The Royal College of Art in collaboration with the Projective Cities (Architectural Association School of Architecture), Shanghai Jiao Tong University, ACROSS Architecture, Hongmei Home Commonwealth Service Centre and Chuang Xin Hui is organising a symposium, workshop, and discussion forum in Shanghai on 9-10 December 2017:
Symposium
SOCIO-SPATIAL DESIGN AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF URBAN-RURAL CHINA
Date: Saturday 9th December 2017
Time: 9:00-12:00 and 14:00-18:00
Venue: Conference Room 315, Engineering Hall, Xuhui Campus, Jiao Tong University
The symposium will discuss how historical spatial development forms in China – such as the urban danwei and worker’s new village or rural people’s commune and Third Front – are an important contemporary heritage of urban form and Chinese modernity. Current problems of neighbourhood transformations and urbanisation in China can be understood in relationship to these historical developments. The symposium will consequently also debate the significance of this spatial heritage to urban design and planning theory, history and practice, and how spatial design has been instrumental to shape a sense of community and place. This discussion is framed through three contexts critical to understanding contemporary urban design in China: the history of communal spatial development models; socio-spatial changes in urban and rural developments; and changing models of urban-rural governance. Therefore, a key question arises: how are these socio-spatial developments critical to formulating a new interdisciplinary urban design practice and theory in China?
9:00–9:15 Introduction
9:15–9:45 Dr. Sam Jacoby (AA/RCA)
‘Socio-spatial and Urban Design of Housing’
9:45–10:15 Prof. Li HOU (Tongji University)
‘Building Beyond Oil: The Daqing Model’
10:15–10:45 Prof. Youwei XU (Shanghai University)
‘The Housing Problem of Chinese Workers: Small Third Front 1960-90s’
10:45–11:15 Dr. Zhiyong LIANG (University of Hong Kong)
‘From Village for Commoners to Workers’ New Village’
11:15–12:00 Morning Q&A Session
14:00–15:00 Keynote Lecture:Prof. Duanfang LU (University of Sydney)
‘Urbanisation Through Collective Forms’
15:00–15:30 Jingru Cyan CHENG (AA)
‘Radical Settlement: The Architecture of the People’s Commune’
15:30–16:00 Prof. Wansheng XIONG (East China University of Science and Technology)
‘A Sociological Explanation of the Rural Settlement’
16:00 –16:30 Ning OU (Curator and Artist)
‘The Collective Eye: Bishan and Other Places’
16:30 –17:00 Dr. Platon Issaias (AA/RCA)
‘Collective Equipment as a Device for Urban Design’
17:00 –18:00 Concluding Round Table Discussion
Workshop
DESIGN RESEARCH IN ARCHITECTURE
Date: Sunday 10th December 2017
Time: 9:00-12:00
Venue: Conference Room 315, Engineering Hall, Xuhui Campus, Jiao Tong University
The workshop is for students, young scholars, and academics to discuss approaches to design research in architecture and urban design. The workshop is complementary to the symposium and the forum in the afternoon.
Presenter
Dr. Sam Jacoby (Director, AA Projective Cities)
Dr. Tarsha Finney (Programme Lead, City Design, RCA)
Dr. Lu FENG (Shanghai Jiao Tong University)
Dr. Yongkang CAO (Associate Professor, Shanghai Jiao Tong University)
Ruohong WU (China Academy of Art)
Zhenhang HU (China Academy of Art)
Gianna Bottema and Huajing WEN (MPhil Projective Cities candidate, AA)
Mingdi ZHOU, Siyu ZHENG, and Lu LI (5th Year, Architecture, SJTU)
Discussion Panel
Xin WANG (University of Nottingham Ningbo China)
Yuwei WANG (University of Nottingham Ningbo China)Huajing WEN (MPhil Projective Jingru Cyan CHENG (AA)
Zhiyong LIANG (University of Hong Kong)
Ning OU (Curator and Artist)
Forum
ARCHITECTURAL URBANISM: INTERDISCIPLINARY URBAN DESIGN CHALLENGES
Date: Sunday 10th December 2017
Time: 15:00-18:00
Venue: Huaxin Conference Centre, No. 142 Tianlin Road, Xuhui District, Shanghai
The forum is a discussion between practitioners, stakeholders and academics about the contemporary challenges of urban design. Emerging in the 1960s in the USA and adopted in China since the mid-1990s, urban design is historically understood as an interdisciplinary practice of architecture, landscape architecture and city planning. The importance to understand cities and their design in multi–scalar and multi-disciplinary terms is today even more important, given the extent and complexity of global urbanisation. In China, as elsewhere, urban design is to provide design guidelines capable of integrating the diverse needs of local communities into sustainable large urban plans. But significant differences remain in how urban design in China deals with challenges of place-making, needs of local communities, and scale. Imported Western design models have not always translated well into a context with different urban, economic and social organisation and histories. Therefore, the forum will discuss how urban design has to develop a better understanding of local contexts and a broader multi-disciplinary approach that integrates urban sociology, social policy, public welfare and governance, as well new economies, lifestyles and real-estate development models in order to cross established disciplinary, methodological and cultural boundaries.
Presenter
Yapeng PU (Committee Secretary of the CPC, Hongmei Sub-district Office, Xuhui District, Shanghai)
Dr. Xia MO (Director, Urban Renewal Research Centre, East China Architectural Design & Research Institute)
Dr. Lu FENG (Principal, Wuyang Architecture)
Dr. Sam Jacoby (Director, AA Projective Cities)
Dr. Tarsha Finney (Programme Lead, City Design, RCA)
Dr. Platon Issaias (Studio Master, AA Projective Cities)
Discussion Panel
Lei CAO (Director, Caohejing Sub-district Office, Xuhui District, Shanghai)
Zhongnan YE (Vice Director, Centre for Regional Development and Urban Design, East China Architectural Design & Research Institute)
Xin WANG (Bfun Design)
Yuwei WANG (Xframe Studio)
Zhiyong LIANG (University of Hong Kong)
Ning OU (Curator and Artist)
Yuhong ZHAO (Ambassador, TED China Region)
Chair: Jingru Cyan CHENG (AA)