"Shanghai is Not China"

Time and again in my project meetings I've heard that line--"Shanghai is not China." Well, after getting out a little bit to explore some of the surrounding towns I understand why, but at the same time it seems more and more of the cities are aspiring to be Shanghai, so perhaps to say Shanghai is the future of China in some ways is accurate.

My time here has mostly been divided into weekdays which are full of meetings (though not quite as many as I would like on some days) and research and weekends when I get out of Shanghai to explore nearby towns and sights. After Nanjing, my first adventure was to the water town of Tongli. This is a small old town threaded with canals and sporting narrow alleys between small homes, some in need of repair, that has built its economy now on tourists.

It is pleasant to walk through, especially when you find yourself suddenly completely lost because the signs directed you the wrong way or failed to alert you to a necessary turn in the path to a sight. As you walk down the narrow alleys, from time to time a large wooden door will appear which is the only indication you get that this is a large residence with a magnificent garden that you should explore.

This in itself is nice as you feel almost like you're entering a secret garden hidden behind the high white walls that cover much of the city. A couple of these gardens are pictured below.

It is absolutely refreshing to sit in these gardens and relax, enjoy the breeze, and the silence. It is a very different world from the constant bustle and jostling of Shanghai, and at times a welcome respite. That is until the tour groups led by a megaphone-wielding guide swarm into the space with children running wild and yelling. Each garden that was my signal to leave and explore more of the wonders of the ancient buildings with their wood-paneled interiors, exquisite carved and painted furniture, and oddly shaped gateways which feel secret. I really enjoy wandering through these houses and seeing this classical Chinese style. However once you leave, and reenter Tongli, you are back in the narrow alleys. Here, people live in relative poverty. The houses are small and crowded, people wash clothes in the canals down which tourists ride comfortably in boats, and most profit seems to be made from selling food, water, or trinkets to passersby like me. It was similar in some ways to Hongkou, the northern part of Shanghai, but in setting was totally different from the big city.

Now contrast that with Shanghai. Here, as I discussed with Ming Wu, an architect at EE+K, a need-driven market has spurred massive levels of growth over the last few decades. Combined with the abundance of cheap materials and labor, this has manifested itself in two ways. The first is developments like that in which I live. As I described previously, these are massive developments with identical buildings joined by green spaces. The other way is perhaps more interesting and is what Mr. Wu is involved with. Given the abundance of cheap materials, developments have much higher profit margins than those in Europe and the U.S. Therefore, these developments can absorb greater risk in the architectural style and the features implemented in the buildings. For example, one development on the Huangpu River will have two marinas raised above water levels with locks to access the river. Though costly, the development will still turn a nice profit while using the marinas to attract executives and large clients. The market here is such that innovation and experimentation can still be rewarded. It won't be that way forever--costs of construction are rising and after a time will reach a level such that the market is comparable to Europe or the US and developments will be lower risk, but for the time being it is unique. Take a look at the Shanghai skyline below and think about how many of these buildings would be impractical in the West.

Now consider that the next one being built will dwarf all of these as the tallest building in Asia and is the largest double-skin facade building in the world with atria that will span multiple floors. After two years of construction, it still has yet to rise above ground.

So what does this mean for sustainability? It means that markets like Shanghai are poised to innovate green building design faster than any other market. The buffer between income and costs means that experimenting with new methods of building design and construction, new technologies to save energy and water, and novel ideas of building form and function can happen here. Engineers and architects have a chance to try things which in other societies would be considered economically infeasible. All it takes is support from a developer trying to attract international clients with sustainability. To an extent, we're already seeing some buildings like this. The Guangzhou Pearl River Tower is billed as the most sustainable skyscraper in the world, complete with a facade that decreases wind loads by directing wind into two large integrated turbine assemblies within the building. We need more ideas like this to be tried and proven in China both for the sake of this country's energy use and emissions and for the rest of the world. As Mr. Wu and I discussed, many of China's policies describe a need to advance technological knowledge in the country for export to the rest of the world. This is seen as a key way for the country to develop beyond just manufacturing and heavy industry. Given the higher acceptability of risk in construction projects, green building technologies and innovative design could be part of this technological development. If architects, engineers, and developers seize this opportunity to experiment with new techniques in sustainable design, China could eclipse the rest of the world in green building technologies, especially given that China must construct between 4 and 5 million new buildings by 2025. To give an image to this scale, check out the pictures below of a 1/500 scale model of Shanghai that takes up an entire room.

It's an exciting potential mainly for the innovation it could inspire worldwide, but the country will have to overcome challenges to get there. One of the most interesting challenges is the fact that due to government directives on energy efficiency, residential buildings here are required to have a certain number of hours of direct sunlight even on the shortest day of the year. That means every apartment must meet this minimum. This has led to most residential buildings (including the one I live in) facing due south and being spaced apart a certain distance. Since they are also narrow to allow for natural cross-ventilation in the building, as Mr. Wu said, they look like dominoes stacked to fall down. It is hard, he continued, to take advantage of views because it is so ingrained in the minds of buyers and developers that south and separated is best. So buildings facing other directions have to lower rents to attract tenants. I know my building would be a bit nicer if my window actually faced the Suzhou Creek to the west as opposed to me having to stick my head over the balcony to see it. Instead I get a lovely view of the domino in front of mine. So while there is a lot of potential for innovative development here, it seems that education of developers and policymakers is still necessary to prove that while south and narrow are good principles, there are other ways to make a green building that can and should be explored.

