Liang Zheng, Integrative research on redeveloping real estate,Urban sustainability, the case study of

Shanghai World Expo 2010, 43rd ISOCARP Congress 2007

Integrative research on redeveloping real estate, urban

sustainability, Shanghai, the case study of Shanghai World Expo

2010

Introduction:

On December, 2002, Shanghai has won its bid to host the International World’s Fair and
Exposition in 2010. The objectives are very ambitious: first of all the Expo 2010 is planned to
be four times as large as the World Exposition 2005 in Arichi, Japan. Furthermore, the Expo
2010 represents three premiers: It is the first time for an Expo to be held in a developing
country in its 150-year history; it is the first time that an Expo focuses on the theme of city
development-“better city, better life”, sub-themes include “Urban Cultural Diversity",
“Remodeling of Urban Communities" and "Interaction between Urban and Rural Areas"; It is
the first time that the urban planner will have such an import role in an Expo;

Being inspired by Lewis Mumford, “The city is a special structure which, fine and compact,
has been designed to preserve the fruits of human civilization”, it has been titled “better city,
better life “. As announced on the official website of Expo 2010 Shanghai, “Expo 2010
Shanghai China will be a great event to explore the full potential of urban life in the 21st
century and a significant period in urban evolution. The prospect of future urban life, a subject
of global interest, concerns all nations, developed or less developed, and their people.” For
the duration of 184 days participants of the Expo 2010 will display and communicate about the
urban civilization and development. The final aim is to learn about how to create an
eco-friendly society and maintain the sustainable development of human beings.

The proposal for the Expo 2010 from Shanghai came not out of nothing. It is indeed strictly
related with the local context. During the last two decades, Shanghai has been experiencing
an enormous urban transformation. The distance of being a global city and the present
situation of shortage of space, fragmentation of industrial land use, inefficient transportation
services, difficulties of space expansions and dilapidated housing led to the important
redeveloping task. Unfortunately, driven by the profit-seeking enterprises, the redevelopment
benefits have been unevenly redistributed. The urban redevelopment of Shanghai now mainly
serves urban growth and profit making. Consequently it brings socio-spatial polarization and
exclusion comparable to western post-fordist cities. Resistance arises from residential
relocation and clearance of central slams. Fortunately, the Expo2010 project could have a
major impact on the present situation and approach a new point toward sustainable urban
development as a whole.

As Hall pointed out, the decision of big events normally are a result of a political process. It is
a process which can combine in a short time all necessary resources and build an efficient

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organizational structure so as to ensure the successful accomplishment of the task. The

ordinary administrable process has been specifically renovated to be capable to fulfill the aim.
In this sense, the renovation during the process could improve the urban governance.
Consequently, it will improve the city and life quality. For this reason, it is quite interesting to
analyze the influences among them. How has the pilot project of the Expo 2010 influenced the
urban governance, city and life quality? Consequently, will the pilot project- Expo 2010
promote the sustainability of the city? Which are the positive and negative impacts of this
project? Moreover, which issues would have needed to be paid more attention to?

In respect to the theme “better city, better life”, I will analyze the Expo 2010 project looking at
it from three points of view: the city, the life, the urban governance”.

Case study of Expo 2010 project, Shanghai

The city: Background of the Expo 2010 Shanghai project

Shanghai is the largest city in China with a metropolitan population of over 13 million. Built
along the Huangpu River in the lower Yangtze delta with a total land area of 6430km2, the
metropolitan area consists of 14 urban districts in the city (2057 km2) and six suburban
counties.

Urban spatial history:

In its pre-1949 days, Shanghai had highly developed urban amenities; electricity networks,
sewerage lines, and tram-ways were equal to most European cities. After 1949, however, little
has been done for the maintenance and improvement of urban infrastructure. The anti-urban
bias also resulted in limited investment in housing, transport, utilities, and other urban
amenities. From 1950s-1990s, the city experienced little construction due to the policies of the
communist government. The government seems was suspicious of its used western ways. By
the 1970s and 1980s, the central city’s infrastructure was near collapse.

The central city of shanghai has been characterized by an extremely high density of housing
and industry, there were over 4000 industrial enterprises. Moreover, there is a lack of a proper
planning framework because of some periods in the past where the area has been colonized
by foreign powers. Foreign concession and Chinese districts had separated jurisdictions and
administrations. Consequently, it led to a situation where factories and houses were located
rather randomly and often even encircled each other.

