Masterplanning the Adaptive City

CHAPTER 6
CONVERSATION 2
XU WEIGUO (XWG), XU FENG (XF) 
AND GAO YAN (GY)
GY
Xu Weiguo, can we discuss your thoughts on the greatest successes, and
also some of the failures, of China’s rapid urbanization during our era?
XWG
I believe the primary challenge for China in recent years, as well as its
greatest achievement, has been to provide sufficient housing for its huge
population in such a short period of time. The growth of cities is inherently
triggered by the increase of urban residents, and this is the foundation
before discussing anything else. Currently, 40 percent of the population of
China is urbanized, and the future target is 70 percent. At the beginning of
Open Door Policy in the early 1980s, the urban population was only 10
percent. Here in China, everything has to be superfast. We develop rapidly
at first, and then we rectify our wrongdoings. The speed of our development
was too fast to get things right in the first place, which inevitably led to poor
quality. When old buildings become obstacles for development, they are
knocked down and replaced. In recent decades, it was impossible to build
high-quality and high-density buildings due to the poor economy and
limited availability of building technologies. People flooded into cities and
higher-quality buildings would have taken much longer time to construct at
a higher cost. 
There are parallels between the Chinese experience and Germany
immediately after World War Two. There were great demands for housing,
and Germany applied a modernist approach to achieve their goals, which
was seen as functional, efficient, and economic. There are, in fact, unique
characteristics to how contemporary Chinese cities are produced. In this
context, new knowledge is being generated. For instance, domestic
practitioners as well as foreign architects have learned how to quickly
satisfy clients’ requirements. The way architecture is practiced in China 
is worthy to be acknowledged and evaluated. You can also find many
examples of new technologies developed for construction, for example
ingredients for increasing the drying speed of concrete. Hence my view is
that we should reexamine the history of China’s rapid development in the
past twenty years. We can’t simply ignore the achievements and magnify
the criticism of poor quality and the short lifespan of buildings. 
XF
For me, the greatest achievement of rapid urbanization in China has been
the aggregation of resources which used to be distributed, and the
densification of urban facilities. The causes of the current status of
urbanization in China are economic and political forces. Offices, housing,
and retail spaces are built for consumption and for economic profit. Under
such circumstances, architecture is just one link in the entire economic
chain. From a political perspective, governors need to make the best of 
their years in their post, meaning the more visible their achievements, the
more likely they might be in line for a promotion at the end of their term.
This explains the five-year cycle and government plan throughout China.
This also reflects the dominance of top-down development policies in
China. 

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GY
What about the negative impacts of rapid urbanization?
XF
Rapid development has destroyed much of the authentic and original
physical fabric and their associated social community relationships in many
cities, replaced by generic architecture. This explains why people say
Chinese cities all look the same. 
XWG
Regarding the old city, I have a different view. Take Beijing, for example.
Although I agree that much of the historical heritage should be preserved,
when keeping the old conflicts with need of development, what shall we do?
This is a sensitive question. Many western scholars who argue for historic
preservation do not take into account problems of poverty, starvation, and
homelessness. When fundamental needs have yet to be satisfied,
development takes priority over the protection of old buildings. Urbanization
is pursued for citizens to live a better life. Of course, architecture with
historical value should still be preserved, but not everything old is worthy of
preservation, for several reasons. Unlike western historic cities such as
Paris, London, and Barcelona, Beijing’s courtyard fabric is very low density,
making it a very inefficient use of land. Had we stubbornly kept all
courtyard houses and hutong, it would have stunted the development of
Beijing. The second reason is the unacceptable living standards of
courtyard houses. Without proper drainage systems nor hygiene facilities
for basic human needs, people who live in old hutongs all wish to move to
spacious, bright, and clean buildings elsewhere. 
GY
I lived in a courtyard house and I fully appreciate your views on the living
conditions. Most of the people now living in hutongs are migrants from
other cities. The hutongs are disordered, dirty, and lack environmental and
infrastructural administration. The old city center has deteriorated
significantly in the past decade. 
XWG
Not only in Beijing, but also in many other cities, historic city centers have
become the least desirable areas. The original local residents prefer to rent
out their properties in the city center and move to newly built outskirts.
Returning to my point: under these circumstances, the conservation of old
buildings should give way to development. 
GY
Criticism of massive demolition as a result of development should be
discussed more broadly rather than zooming in to the issue of cultural and
historical loss. It is not that the decision makers had not appreciated the
cultural value of the old city, but rather they had to balance the importance
of heritage with the urgency of development. 
XWG
What I cannot accept is the views of those who irresponsibly exaggerate the
importance of preservation without understanding the real needs of citizens
and the most urgent problems for Chinese cities. Many western scholars
who blame the savage development of China by rejecting demolition of the
old buildings need to be more impartial and objective. 
XF
This also brings up other issues from another perspective. As we know,
Chinese urbanization is not driven by architects, nor planners, nor scholars,
but by the policies of the government and profit motive of developers.
Architecture in China has seldom escaped these two constraints. A great
amount of housing has been built, which has to some extent improved the
quality of life, however we need to downplay the commercial and political
49
CONVERSATION 2

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