Masterplanning the Adaptive City

value of architecture, and rather emphasize social, architectural,
environmental values to build better cities. 
GY
Let’s shift the discussion to masterplanning, which aims to manage,
control, and forecast singular future design goals. In China, city planning is
based on top-down decision-making processes, often carried out without
adequate feasibility studies due to apparent time constraints. Perhaps the
mechanisms of city planning need to be fundamentally questioned. 
XWG
City planning is still crucial to provide guidance for development for the
urbanization of China. Without planning, Chinese cities would be even
worse. We all know that cities undergo change. Without city planning
mechanisms able to adapt to changes in the future, a one-off plan will soon
be obsolete. Hence, urban planning needs to be flexible and dynamic with a
view to the future. Concerning visions of the future, CIM [City Information
Modeling] is a more information-based, flexible platform for urban planning
and design. 
GY
Definitely. A number of companies in China have been invested in city
modeling for years. Various products and applications have been available,
but these technologies need to be coordinated in a more systematic way.
XF
I agree with XWG that urban planning methods were valid for China’s
urbanization in the past, but planning proposals are often measured
primarily by efficiency. A common conception of planning is actually for the
purpose of selling land for higher profit. Current urban planning does not
give sufficient consideration for the benefit of the public. Historically,
Beijing was organized around the social relations of the Han ethnic group
outside the city walls, where the urban fabric was less planned and grew
naturally, while only the Eight Flat members (Man ethnic group) were
allowed to live inside the planned city. Current urban planning can be
improved to take into account more bottom-up approaches, in top-down
decision making processes. 
GY
XF’s point actually reflects XWG’s earlier comment on CIM. Rather than
planning for the purpose of an instant result, we should shift our focus to
the mechanisms which organize physical spaces and artefacts according to
evolving circumstances of four-dimensional planning. This can be realized
through information-based modeling techniques such as CIM. In other
words, a city plan can avoid becoming easily obsolete and can therefore be
more durable to guide future development through flexibility and
adaptability. 
Can we shift toward a discussion of the sustainable city? 
XWG
The form of the sustainable city has specific definition, which should
include energy, environment, society, and so on. What interests me most are
the formal implications of sustainability, i.e. organic urban forms related to
nature. Before humans built cities, our living environment was surrounded
by natural and organic forms. With the emergence of artificial cities, we
began to live in opposition to nature. Artificial forms are overly geometrical
and are inconsistent with natural order. I am interested in a new kind of
urban form, which will reconcile the conflict between human consumption
and natural resources, more organic rather than geometric. Can we
conceive of the city as a continuation of nature? Secondly, space flows
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XU WEIGUO WITH XU FENG AND GAO YAN

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continuously between interiors and exteriors, and architecture becomes a
porous medium facilitating the exchange between natural and artificial
environments. Thirdly, new kinds of artefacts emerge between nature and
architecture, connecting smoothly and coherently with natural forms. These
seem to be the consequence of digital technologies in the city, which in turn
shift workflows from parametric design systems, through digital fabrication,
to eventually digital construction. 
GY
You are hinting at the influence of digital technology on urban form. One
can interpret your ideas as references to eastern philosophy, i.e. the
integration of mankind and nature, harmony between artificial
environments and natural beings. 
XWG
Yes. It actually echoes the traditional Chinese philosophy of Daoism, which
regards nature and human as a singular entity. This should begin to
influence the way we build and rebuild our cities.
XF
The introduction of computational design and manufacturing in China is
creating many new opportunities for urbanism to define new kinds of
nonstandard architectural and urban forms. In China, nonstandard
architecture has often been limited to implying iconic buildings. 
GY
Do you think computational approaches open up new possibilities to relate
multiple buildings to each other, therefore creating new urban spaces? In
spite of our understanding of the significance of organic morphologies, to
clients, these design approaches can serve to satisfy their desire for iconic
buildings to stand out from the background, hence fulfilling their economic
and political objectives. 
XF
Iconic buildings can also often perform as urban catalysts. 
GY
Despite our shared goal of making organic and natural cities, and putting
aside what an organic city might look like, let’s look at other alternative
approaches. For instance, many Japanese architects, such as Toyo Ito,
Kengo Kuma, and Sou Fujimoto, share the same view of architecture as a
medium between human and nature, whereas they address this ideolology
without computation. So, is computational design only one of many
methods to achieve more natural cities?
XWG
I think the core values of freedom, democracy, and equality, concern
humanity, yet most architecture is counter to humanity. Architecture should
adapt to human behavior through constant change and evolution.
Architecture needs its own identity, but the replication of the identical types
is still prevalent. High-quality architecture in the future will rely more on
nonstandard approaches and technologies, and will lead to the expression
of more specific, and more widely accepted, architectural identities.
GY
The defense of iconicity in architecture reflects a desire for humanity
through architecture despite criticisms of the superficiality of iconic
buildings. 
Moving to another topic, do you believe there to be contradictions
between how cities change, and the need for architecture to [reflect]
cultural, social, environmental and economic continuity?
XWG
I recall Bernard Tschumi’s and Rem Koolhaas’ ideas of architecture
resulting from emergent activities, as a basis of an understanding of flexible
architecture, rather than as a static sum of rigid spaces. But how can we
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CONVERSATION 2

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