Until the Chinese economic reforms in the early 1980s, the communist government began to
consider taking the city into the mainstream reforms. In the 1990s, the national government
decided to raise the status of Shanghai to that of a global city, making it a centre of finance,
commerce, trade and shipping. The fact of wanting to become a global city but having to face
at the same time many problems like shortage of space, fragmentation of industrial land,
inefficient transportation services, difficulties of space expansions and dilapidated housing led

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Shanghai World Expo 2010, 43rd ISOCARP Congress 2007

to the important redeveloping task. The redeveloping task includes the provision of housing
and industrial relocation, the maintenance and upgrading of infrastructure, the relocation of
original residents to satellite and suburban towns to make space for new freeways, high-rise
buildings, urban services and employment opportunities for the central city. Since then
Shanghai has undergone a profound restructuring of its infrastructure and, more importantly,
its physical form and appearance.

The master plan during the period 1999-2020 is based on a multi-centered urban structure
which will lead to wholesale re-urbanization of the city. The city growth and urban form was
restructured by the redevelopment of Pudong new economic zone which used to be the
agricultural and heavy industrial area. The Huangpu River which was full of factories,
shipyards and old warehouses, is now being gradually replaced by public open spaces and
other activities. It turns out to be the symbolic line of the city image. Moreover, the need for
transformation of the waterfront is also the key driver of the choice to use it as location site of
the vast world EXPO 2010.

Figure 1. View of Pudong New Area. Source: Expo official website

http://www.expo2010china.com/expo/expoenglish/oe/sacf/index.html
The new CBD of Pudong New Area was developed in less than two decades. Numerous
high-rise office towers and luxury residences were constructed quickly. A series of master
plans for different areas of the city, covering over 800 square kilometers, were designed.
About 20 million square meters of buildings have been expected to be built every year with
new housing, office and other activities. In this context new problems arise, such as the
displacement of central house holders to city’s periphery.
Investment in urban infrastructure, 1990-2003(unit: 10,000 yuan)

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Shanghai World Expo 2010, 43rd ISOCARP Congress 2007

Table 1: Investment in urban infrastructure in Pudong, 1990-2003. Source: SPSY

The Pudong new area is successfully developed by attracting foreign investment. However,
these also bring challenges which require more complex planning process and policy
interventions. Although the population in Pudong grew from 1.3 million in 1990 to 1.7 million in
2003, the density of population in Pudong is still not comparable to the Puxi new area, the old
center on the west side of the Huangpu River. Due to the inadequate transport infrastructure
and traditional perceptions, most Shanghai people prefer to live in Puxi, instead of living in
Pudong which represented a rural region far away from downtown Shanghai. Moreover, the
population within Pudong is also unequally distributed.

The project theme of Expo 2010: “The harmonious city”

Under the Expo 2010 guideline of the “better city, better life”, the concept of “city of harmony”
on urban planning has been proposed to promote the sustainable development of the city.
Based on this main concept, the harmony between human and nature, the harmony between
human and society, the harmony between history and future have been set up as the main
rules of the Expo 2010 project. Furthermore, the motto of the organizing committee is
“keeping in mind the next 60 years’ development while preparing for the six months’
exposition.”

Six principles of planning have been set up:

1. Design of an overall plan to determine the needed resources for hosting the Expo 2010 and
strategic plan of the after use issues.
2. Construction of a multifunctional modern transport system to ensure the connection
between the city and Expo site.
3. Integration of the urban landscape and highlight of the site of the Expo as fantastic public
space of the city.
4. Constitution of a reasonable strategic plan not only for the Expo 2010 project, but also for
the benefit of the future urban development of Shanghai on land use, architecture,

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Shanghai World Expo 2010, 43rd ISOCARP Congress 2007

environment and infrastructure.

5. Active construction of symbolic architecture and space structures in order to preserve the
history of the Expo 2010 for Shanghai.
6. Preservation of the historical culture.

The project site along the waterfront:

The Huangpu River

Pudong new area

Figure 2. Map of Master plan of Expo 2010.

