Analysis of Shanghai's Commerce - urbanistic considered

TRAFFIC FLOW SHANGHAI every year a new shape - structural changes every three years

Robert Scheutz

The Yangtze River Delta, Shanghai-Nanjing-Hangzhou is undergoing a radical upheaval process – the dimension and the speed of Shanghai's development exceeds European thinking.

Between 1978 and 1990 about €3 billion were spent on urban infrastructure projects, in the next six years between 1991 and 1997 the investment exceeded €18 billion. In the early eighties the construction of the whole public mass transport system started from scratch, following the strategic neglecting by the Central Government in Beijing. Today, after the reforms of Deng Xiaoping and Jiang Zemin, a former mayor of Shanghai, it is said that the city's large construction projects are the PRC Government's 'cuddles'.

2002 about 80 urban infrastructure projects with an investment of €6,5 billion were under construction, supporting AIR TRAFFIC RAIL TRAFFIC ROAD TRAFFIC and SHIPPING.

In my opinion the rapid changes in the transport infrastructure will change more than the map of the city or the mere building reality – it will change the city's timescale.

Firstly I want to focus on the meaning of the transport issue for China's and Shanghai's economy and competitiveness. Shanghai has a great potential, but today it lacks fluency. The PRC Central Government, with it's rising conscious of China's global role, has realized this fact. The new economic and political ambition has overcome stone-age Maoism of bleeding white 'decadent' cities - Pudong New Area with China's stock exchange in Luijazui demonstrates this ambition.

The strategic position on the China Sea and the estuary of the Yangtze River enables Shanghai to function as East Asia's main gate, both for domestic and supranational trade. The current deep water port and dredging projects combined with new road and rail connections to the rest of the PRC and its neighbours create the 'right flow' for growing, like the comparison of the GDP and the container throughput shows.

However China's new economic 'XIAHAI' policy (promoting entrepreneurship) separates severely from the governments restrictive social control, leading to the next issue – mobility und urbanization. On the one hand the improvement of the mass transport infrastructure like the extension of six further metro lines until 2005 increases the local mobility. Today Shanghai is characterized by a high dense core and a low density outside core, such as the comparison with London shows. The disproportion in the urban structure is a by-product of the neglect transport system – the first metro line was launched only eight years ago. "Better a bed in Puxi, than a house in Pudong" expresses the former traffic condition consequencing in a shortage of living space.

Simply the new infrastructure measures will urbanize larger parts of Shanghai. Beginning with Pudong the development will continue in the outskirts as well as in currently 'unexploited' areas like Chongming Island.

Connected to the progress of Shanghai a series of problems occur, particularly in road traffic. Motorization will increase significantly. The Government responds with an 3600km-road- building programme. Double level elevated highways cut urban structures regardless of the resident population and pollution effects.

However the methods of urban planning remain pragmatic even when there's the chance to integrate the traffic flow into the urban infrastructure, like the development of Pudong New Area shows.

The people of Shanghai live in space but think in time.

The advances in the transport infrastructure will fasten the cities pace.

00 INTRODUCTION – dimension and speed

Due to the complexity and the continuing changes this paper makes no demand for giving settled descriptions – the attempt is to analyse the basic transport system and further to sketch relevant urban development patterns, like Pudong New Area.

The Yangtze River Delta, Shanghai-Nanjing-Hangzhou is undergoing a radical upheaval process – the dimension and the speed of Shanghai's Development exceeds European thinking:

The annual construction works in Pudong New Area alone are comparable with the ones of complete Spain; [2]

Shanghai has one of the fastest growing metro systems in the world – from the current operable 65km to more than 180km by 2005, 16times faster than Barcelona. [3]

Between 1978 and 1990 about €3 billion were spent on urban infrastructure projects, in the next six years between 1991 and 1997 the investment exceeded €18 billion. [4]

In the early eighties the construction of the whole public mass transport system started from scratch, following the strategic neglecting by the Central Government in Beijing. [5]

Today, after the reforms of Deng Xiaoping and Jiang Zemin, a former mayor of Shanghai, it is said that the city's large construction projects are the PRC Government's 'cuddles'. [6]

2002 about 80 urban infrastructure projects with an investment of €6,5 billion were under construction, supporting AIR TRAFFIC RAIL TRAFFIC ROAD TRAFFIC and SHIPPING. [7]

01 SHANGHAI BASICS - density and growth

02 URBAN PLANNING - polycentricity and pragmatism

Shanghai is undergoing a rapid transformation: From communist planned economy to an open economy, from an industrial city to an post-industrial high-dense city.

