On the day I wanted to run away from the group assignment and visit the Art Museum in Shanghai, I conceded that I should render unto Caeser and go to the Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Centre; after all, I was a guest of the CIPCC, and a good guest does not abandon her host.
Master plan 1999-2020. Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Centre. Photo: SLCT
The museum was across the street from our file visit, but there was absolutely no time in the schedule for me to visit. I consoled myself with perhaps something may click relevant to Grenada. Learning about the planning of Shanghai, moving from a fishing village to a Megatropolis—one of the world’s largest seaports and a major industrial, commercial, technological, research and development centre, supplying China’s growing domestic demands—oh, and it is a tourism hotspot as well—was a better decision.
Master plan 2017-2035, Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Centre. Photo: SLCT
Over 4 floors, I saw various physical and digital displays of master planning of urban digitalisation and rural revitalisation. Floor 2F—Shanghai as a Humanistic City—highlighted urban regeneration, feature patterns, and public service employing public participation. On the third floor, 3F— Shanghai as an Innovative City—we saw outlines of 5 new cities and a pilot free trade zone, and a presentation on digital governance, offline and online.
5D immersion, Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Centre. Photo: SLCT
We stood in the 5D Digital Immersive Sand Table showing interactive mixed reality scenes of the digital city, touted as the “smart brain” of urban planning. By the time I got to the 4th floor, the art museum was a dim memory because the fashioning of Shanghai from what it was to what it is now was entrancing. The fourth floor promoted Shanghai as an Ecological City “with gardens surrounded by forests and blue sky,” supported by illustrated wall texts on green low-carbon circulation, ecological space planning, and rural revitalisation. Detailed displays on garbage sorting and disposal; urban security, waterlogging and flooding control; construction of a sponge city; green power plants on roofs; offshore wind power project, landscape inheritance, and urban and rural parks were all there in bilingual texts, accessible to the public for review and comment. There was an exhibit on their rural revitalisation demonstration villages, too.
15-minute community life circles, Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Centre. Photo: SLCT
The many schematics, models and illustrated texts on show resulted from comprehensive public participation in what is needed. The centre also showcased the ’15-minute community life circle’ where, in planning communities, details should be within a 15-minute walk of residents. Great idea! I was not so quietly jumping up and down. The display spoke to communities as basic carriers in unleashing people’s power. Given that the word ‘unleash’ is trending in Grenada, this point fits in nicely.
Smart systems, Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Centre. Photo: SLCT
In our local context, town hall stakeholder meetings generate feedback which should be summarised and used to activate a draft document or, better yet, a visual of some nature for public comment and further action. However, we tend to quantum leap from town hall to fait accompli, then have to find funding to redo, replace and build back better.
Wood model, Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Centre. Photo: SLCT
Along the shoreline, over 50 colonial-era buildings stand tall next to and in the shadow of distinctly Shanghai architecture. In the many master plans and wall texts, I did not see any indication those buildings were to be swept into the river to make space for ones taller, newer and with more glass.
We could learn a good bit from Chinese urban planning.