Source:http://www.expo2010china.com/expo/shexpo/zlzx/xzzx/userobject1ai10674.html

The selected site of Expo 2010 locates along the Huangpu River which is the mother river of
Shanghai. This river serves as a water source for the 16 million residents in the area. The site
is also the birthplace of China’s original industrialization. Shanghai has assigned 6.4 km2
between Nanpu Bridge and the Lupu Bridge for the Expo 2010. Moreover, it is placed near the
Pudong new area, the Bund area and the city center. Around this area, the multinational
styles of architecture also reflect the history of Shanghai known as a financial center of the
Far East in 1930s. In particular, most of the unique buildings of the exposition, park, and
infrastructures within the Expo site will be maintained after the event. According to the
after-use plan, the space will be used for public events and cultural activities.

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Shanghai World Expo 2010, 43rd ISOCARP Congress 2007

Figure 3. View of Expo 2010 project. Source: Expo official website

The inner integrity and outer integrity:

The selected site of the Expo 2010 has culturally been witness of the historical evolution of
the city: the reforms and liberalization. And it will witness the new era in the history of the city.
Furthermore, the selected site will compensate the ongoing urban structure. Since all
traditional centers of Shanghai are based on high density of commercial and financial
activities, conversely with the renovation and reviving of the bank side, the new centre of
cultural and exhibited area will complement the urban functions. Specifically, by the time of
the Expo 2010, six bridges and six tunnels will be built to cross the river dividing the city.
Undoubtedly, the improvement of the transport system also promotes the integrity between
Puxi and Pudong. The subway is also being expanded from the current 3 lines totaling 65
kilometers to 15 lines totaling 400 kilometers, raising daily capacity from a daily 800,000
passengers to 5 million. The city’s transportation system will be improved to host the
estimated 70 million visitors of Expo 2010. A multilayer traffic system will be developed from
Puxi to Pudong. By 2010, three additional runways at Pudong international airport have been
promised to be completed. At the same time, the two airports of Shanghai are going to be
renovated to be used by 80 million people a year.

More importantly, the Expo 2010 is expected to trigger a new round of development for
Shanghai, even for the rest of China. From the view of the region, about US$ 5 billion will be
injected to expand the inner city road system. It will be upgraded with the aim of reaching up
to 700km of length. Moreover, the mass transit system of rail line is about to be extended to
over 300km. The transport infrastructure has been and will be improved significantly to satisfy
the demand of the event and even the future development of the city. With the development of
the transportation system, it will also stimulate the growth of the whole Yangtze River Delta;
which covers Shanghai and 16 other cities of the adjacent Province. This area covers 1% of
the geographical area of the nation, while the population of this area almost accounts for 6%
of China’s population. To hold the Expo 2010, the whole Yangtze River Delta will be turned

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Shanghai World Expo 2010, 43rd ISOCARP Congress 2007

into the second biggest metropolis circle in the whole Asian. Needless to say, the Expo will
facilitate the further development of this area to be a global financial center.

Certainly, with consideration of the urban background of this project, it is needless to say that
it would be a great chance to promote the socio-cultural cohesion in the urban context. By the
virtue of the Expo 2010, the urban structure has been enhanced sustainably.

The life:

The quality of urban life: living space

Within the Pudong new area, although the population has been increasing after the
redevelopment, the uneven population distribution remains a problem. Before the
redevelopment of this area, most of the population was concentrated along the bank of the
Huangpu River, but nowadays, it is mainly distributed in the Lujiazui Finance and trade zone
(Figure 4) which are near the Expo 2010 site. According to the China Population Net, due to
uneven distributed public service facilities, the density of population in Lujiazui Finance and
Trade zone was 10,687 persons per square kilometer by the end of 2004. This is much higher
than the population densities of the other three subareas of the Pudong new area:
Waigaoqiao ( Figure 4; 1,661 persons per Km2), Jinqiao ( Figure 4; 1,433 persons per Km2)
and Zhangjiang ( Figure 4; 1,299 persons per per Km2). These data show that most people
are located around the central area of the Pudong new area. Besides, the unevenly
distributed population also reveals the uneven development of the Pudong new area.
Consequently this will lead to traffic jam and difficulties for residence. Urban relocation has
definitely to be considered.

