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Two Water Towns in the Qingpu District of Shanghai Semprebon

conflictual interests created the conditions for July 2018 for Zhujiajiao, and in December
permanent contestations that did not always 2016 for Liantang. The selection criteria for
get ahead with mediations [40] . Negotiating the two case studies included the presence of
values, assets, cultures, identities, and profits comparable historical significance, in this
have become a common dividing aspect of case, related to the relationship between water
heritage tourism [41] . systems and built forms, the similar
In the last decades, the tourism industry geographical position, the similar size of
has created favourable conditions for the historic fabrics, and the presence/absence of
redemption of cultural assets, from built tourism-led development programs.
artefacts to entire landscapes [42] , becoming a Ethnographic visits permitted detailed
significant agent of urban renewal and explorations of the settlements’ built
economic revitalization. On the other side of characteristics and encounter with inhabitants
the coin, on-field observations have also and visitors of the two water towns [47] . Non-
revealed worrying threats embedded within structured interviews were performed orally,
tourism-led development paths, such as fielding a participant observation approach,
commodifications of culture [43] or urban and were supported by iconographic
gentrifications [44] . Of particular interest for apparatus. Subsequent analyses were
this paper is the “creative destruction” model implemented through critical comparison
put forward by Mitchell, proposed as a re- between the two built environments, with
interpretation of the theory enucleated by urban morphologies intended as vectors of
Joseph Schumpeter [45] , according to whom cultural instances [48] . The work by Jeremy
cyclical periods of growth and decline Whitehand [49,50] , who revisited the
characterize capitalistic economies. When Conzenian studies on Alnwick [51] , represents
Mitchell and other scholars observed some a methodological working reference,
historical Chinese towns, they argued that synthesising the complex relationship
traditional urban atmospheres were seen as nourished by sites and communities living on
profitable settings to instil touristic and them. Urban morphology’s studies provided
commercial activities. These new economies the ideal theoretical framework for looking at
required adaptation of both spatial layouts urban materials’ ensembles, including groups
and ranges of services to attract visitors to of buildings, open spaces, street networks,
consume, implementing unbalanced design and composing meaningful wholes.
approaches and local communities’ Whitehand’s studies for Beijing and
relocations. Yang defined this body of Guangzhou constitute compelling precedents
practices, including buildings’ overall to address the question of design in evolving
demolition, residents’ relocation, houses’ sociocultural contexts [52] .
expropriation, and commercial developments,
as “destructive reconstruction” [46] . The main 4. RESULTS
idea was that the value of authenticity in The two water towns are situated in the
historical relics could be re-defined and re- Qingpu District of Shanghai, some 12 km
proposed stylistically to evoke a sense of a away from each other by car. They are located
precise past. in the southern region of the Yangtze River
Delta, between three important water systems:
3. METHODOLOGY AND CASE the Lake Tai basin, the Grand Canal, and the
STUDIES SELECTION Huangpu River, the watercourse crossing
The research methodology is based on case- Shanghai [Figure 2]. Since the Grand Canal
studies analysis, entailing phases of fieldwork was enlisted in the UNESCO World Heritage
2
and deskwork. Fieldwork was carried out in List in 2014 , human habitats connected to its

2 UNESCO World Heritage List. The Grand Canal. Available online: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1443
(accessed 20 July 2022).

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