Sunday, 15 March 2008 / 13:00 -17:30

Main Auditorium, CAFA School of Design, Beijing

Superblock developments, for both housing and mixed use, have become the de facto unit of urban fabric in modern Chinese cities. This symposium will investigate the phenomenon of large-scale development as "Megablock Urbanisms": spatial instruments with social, cultural and economic implications, operating between the scales of architecture and the city. The Megablock then becomes a laboratory for the consequences, opportunities, and potential global proliferation of Chinese urban models, reconsidered through the filters of ecology, economics, and ethics. In this first Megablock Urbanisms Symposium, scholars and practitioners, all actively engaging and observing the urbanization processes of Beijing, have been invited to collectively debate the expanded idea of the Megablock.

Panel 1: Realization 13:00 - 15:00

Moderated by Tat LAM (China Lab and PhD Candidate, UCL Bartlett)

WANG Hui (Urbanus Architecture & Design)

HUANG Yan (Beijing Municipal Planning Commission)

LI Hu (OPEN Architecture and Steven Holl Architects)

CHEN Yin (Modern Group)

Hann CHEN (Morphosis)

15:00-15:15 Break

Panel 2: Reflection / Projection 15:15-17:15

Moderated by FAN Ling (CAFA School of Architecture)

Neville MARS (Dynamic City Foundation, Beijing)

LÜ Xiaobo (Professor of Political Science, Columbia University)

SHI Jian (Architecture and Urban Critic)

Eric CHANG (OMA)

I-Shin CHOW (SciSKEW, Shanghai)

Sponsored by GSAPP and the Weatherhead Institute for East Asian

Studies, Columbia University

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INTRODUCTION BY JEFFREY JOHNSON

To explain a little bit about China Lab, we are a research unit at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture Planning and Preservation. Our aim is to provide a platform for research on China and for the exchange of ideas—not only amongst ourselves, but with a broader, global community of thinkers—much like what we are doing here today. We want to promote, with our friends, the benefits of a collective global intelligence.

In the broadest sense, we are interested in researching topics that pertain to the rapid urbanization of China—its causes, affects and consequences. For us, China’s approach to urbanization has the potential to influence urbanization globally. As we all know, the world continues to urbanize, in many regions at an astonishing pace.

In 1950, less than 30% of the world’s population lived in cities. We are currently 50% urban. By 2050, it is projected that the World will be 70% urban.

It is necessary for us as architects, urbanists and scholars to find ways to intervene in its physical metamorphosis. Existing cities are expanding and new ones are being formed at a pace without historic precedent, and in forms never before seen. How the World continues to urbanize is of huge consequence.

The contemporary Chinese city can, in many ways, provide us with a portal, or more than likely, multiple portals, into how the world’s future urban landscape might be formed. How we understand this phenomenon is critical to our ability to participate in the future urbanization of the world. This means we must invent new ways of thinking about cities and be agile enough to continually adapt and/or discard even the most recently developed theories about the city. The paradigms have clearly shifted, especially in China.

This brings us to Megablock and the purpose for today’s symposium.

In China, the default solution for accommodating the millions of new urban inhabitants, plus those relocated from less-dense neighborhoods slated for redevelopment, is Megablock development, a carry-over from the Soviet era Danwei-type urban development planning, and the Modernist’s housing block. The Megablock is the basic unit of urban planning and development.

Superblock housing developments have, at least until recently, been built at a rate of over 10 completed each day. These large-scale residential enclaves are taking over the fabric of Chinese cities.

For us at China Lab, the Megablock is a critical point of engagement with the Chinese city. It is our primary research project, and one we feel deserves ample attention. The Megablock is both architecture and urbanism. When it is at its best it can provide the services, vitality and energy of a city yet promote notions of community and social and environmental sustainability. At its worst, its autonomy can disconnect the development from the urban flows of the city and create dehumanizing isolation. The Megablock always runs the risk of becoming an autonomous island amongst islands.

What is the future of the Megablock? How can the Megablock be conceived as a successful model for future urbanization? For me, the IDEA or concept of the Megablock still has potential to inspire unique and radical urbanisms for the future. However, when it is deployed merely as a tool of efficiency, the Megablock offers a frightening future. I look forward to hearing the discussions today and the diverse perspectives that such a distinguished list of participants can offer.