Figure 4. Map of Pudong New Area. Source: Massey et al., 1997(WeiPing Wu , city file)

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Shanghai World Expo 2010, 43rd ISOCARP Congress 2007

According to a statistic of the State Statistical Bureau, there are 80,000 people living within
the Expo 2010 site, occupying a total housing area of 5.28 Km2. Nearly 60% of them live
under undesirable conditions and some of the houses are located in dangerous areas. By the
virtue of Expo 2010, the new policy of “sunshine displacement” has been implemented which
is concerned about the exact profit of the resident. The original households on the site would
be relocated into a new residential area named “Expo Gardens”. It was equipped with the
complete public services, infrastructure, convenient traffic facilities, and the ratio on green
land/building land is 35%. With this the living condition of the original residents has been
greatly increased. Above all, the housing space per person will exceed 25 ㎡.

In particular, from the aspect of the living environment, after the implementation of the first
“Three-year Action Plan”, the second “Three-year Action plan” has been launched. It will
cover the following issues: cleaning up of the polluted waters and the atmosphere, solid waste
treat, green belt construction, preservation of the agricultural eco-system and creating of
eco-industrial enterprises. According to the Expo master plan, the polluted and anti- esthetical
272 manufacturing plants, which are undesirably located on the Expo site, will be moved to
new industrial area. Consequently, the new opening up space would be used for new
development. Green corridors, waterfront parks of the size of 60 hectares are proposed to be
constructed.

Daytime Expo view (artist's impression) Nighttime at the Expo (artist's impression)

Figure 4. Map of sight view of Expo 2010.

Source: http://www.antonraubenweiss.com/expo/week21.html

Figure 5 View of Expo Garden. Source: Expo official website

Furthermore, the planning of the Expo Gardens has not only aimed the relocation of the

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Shanghai World Expo 2010, 43rd ISOCARP Congress 2007

original residents of the Expo area but also meant to experiment for relieving the high density
of population in the central area: How to successfully attract people from the central area?
Inspired by the international successful experience, the multidimensional cultural and high
quality life inside the new resident area might attract the central population. In respect of that,
at the beginning of the planning of the Expo Garden the main aim was to build a whole new
city life mold to experiment an appropriate residential project mold for the future relocation.

In conclusion it can be said that the relocation of the residents has been successful because
the high quality new residential project “Expo garden” satisfies the life quality need of the
residents. And it is a first step towards Rural-urban Interaction. However, a complete and
related policy is suggested to be constituted in order to meet the need of further urban
relocation. Which aspects need to be paid more attention to? What do we learned from the
successful project?

The urban governance: The constitution of the new actor

The World Expo will open from 1 May to 31 October 2010. Over 20,000 activities are being
staged for this period. The total investment of the Expo 2010 project is estimated to be around
US$30 billion, 43% of which will come from government sources, 36% from companies and
21% from banks. The six-month-long Expo is expected to bring in US$9 billion for Shanghai,
according to China’s press coverage.

The leading role of the organizational structure has the Shanghai World Expo organizing
Committee which consists of delegates of the central government and related 24 committees
of the Shanghai government. Whereas the Shanghai World Expo Executive Committee is
responsible for the specific works instructed by organizing Committee. However, the
management and implementation of the Expo 2010 is a highly systematic and sequential
process and it demands a high level of coordination and efficiency of different working units.
Due to this reason, a new functional actor has been created, The Bureau of Shanghai World
Expo coordination, which is responsible for the daily work of the Executive Committee and to
help the implementation of the policies of the national and Shanghai 2010 world Expo
Organizing committee. In doing so, it will ensure the integration and connection between this
subjects so as to improve the efficiency of implementation.
The organizational structure picture of Shanghai 2010 Expo coordination

Shanghai 2010 World Exposition

National organizing Committee
Headed by Mme. Wu Yi
Commissioner General Mr.Hua
Junduo
Shanghai 2010 World Exposition
Executive Committee

Bureau of Shanghai World Expo

Coordination (the organizer)

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Shanghai World Expo 2010, 43rd ISOCARP Congress 2007

Chief Developer Chief Planner

The office of World Expo

The research center of strategy developing

The office of international exposition fairs

The Marketing development department

The center of media and public relations

The construction coordination department

The transport management department

The financial plan department

The human resource department

The legal office

The supervise and ministry of audit

The sources: the report of the registration of Shanghai Expo 2010.
The working structure of the planning team

The leading department of the planning:

Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination
The committee of the City construction
The department of the City Planning

The commission department:

The organizer of the Technology supporting department:
Bureau of Shanghai World Expo
planning criterion The city planning office and City civic
Coordination
department

Professional design company

The sources: the report of the registration of Shanghai Expo 2010.

