Page 57 - JCAU-4-1

Two Water Towns in the Qingpu District of Shanghai Semprebon

identical merchandise — fake-antique coins, debate. Shepherd and Yu, for instance, posed
overpriced silk shirts, bamboo toys but on a the balance between “preserving the past with
quiet day the atmosphere of tranquil improving the material realities” as an
contemplation, with not a honking car in sight, insurmountable dilemma [6] . Zhu and
gives a sense of why poets and artists sought González Martínez pointed out several
out the waterside” [54] , exhuming that sense of contradictions in the redevelopment of
nostalgia — or connection with the past – on Chinese historical sites, questioning “whose
which is natural to indulge. rights should be considered in the process of
urban redevelopment” [44] . After 20 years,
6. CONCLUSIONS Cheng’s preoccupation with absorbing
This paper observed two comparable historic Western canons as the unique possible route
environments to address the controversial towards the modernization of Chinese society
aspects of tourism-led development. The [2] proved to be only partially well-founded.
interdisciplinary concepts of fabric Chinese development model displays
morphology, site’s distinctiveness, material emancipated forms and follows its own
authenticity, and local identity were recalled political and socioeconomic rules. The
to discuss how one historical town has technological gap has been levelled, if not
responded to tourism-led cultural inverted, and the frontiers of the design in
commodification. The comparison with an cultural sites put China at the fore in exploring
analogous underdeveloped cultural new interactions between fragile heritage and
environment led to an assessment of physical local development.
and sociocultural impacts, identifying a
condition of fragility that features an ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
epistemological dimension. As synthetic The author is grateful to the Shanghai Jiao
results of coevolutionary historical courses, Tong University, the Politecnico di Milano,
the two built fabrics have shown the capacity and the Shanghai Jiao Tong University Inter-
to resist or be vulnerable to abrupt changes in national Research Center for Architectural
local socioeconomic regimes. Nevertheless, Cultural Heritage Protection, IRCAHC, for
the elements forging Zhujiajiao’s touristic successfully organising research activities in
success, mostly related more to the presence Laintang and Zhujiajiao. Such activities in-
of a traditional atmosphere, have been cluded site visits and fertile debates, which
stressed with predatory behaviours fielded by were helpful to the outcome of this manu-
intemperate development strategies based on script. The following are the activities’ de-
mass tourism. tails: a) SJTU-POLIMI International Joint
Episodes of eviction were also reported Workshop “Liantang. The rebuilding of de-
by Liantang residents in 2016 as part of a top- stroyed heritage in historic neighborhoods.”
th
th
down urban renewal plan. Such incidents Date 6 - 13 December 2016. Venue: De-
might represent the first steps of a broader partment of Architecture of the Shanghai Jiao
strategy to exploit the tourist appeal of the Tong University. Director: Prof. Ma Wenjun
water town’s charming ambience. The author (SJTU). Coordination: Prof. Cao Yongkang
criticizes these issues of social inclusion and (SJTU); b) Global Summer School “S025
urban justice, which, as a result of broader Strategic Design for the Enhancement of Ar-
developmental aims, threaten communities’ chitectural, Urban, Environmental Re-
th
th
heterogeneity and site authenticity. A more sources.” Date: 6 – 26 July 2018. Venue:
balanced interaction of market impulses on Department of Architecture of the Shanghai
local economies could be advocated to let Jiao Tong University. Director: Prof. Ma
communities and fragile cultural sites be part Wenjun.
of a sustainable development process that The author thanks Prof. Luca Maria
considers built fabrics as semantic units [83] . Francesco Fabris and Prof. Giulia Setti for
Such an equilibrium is still under scholarly providing Figures 6, 13, and 15.

AccScience Publishing 15