WorldExpo in 2010 with its “Better City， Better Life” theme，which spurred efforts to turn the riverside area froma production space into a living space with culturalfunctions. In May 2001， the Shanghai Urban DevelopmentMaster Plan （1999-2020） was issued to build thecity into an international， prosperous， modern， andbeautiful metropolis. Some local enterprises like theJiangnan Shipyard and Shanghai No.3 Iron and SteelPlant were relocated， and the space they left behind was turned into art， culture， and ecological spaces.Shanghais Bund area， the historical waterfront areain central Shanghai， was about to apply for worldheritage status and a plan was also issued to protectthe cultural space.

After the renewal of the Huangpu achieved strikingresults， the Suzhou was next on the agenda. The riveris the birthplace of Chinas modern national industryand a testament to Shanghais status as Chinas largestindustrial city. Decades ago its banks were denselypacked with flour mills， chemical plants， and machineryand textile factories. Hundreds of thousandsof people worked and lived here， and the machinesworked day and night. The roaring machines， piles ofgoods， busy traffic， and random discharge of sewagewere like the early scenes at Thames in London or theSeine in Paris.

The urban renewal and spatial governance of theSuzhou kicked off with a newround of Shanghais urban planningin 2018 with environmentalimprovement and cultural revivalof the Suzhou River formallyincorporated into Shanghaisurban development. By 2020，the 45-kilometer-long riverbank in the core section of theHuangpu and the 42-kilometerstretch in the core section of theSuzhou had been renovated andfunctionally upgraded， greatlyoptimizing Shanghais spatial structure and laying thebasic structure for its future development.

Lessons to Be Learned

Aristotle once said that men come together incities in order to live， but they remain together inorder to live the good life. This is one of the importantsources of the catchphrase “Cities make life better.”

It established a new concept of urban development，that is， the purpose of human beings in building citiesis not only to increase the population or boost economicgrowth， but to provide a valuable， meaningful，and aspirational lifestyle. The renewal and revival ofShanghais two mother rivers is a vivid practice ofthis concept. In essence， it is not only about dredgingwaterways or producing more industrial goods and daily necessities， but about returning the water andthe beautiful scenery to the people. However， this isnot an easy task as the interests and needs of manyparties are involved. In order to reconcile them，Shanghai carried out some explorations， providinga reference for global urban renewal and culturalrevival.

During the process， the government needs totake the lead. However， it also needs to have citizenparticipation in the entire process to balance publicinterests with private ones. The population andbuilding density along the two rivers are high， andspace resources are extremely scarce. Connecting theriver banks means turning some spaces that wereoccupied by companies and communities into publicones， which will inevitably encounter resistance. Ifthe government does not take the lead， this cannotbe overcome. However， if the government is too demanding，it will cause more conflicts. So the governmentdepartments started from the perspective ofthe interests of residents and formed some typicalcases of success.

Jinyang Lane and Taoyuan Lane， built in the 1920sand 1930s， respectively， are home to typical old-styleshikumen lane houses of Shanghai – traditionalbrick-wood structures with stone gates. When therenovations started， many residents agreed to it atfirst， but then changed their minds. For example，some residents who had agreed to install flush toiletsfound that it would make their public areas shrink， sothey became unwilling to cooperate. However， afterall the residents were persuaded to say goodbye totraditional toilets， their living environment improved.

Another example was the comprehensive renovationof houses in residential compounds. Someresidents initially did not think highly of it. However，with the construction of high-quality residentialcompounds， the residents in an area asked that thewall between neighboring compounds be demolishedto create a green landscape belt.

After the master plan was completed， attentionhas to be paid to policies and mechanism innovationduring the implementation. How well the planningcan be implemented depends on the skills of thebuilders. Shanghai has formed a system of communityengineers， planners， health specialists， communitymanagement consultants， legal consultants， and governance consultants to promoteurban space governance.

Liaoyuan Huayuan in JiangpuRoad is a prime example. Ablock of three old residentialcompounds with an averageage of 30 years， it has an area of26，000 square meters with 416households. However， it lacked adecent public space. The plannersproposed to remove thewalls to open the space andheld dozens of meetings to listen to different opinions.Finally， a public space for adults to exercise andchildren to play in was created. The “pocket garden”on Fuxin Road is another example. Located close toTongji University， it was originally an 80-meter greenbelt along the street. The planners added slides andswings and placed colorful geometric figures on theground to create a “pocket garden” where one can sitand relax.

Future： An Innovative City with Modern Industry

While a dynamic ecological axis has been formedalong the Huangpu and Suzhou， it has also led tonew challenges. With the focus on ecological governance，public services， culture， and tourism， theindustrial functions of urban space have been weak-ened， leading to problems such as a single industrialstructure， homogeneous functions， excessive investmentin public resources， and high operation andmaintenance costs. These problems are not uniqueto Shanghai. Looking to the future， once ecologicalgovernance achieves results and the layout of publiccultural functions is basically completed， new industrieswill be needed to promote coordinated developmentof public services and the real economy.

Public spaces need production functions. At present，the Huangpu bank is positioned as a financial，cultural， innovation， and recreational center. However，the fast relocation of production functions has ledto a disconnect between production and life， and theareas along the river have become pure public servicespaces that “only consume， and do not produce，”increasing the pressure on fiscal expenditures. Inthe future， the principle of sustainable developmentshould be followed， focusing on enhancing the realeconomy and industrial functions to turn preciousspace resources into a goldmine of entrepreneurshipand wealth.

Also， the cultural and tourism industry needs todevelop rapidly. In the current industrial layout， thetwo river areas focus on ecology， culture， and tourism，and the main function is to serve the construction ofa beautiful Shanghai. There are historical reasons forthis as production activities along the riverbank inthe past seriously affected the daily life of local people with their pollution and noise. As a result， the newround of urban planning got rid of the industries. Inthe future， the focus should be put on changing thesingle cultural and tourism industry structure and reindustrializinginnovatively the two rivers to makethem an important new sector of Shanghais economicdevelopment.

Finally， integrated development of industries andliving spaces in the areas along the rivers should beaccelerated. At present， the problems in the developmentof the two rivers can be summarized as contradictionbetween “breaking the old and establishingthe new.” That is， after demolishing the traditional industrialstructure， Shanghai failed to establish a newindustrial system of the same scale， which has ledto excessive urban functions and insufficient industrialcapacity. In the future， full use should be madeof the existing space， and high-end manufacturing，producer services and urban agriculture should be introduced.The planners should also integrate artificialintelligence， big data， and other high technologiesto create an ecology suitable for the two rivers andthe local people. The future Shanghai should be aninnovative city with a complete modern industrialsystem.