With the new organizational structure, more actors are getting involved inside the decision
making process. Thanks to the Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination, the integrations
of different working units has been ensured, the long term of feedback, modification and
improvement from developing phase, construction phase to after use phase will be fulfilled.
The event absolutely stimulates the constitution of an operational mechanism with higher
efficiency if compared with the original one.

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Shanghai World Expo 2010, 43rd ISOCARP Congress 2007

The involvement of international intellectuals:

On May, 2004, the international competition of the planning proposal started. To assure the
advanced technology supporting, many top international design companies and professionals
were invited. It is important to mention that the organizer of the competition is an independent
international bidding company. The Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination committed
the power to the professional company. Each part of the process has strictly followed the
international public bidding standard. This action reveals the willingness of corporation of
the government with the professionals. To some extent, it also avoids the unitary
governmental planning mold. The process of the competition is meant to be transparent and
fruitful. At the end of the competition, a team with members from 10 different perception of
Expo culture has been formed. This competition will enrich the concept of the Expo by the
international intellectual communication. During the collection on global scale of advanced
concepts to develop the Expo project, the Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination has
been systematically analyzing and selecting the final plan. At the end, it will be implemented
by the local professionals. Particular, an essay forum has been set up for officials who visited
the Aichi Expo to spur fruitful discussion about the organization of the 2010 Expo.

Nevertheless, from the structure, the lack of involvement of the citizens in formulating the
future of the urban area comes out. According to the motto of “keeping in mind the next 60
years’ development while preparing for the six months’ exposition.” the organization structure
seems effective for the six month exposition, whereas the user driven innovation should also
be consider for the next 60 years. The city image and status certainly will be improved by the
event. However, this event could also sharpen the social segregation. The relocation of
residence, the rising prices of the nearby residences could bring about negative impact on
low-incoming families. How to extend the indubitable positive effects of the event on the
Sustainable socio-economic development while avoiding the negative impacts? The
confrontation of this issue is also suggested to be considered during the policy making
process.

Conclusion:

According to all the analyses I illustrated above, based on the urban context of Shanghai, the
Expo 2010 project is absolutely needed and useful. The urban space has been integrated
toward the direction of sustainable development. Urban policy also gets improved by the
integration of new functional renovation. Effective partnerships and related policies have been
constituted by the occasion of the event.

Nevertheless, Civic integration plays an important role in generating civic participation and
social inclusion, appropriate physical and social spaces. Moreover it could produce ideas
which reinforce sustainability of social networks and enable citizens to actively participate at
the urban governance. However, in this case, integration seems limited between the
professionals and the politicians. The city users somehow do not get involved inside the policy
making process. It seems necessary to emphasize that the most important thing of the Expo

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Shanghai World Expo 2010, 43rd ISOCARP Congress 2007

2010 is to improve the city environment and to create better life for the citizens. In this sense,
a user-driven research and analyses is needed.

From the view of the urban economy, though foreign investment does enhance the city image
and the competitiveness, the promotion of the local economic growth is the key theme in
urban growth. The Expo project should also try to involve and promote the local and national
enterprises in a reasonable way.

The waterfront urban transformation and large constructions of urban parks showed the
increasing focus on the integration on urban landscape. Needless to say, waterfront areas are
precious lands for an international city. The return of the waterfront area to the public use will
significantly improve the quality of life. However, little has been done for the periphery.
Massive relocation of industry and residential real estate projects cannot be supplied with
convenient public services. It is suggested to take advantage of the successful residential
project, such as the Expo garden. In doing so, it could help to develop a complete and
effective mold to improve the life quality as a whole.

In short, we should consider how to extend the positive effects of the Expo 2010 project while
avoiding the negative impacts of it.

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Shanghai World Expo 2010, 43rd ISOCARP Congress 2007

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