Shanghai’s iconic urban planning exhibition hall reopened to the public for free on Tuesday after a nearly two-year renovation.

The Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Center on People’s Avenue in Huangpu District has integrated new technologies, such as virtual reality, augmented reality, 8K high-definition displays as well as the largest five-dimensional digital map of the world to present the past, present and future development.

It is open free of charge from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day, except Wednesday. Visitors must make online reservations and have a negative polymerase chain reaction test result within the previous 72 hours.

All 500 quotas for the first day were reserved immediately after the center announced the reopening on its official WeChat account.

“I think it’s the best place for children to learn about the history and the future of the city,” said Pan Hong’an, a local pensioner who took his grandson to the center around 10 a.m. Tuesday.

“The new exhibition includes many high-tech facilities that well represent Shanghai’s status as a center of scientific innovation.”

The center closed on December 1, 2019, for its biggest facelift since the venue opened in February 2000.

During its more than two decades of operation, the center has received a total of 7.2 million visitors, 60% of them from abroad. Many foreign tourists have chosen the center as the first stop on their visit to Shanghai, according to the center.

It is the first exhibition center in China dedicated to urban planning and construction achievements.

The center was supposed to reopen in March, but that was delayed by the resurgence of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The new exhibition center mainly presents the city’s 2035 master plan in several thematic exhibitions such as “humanist”, “innovation” and “ecological”.

The miniature models reproduce the typical characteristics of the city shikumenor stone residences, as well as popular water towns such as Zhujiajiao in suburban Qingpu District.

Shanghai’s latest digital transformation strategy and smart digital applications are also on display with interactive installations.

A section has been designated for professionals to view the latest global planning information and details of Shanghai’s previous master plans.

Over 500 photographs, 90 videos and 40 models are featured in around 30 exhibits, which will be regularly updated to include the latest in city planning.

A section on the ground floor will host temporary art exhibitions related to urban studies.

Currently, the inaugural exhibition – Beijing-Shanghai Urban Culture Image Studies – runs until September 10.

More than 40 photos taken by 30 architects and urban planners in the two cities address many key urban development issues, such as convergence of urban styles and lack of features, according to the exhibition organizer.

The Office for Elders wants city planners to make their spaces suitable for everyone, including kuia and kaumātua.

According to director Diane Turner, New Zealand is reaching the point where one in five people will be over 65.

She says older people often feel left out of conversations about development.

The office’s new urban planning report offers advice on improving streets and public spaces, accessibility and ease of movement, housing, and how best to connect older people to their community through design.

“It’s about having a sense of place and belonging and kaumātua and kuia will often have a deep knowledge of the local landscape, its history and a desire to share those stories, and it’s important to provide a sense of ownership that these stories are shared in our urban development and urban design,” says Ms. Turner.

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“I was waist deep in water,” recalls Tarun Rajkhowa, a 70-year-old resident of Guwahati city’s Rukminigaon district. In mid-June this year, when incessant rain flooded parts of the city, Rajkhowa and his wife were stuck in their first-floor apartment for almost a week. “It was impossible for us to go out. The relief material was delivered to us by boat. The vehicles parked on the ground floor of our building were completely under water,” Rajkhowa said. Just weeks after a severe wave of flooding in May, heavy rains left the town of Silchar in southern Assam inundated for days for the second time.

Rain-triggered floods have caused widespread havoc in rural Assam in recent years. However, this year, crucial urban areas such as Silchar and Guwahati were considered the most affected. As large numbers of people migrate to cities, experts say there is a lack of urban planning and resources to support burgeoning populations, making these cities vulnerable to climate impacts, natural disasters , floods and landslides. A government study of 12 states in India’s Himalayan Region (IHR) and their vulnerability to climate change found Assam to be among the most vulnerable states.

The challenges of urban planning

Dulumoni Kakati, Councilor of Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC), confirmed that increased construction, urbanization and inadequate waste disposal systems are some of the reasons why many areas in Guwahati are experiencing floods. Calling for better drainage systems, she explained that when rainfall is low, flooding is usually not a risk. But intense rains, as seen in June, overwhelm the city’s drainage.

Abhijit Sharma, president of the northeast branch of Institute of Town Planners, said: ‘We have no local planning – no parks, no open spaces, no drainage systems. The municipal corporation is a people-oriented institution, but somehow it is not given enough importance.

