Building the Future - China's New Cities
Albert Speer, Managing Partner, AS & P
James Brearley, BAU
Sun Le & Yang Cai, Urban China magazine, Tongji University
Mesa/Manifesto
7p.m., Monday, January 21 (talk starts at 7.30 p.m.)
China is urbanizing at unprecedented pace - some estimates say the
urban population will grow by 300 million people in the next fifteen
- twenty years. But as cities around the country build vast new
areas, and redesign existing neighbourhoods, what kind of urban
environment is being created? Our panel of respected experts will
look at the future of the Chinese city - and whether there is any
alternative to the model of grandiose official buildings, vast
squares, car-focused CBDs, giant shopping centres and enormous
gated communities.
Venue details: Function room at Mesa/Manifesto,
748 Julu Lu, near Fumin Lu (6289 9108)
Admission: Members free; Non-members 50 RMB,
RSVP: fcc.sfcc@gmail.com by Friday January 18
About the Speaker:
Albert Speer Jnr heads one of Europe's leading architecture and urban
planning practices. Based in Frankfurt, Albert Speer and Partners has
designed urban areas around the world - the firm works widely in
Africa, and is currently involved in the regeneration of Frankfurt's
'Europa district'. It also devised the masterplan for the 2000
Hannover World Expo. In recent years AS & P has become increasingly
focused on China - it designed the original, environmentally
friendly, plans for Shanghai's Anting new town, and is currently
working on an 'auto city' project in Changchun. Professor Speer is
also a respected academic, who has shaken off the legacy of his
father's grandiose plans for the Third Reich to formulate his own
vision of the need for human-focused, sustainable planning, as
highlighted in his 1992 book The Intelligent City.
James Brearley is an Australian architect and planner whose company
BAU - Brearley Architects and Urbanists - which he runs in
partnership with his wife Fang Qun - has been working on urban design
in China since 2001. BAU has designed masterplans for new areas in
a number of large and medium-size Chinese cities, including a 12
square kilometre zone in Chengdu, and a new centre for the city of
Jiangyin. James Brearley is also an Adjunct Professor of RMIT
University of Melbourne, and co-author of the book Networks Cities,
which outlines BAU's vision for functional and sustainable urban
development. He also organises regular discussions on architecture at
BAU's office.
Sun Le and Yang Cai are editors of Urban China magazine, which
provides some of the most thoughtful analysis of China's breakneck
urbanization, and has covered a wide range of social issues since it
was launched by academics at Tongji University in 2005. The
magazine aims both to reflect the problems raised by rapid urban
development - and to educate Chinese citizens to 'understand and care
about urban planning,' and the cities in which they live.
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