Government control and market economy have merged under a common agenda consequencing in a new pragmatism in urban planning, like the development of Pudong New Area shows.

History

Shanghai, a former fishing village grew into a trading town beginning in the tenth century. The settlement structure was defined entirely by tradition. When the Chinese Empire was forced to grant concessions in 1842, the European urban design prevailed and shaped the city to this day. The districts formed a pattern along the western bank of the Huangpu river. The infrastructure met the European standard, bringing paved roads, urban lightning and a water and sewage system. [8]

The International Settlement and the French Concession expanded in western direction with the Huangpu River forming the western boundary. Around 1900 the city began to grow and Shanghai became increasingly industrialized, combined with growing slum belts on the edges of town. [8]

In 1948 Shanghai's resident population was 4,6 million people on 617km², in 1968 Shanghai's territory was increased ten times to a total of 6186km², smaller towns were incorporated. New Sub Centres with special functions emerged: Baoshan for steel production, Songjang for the mechanical and Minhang for the chemical and engineering industry – residential and employment functions were combined, to avoid dormitory suburbs. [8]

Pudong New Area

In the nineties the district of Pudong was chosen for the development of a financial and commercial zone with China's Stock Exchange in Luijazui. Pudong New Area, between the Huangpu River and the Chinese Sea covers 522km². Central Luijazui measures 28km², surrounded by the Inner Ring and connected by various river crossings with the old town. [9]

An international urban planning competition was held for the Luijazui Central Area. In 1992 eight offices were invited to participate. The urban design projects of Toyo Ito, Massimiliano Fuksas and Richard Rogers were awarded. However the Chinese authorities pursued their pragmatic plans, ignoring the winning entries: Various Properties had been sold before – the master plan lacks of an underlying structure: A central axis starting at the exit of the river tunnel extends 5km southeast ending in a central park. [10]

Urban Development Plan Luijazui (2000)

The Proposal of Toyo Ito represents the attempt to integrate the traffic flow into the urban structure:

The plan divides the site into strips of land stretching in north-south direction – to plan zoning according to functions such as a leisure/culture (1), commerce/business (2), sports - green buffer belt (3), conventional facilities (4) and housing development (5). [11]

Multi-layer transportation networks are freely superimposed over the district: Subway systems, underground tunnels and arterial roads, a network of restored creeks, pedestrian walks and sub-surface motorway systems. Office buildings, hotels and housings constitute the vertical elements penetrating these layers of horizontal grids. [11]

open multi-transport-juncture renovated channels low level road traffic

Future

The future issues for the city's transport system, defined by the Shanghai 10 th Five-Year Plan (2001-2005) and the Shanghai Master Plan (2000-2020):

• Construction of an efficient, high-speed urban passenger transport network consisting of rail transport supported by buses and streetcars; [12]

• Construction of an efficient road network, including expressways, with multilevel, well- defined functions; [12]

• Construction of an integrated transportation system connecting Shanghai to the rest of China and the world, including a deepwater container port, an international airport, a modern information port, expressways, high-speed railways, and water- ways for transport use; [12]

03 AIR TRAFFIC

Shanghai is the only city in China to have two international airports [13] – the new Pudong International Airport (PVG) for international flights, opened 2000 and Hongqiao International Airport (SHA) for most domestic flights. In 2002 both airports handled 24,7 million passengers and 225.167 flights, with Pudong Airport handling 11 million passengers and 107.287 flights per annum, 47.600 passengers and 175 flights daily. [14]

Covering a total area of 32km², Pudong International Airport is about 30km away from the city's downtown area, next to the East China Sea. An eight lane highway and a double-track Transrapid guideway connect the city with its' major air-hub. The first phase consisted of a 4000m long and 60m wide runway, a control tower and an lounge building. With a total of 28 boarding gates, the airport allows 18 large and 10 medium-sized passenger planes to land at the same time. The cargo transport station and the business building have a combined construction area of 49.000m². [15]

Currently Pudong Airport is able to handle 126.000 flights, 20 million passengers and 750.000 tons of cargo per annum. A second runway is scheduled to be completed 2004 and the new terminal put into service in 2007. The blueprints for 2010 include two further runways and new terminal buildings to meet the expected 80-100 million passengers and 5 million tons cargo. The investment in these measures is expected to exceed €1,7 billion. [15]