He also says there is not enough land in the cities to meet the needs of those who migrate from smaller areas in search of livelihood opportunities, especially those who are economically and socially marginalized. “A lot of these people have settled in the hills and this has led to earth cuts, which later clog the sewers in the cities. An urban plan would help these people. We tell them not to go to the hills but where will they stay Most people who migrate are poor.

A lack of clean pipes and a persistent misunderstanding of citizens, he added, are manifestations of larger problems.

Parthankar Choudhury, a professor of environmental science at the University of Assam in Silchar, points out that while people living in one-story houses have suffered greatly, marginalized communities are going through tougher times.

Experts say that the rapid concreting of surfaces and the growth of infrastructure hinder the absorption of rainwater into the ground. “Due to the increase in infrastructure, rainwater accumulates very early in cities,” said Ratnakar Mahajan, technical director at Maccaferri India, which focuses on advanced solutions for mining engineering projects. and environmental.

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Read more: More research on the relationship between flash floods and climate change is needed

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The National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) in New Delhi also emphasizes facilitating groundwater recharge to store excess flood waters. “We are emphasizing the proper management of ponds, lakes and other water bodies that will serve as retention basins during floods,” said Hitesh Vaidya, Director of NIUA.

Mahajan thinks that drainage systems are not developed while cities are growing rapidly. Drainage patterns should be modified according to the natural flow of water. “The drains need to be resized – they should be bigger. The precipitation regime changes, so drainage systems must be studied and properly planned.

The role of government

Rizwan Uz Zaman, Technical Consultant at Assam Climate Change Management Society (ACCMS), discussed several initiatives recently undertaken by the government, including the State 2.0 Action Plan which was endorsed by the Assam Cabinet and is awaiting approval from New Delhi. “The water resources department came up with many measures, and the housing and urban affairs departments also came up with new initiatives. Innovative climate resilient actions have been suggested for flood management in cities. The document is not yet public and we will only be able to share it once it has received approval from New Delhi. We consult civil society and experts in the field.

According to Zaman, the Assam State Action Plan on Climate Change 2.0 mainly focuses on mainstreaming climate action into urban governance and policy, construction of urban housing and climate-resilient waste management, a low-carbon road network and mobility, and ensuring holistic pollution/emissions management. in the towns. “Those are the five big strategies we are working on. The forest department has also taken the initiative to rehabilitate and resettle forest dwellers from various places.

Hrishiraj Sharma, an architect and urban planner based in Guwahati, said: “The water comes from the hills to the cities. The city can only draw water according to its capacity. Apart from this, if the excess water comes from the hills, the water levels in the valley will rise.

NIA Director Vaidya said cities in the northeast are no different from others in India when it comes to typical shortcomings in urban planning. Among those shortcomings, he noted, was the reluctance to adopt a systematic approach. This can be attributed to a lack of coordination and interaction with communities and the general public. “In most cases, public opinion is only sought after the plans are prepared,” Vaidya said. He also highlighted the need for more urban practitioners and public officials to develop ways to take an approach that takes climate resilience into account. “We need to move from a relief-centric approach to a proactive response-centric approach to dealing with extreme and more frequent disasters by building climate-resilient infrastructure.”

Experts also suggested that the municipal corporation and district administration conduct a carrying capacity survey in towns and villages in Assam, which can give an idea of ​​the population a town can support with its resources.

Mongabay-India has contacted the GMC commissioner for an interview but has not received a response as of press time.

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Read more: Extreme flooding from intense cyclones will affect more people in India and Bangladesh

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Banner image: Southeast Asia receives heavy rainfall, which makes cities in the northeast, such as Guwahati, particularly prone to flooding. Photo by lensnmatter/Wikimedia Commons.

Beginning at the End: As groundbreaking urban planner Peter Marcuse took his last breaths on March 4, 2022, he returned to the language of his childhood to offer his last words to his loved ones. Ich habe etwas zu sagen. (“I have something to say.”). I guess life hasn’t allowed him to finish his thought, but the statement stands nonetheless: Peter Marcuse had something to say, and he said it beautifully and powerfully in his 93 years. on earth.

