Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Shanghai's satellites
Developments within the city are certainly
eye-catching, but the most ambitious projects
are happening outside the city centre. With its
population set to double over the next twenty
years, and a population density four times
greater than that of New York, Shanghai
cannot simply built upwards - it needs to
spread outwards too. Accordingly, nine new
satellite cities
are being built from scratch,
each to accommodate half a million souls.
Bizarrely, many of them - designed to appeal
to the affluent and increasingly Westernized
Chinese middle class - are direct pastiches
of European cities and towns. Pujiang will
have an Italian flavour; Fencheng focuses
on an adaptation of Barcelona's Ramblas;
Anting is a German-themed town designed
by Albert Speer, the son of Hitler's favourite
architect. And Thames Town, the faux-
English centre to Song Jiang new town,
features half-timbered Tudor-style houses,
Georgian terraces and Victorian warehouses; there are even statues of Winston Churchill
and Harry Potter.
Shanghai's attitude to the environment tends towards the ambivalent, but one notable
exception is under construction on nearby Chongming Island. Designed by British
engineering company Arup, Dongtan is set to become the world's first self-sustaining,
carbon neutral
eco-city
. Buildings will be powered by solar energy, wind turbines and
recycled organic material, while grass will be grown on rooftops to provide natural
insulation. The city should be self-sufficient in water too, with purified rainwater the
primary source.
It looks like Shanghai's cranes won't be idle for some time yet.
Jiushi Corporation Headquarters building
Oriental Arts Centre