Peter was born in Berlin, but when he was six his parents, mathematician Sophie Wertheim and Marxist philosopher Herbert Marcuse, fled the Nazi regime, taking Peter first to Switzerland and then to the United States. Peter has become one of the world’s foremost and most influential scholars of radical urbanism, merging his research interests in housing, land use and public space with his political commitments to establishing rights. civilians, empowering tenants and ending homelessness. . He helped found important and enduring institutions of left-wing urbanism like Planners for Equal Opportunity (now Planners Network), and he has tirelessly offered his time and energy to grassroots projects for the realization of the right to the city.

I knew Peter first through his published texts, then as a teacher, and finally as a mutual sounding board and collaborator. In graduate school, I encountered his scholarly writing, always theoretically and empirically rigorous but readable and relatable. In a course on urban sustainability, we read “Sustainability Is Not Enough,” his short essay deconstructing and ultimately shattering the concept of sustainability itself. He argued that the subject matter was inherently conservative; for the earth to survive, our relationship with it – and, just as importantly, with each other – would have to be radically altered.

While attending Hunter College, I started working as an organizer at Tenants & Neighbors. During my first few weeks on the job, I found in a binder a draft of an article by Peter entitled “The Political Economy of Rent Control: Theory and Strategy”, sent for comment to the founder of the organization in March 1977. In it, Peter argued that rent control as we know it is not a gift from a mythical “benevolent state”, but rather a reflection of the balance of power between landlords, tenants and the state. Rent control, he argued, is an important protection for tenants, but also allows landlords to benefit from a virtually guaranteed constant increase in rents, even when market rate rents fall – a dynamic confirmed. in cities like New York during the first year of the pandemic, when rents for market-priced apartments fell, but rent-stabilized apartments either held steady or increased.

While working at Tenants & Neighbors, I took Peter’s course “The Housing Question,” co-taught with fellow left-wing urban planner Tom Angotti, at the Brecht Forum, a Marxist adult education center in New York City. . Peter had long since retired from Columbia University, but he continued to devote himself to educating activists, emerging critics, and curious urbanites seeking deeper answers about why our cities work. as they do. He didn’t attribute much of his own work, but we did read one of his articles called “The Five Lives of Public Housing”, in which Peter demonstrated how the purpose of public housing had changed over the decades, leading to changes in its funding. levels, design and rental. It was classic Marcuse: he took a piece of the built environment that we all thought we knew well and showed us that, in fact, it was many other things at once and still the product of a struggle keep on going.

Over the past few years, Peter and I have sometimes discussed and collaborated on projects and panels. He would ask me for my thoughts on various topics, and I would do the same. Whenever I received an email from him, I always wondered: why is he talking to me? The truth was that Peter was an incredibly generous person who never stopped teaching, but he never stopped asking questions. He always sought to pass on his own knowledge and to draw inspiration from younger generations. He was a model for retiring from his career without ever ceasing to learn, to question, to observe and to make offerings.

Coming back to the end: Peter said his last words – “I have something to say” – on March 4th. That day was my paternal grandfather’s birthday. He used to joke that it was the only date on the calendar that made up a complete sentence in English: “March forward!” Peter met his wife, Frances, at a May Day march and would continue to be part of the protests as long as he could comfortably walk. The date of Peter’s death serves as a final challenge to radical planners, architects and urban planners: march and build a better world than the one we inhabit today.

Samuel Stein is a researcher, writer, advocate, and critic focused on the intersection of real estate and urban planning in New York City and the author of the book Capital: gentrification and state of real estate.

Research project:
This vacancy is part of the EOS Construction History, Above and Beyond research project. What History Can Do for Construction History, led by Professors Michiel Dehaene (UGent), Dave De ruysscher (VUB, University of Tilburg), Rika Devos (ULB), Johan Lagae (UGent), Stephanie Van de Voorde (VUB) and Ine Wouters (VUB). A total of 3 PhD positions and 4 postdoc positions are included in this project. An overview of the complete project and all relevant mandates can be viewed at: www.vub.be/arch/project/eos. The EOS research project will establish a dialogue (in terms of sources, methodologies, concepts and cognitive interests) between the history of construction and three other fields of history, namely colonial history, legal history and planning history. As such, the project aims to strengthen the historical dimension of construction history, while simultaneously demonstrating its relevance and potential for other fields and disciplines. The project focuses broadly on selected aspects of 19th and 20th century construction knowledge and practices in Belgium and its former colony, with particular attention to tacit knowledge, in order to express actors, sources and types of crucial but underestimated knowledge. The individual trajectory of each doctoral student is part of this extended team, operating in the 3 universities (ULB, UGent and VUB). Intensive exchanges and shared results between team members are crucial for the success of the project. The doctoral positions are each situated in one of the 3 fields of dialogue: (1) history of the construction of colonial history; (2) the legal history of construction and (3) the planning history of construction history. This specific vacancy is issued by the Free University of Brussels (ULB) and engages the dialogue between the history of town planning and the history of construction. It is co-supervised by the teachers. Rika Devos (ULB) and Michiel Dehaene (UGhent). The doctorate is planned as a joint doctorate between the two universities.

The dialogue between the history of town planning and the history of construction will focus on the specific demands produced by the process of metropolitan transformation in the 20th century, both in the formation and in the expansion of the urban agglomerations of Brussels, Antwerp and Liège during the inter-war period and the inter-war period. Glorious Thirties. This sub-team studies the response of the construction industry to the specific demands of remodeling the urban geography and its building stock and the resulting relationships between contractors, architects and emerging developers. It analyzes both the local interaction of these actors and their organization into professional networks.

This doctoral thesis focuses on the specific demands produced by the process of metropolitan transformation in the 20th century.both in the formation and expansion of the urban agglomerations of Brussels, Antwerp and Liège during the interwar period and Glorious Thirties. The context of the study is shaped by the construction industry’s response to specific demands for reshaping urban geography and its building stock and the resulting relationships between contractors, architects and emerging developers. It analyzes both the local interaction of these actors and their organization into professional networks.

More specifically, the study explores the relationship between pioneer activity on the outskirts and the remodeling of the urban core. From previous research at UGent, we know that the same actors engaged in the development of virgin land development were also active in projects aimed at the densification and renovation of the existing city, bringing not only models development but also specific institutional and technical capacities. The doctoral course focuses in particular on three configurations: (1) The role of contractors in the construction of major metropolitan programs, starting from the fringe (eg Van Riel & Van den Bergh in Antwerp); (2) The emergence of development groups specific to Brussels producing certain typical components of the post-war city (supermarkets, service stations, large apartments); (3) Public-private development coalitions that combined investment in infrastructure with renewal of the urban core in Liège. The successful candidate will be based alternately at ULB and UGent, in order to allow dynamic interaction with team members and full integration into both institutions.

The students unanimously voted in general assembly to strike from October 3 to 7

NewIn shortZachary Fortier — Posted August 16, 2022 2 minutes

Although the Concordia Senate has approved a reading week in the fall of 2021, the policy change will not take place until the fall of 2023. The UPA has decided to go ahead with a strike, demanding that changes be made at a faster pace.

The motion took place at the general meeting of the association on August 15. All eligible students present voted to strike during the first week of October. The leaders of the UPA are convinced that their association will not act alone during the strike.

“We are the first [Member Association] to make this motion and hopefully others will follow,” said UPA Vice President Administration Trynity Turnbull.

Turnbull cited one of the main reasons for the association’s strike: the end of the schedule stalemate due to the pandemic. “Because of [administration’s] continuous changes in the school calendar, there is not much reason to wait,” she said. If the administration could make quick adjustments for COVID-19, it could do so during a fall reading week, she explained.

Vice-President of Internal/External Affairs, Téa Boissoneault, highlighted how the pandemic has impacted the mental health of students. “Everyone has been through such a tough time dealing with exhaustion during COVID,” she said, adding that a break would allow students to replenish their energy.

“It’s not fair that all major universities in Quebec have a fall reading week while we’re stuck in the classroom,” said UPA President Torben Laux. He thanked the students for voting unanimously to strike in the fall, noting his excitement for the upcoming academic year.

According to Payton Mitchell, communications coordinator for the Faculty of Associations and Arts, several other MAs are also considering going on strike. “UPA is the first of many ASFA member associations planning to vote for the class strike in October to take a well-deserved break from academic responsibilities,” she said.

“ASFA encourages all arts and science students interested in mobilizing their department’s association to participate in the strike to contact either on instagram or by contacting Engagement Coordinator Ashley Torres directly at [email protected]“Mitchell added.