Until then, I guess the risks architects take will just continue to make Shanghai look like a bigger version of Disney's Tomorrowland, or something resembling Las Vegas. At least that's my opinion based on the pictures above and the image of the highways below!

The Reason I'm Actually Here

As promised this time I thought I'd talk a bit about my project (not just my fun adventures) and how I've gotten started on defining what I'm doing here in Shanghai. It's not all fun travels and exploring the city. In fact, I find I'm spending a lot more time on "research-related activities" than I expected. I put that in quotes because at the same time I love reading articles and websites related to my project. I guess that's a good thing--makes it seem not like work.

So for those who are unclear on what I am actually doing here (probably in part because I had a hazy idea myself when I talked to many of you about it), my proposal for this Fellowship was for me to spend a year meeting with architects, engineers, policymakers, and businessmen to learn about the challenges associated with green buildings and the concept of a sustainable city, or eco-city. There are a lot of these projects planned worldwide and a lot of buzz about the idea of making a city which has next to zero impact with regard to water, energy, waste, and carbon, so I wanted to learn what's so hard about it, to put it bluntly. I understand a bit about the economics and technological side of these buildings and cities, so I am more interested in how the politics and social factors played out in different countries. Furthermore, by visiting multiple countries, I am curious to see what comparisons can be drawn and see if there are practices, policies, or precedents that could work across nations. I know that sounds like a very big, vague topic to address in a year, and that's why I was a bit hazy on just how I was going to attack it. However after just a couple of meetings with experts here, I have a much better sense of how to go about at least the China part of the project.

I started about a week and a half ago by meeting with an Environmental Studies professor in Nanjing and then this past week sat down with Mark Evans, Technical Director of the Joint U.S. China Collaboration on Clean Energy (JUCCCE), and then Dr. Pan Tao and Dr. Mel Rice from the Institute on Sustainable Cities (ISC). What emerged from all of these talks was just how different the regulations, practices, and general thinking about sustainability and construction are from the U.S. I'll highlight a few of the main ideas from these conversations. First, the massive growth in the urban centers of China has left the government and developers in a position where "sustainable development" literally means being able to keep up the pace of development. Combine this with the fact that there are nowhere near enough government inspectors to actually enforce codes, and you have buildings like the one in which I live where after 5 years, the building appears as though it is 20 years old or more. Buildings often fail to meet minimum code standard and once built have little incentive for upgrades. The Director from JUCCCE mentioned that in apartments like these, typically the company which does the construction has no influence on the sale of the apartments in the building so sees no premium from better construction. Instead to turn a better profit they may have incentives to cut corners. Once the apartments are sold, the building owner no longer deals with the energy, gas, and water related aspects of the building. Because housing is in such demand and there is a huge real estate bubble, this means that the owner of the building has little incentive to install energy efficient heating, cooling, and lighting, which also has a cost premium. They don't pay the bills, and they can sell the apartment at a high price in the market without these added features. Since they have no stake in the savings from these units and they probably can't get the return on the investment from sales alone there is even less incentive for using central units. As a result, if you walk around Shanghai you will see apartments, offices, and even stores having banks of window or free standing air conditioners. I guess one positive is that the people who eventually inhabit the apartments are very frugal. You see people often just sitting in shorts with no shirt fanning themselves to beat the heat rather than turn on the air conditioner. I guess it is one way to be energy efficient, though a bit of insulation rather than just cement and rebar walls might help make the most out of the A/C when it's on. I've yet to see a report which thoroughly discusses what the impact of adding insulation would be on energy bills, comfort level, and emissions reductions for those who do use air conditioning. One thing is for sure though--if the trend of increasing energy use here continues as citizens aspire to live the same way Americans and Europeans do, then the issue of inefficient building envelopes and systems will become a big problem. A little investment now in some choice efficiency measures on older buildings could make a big difference in the long run.

One other thing emerged in the conversations I had. It seems that many of these sustainable building and city ideas, unsurprisingly, are driven by foreign firms and wealthy Chinese firms and citizens looking to make an impression. Appearance is everything in China--you want to maintain a good face for those around you, and apparently some involved in international business see "going green" as a way of boosting their appearance. I was told by everyone I talked with that there is not an awareness on a general level about the benefits and importance of efficiency. In fact one article I read quoted a resident of Shanghai as saying their idea of ecological living was a place with more trees and bushes. While that is nice, it underscores the idea that there is not the same penetration of knowledge about environmental issues as there is in America or Europe. That's not surprising, but I wonder how it compares to a nation like Kenya where schools are awarded prizes for environmental conservation. The Expo and the Olympics have helped to bring environmental issues more to the forefront of the Chinese consciousness as have international negotiations in which China has played a large role. But the folks I met with agree that there is still a general lack of awareness. I'm not quite sure why this is since Emma indicated that care for nature and the environment is endorsed by the major religions and philosophies which originated in ancient China, but I will endeavor to learn more.

These posts always end up being longer than I intend when I start them, but I hope they're enjoyable for everyone reading. The next two days I'll be attending a conference on the use of technology in urban planning, design, and city life. It should be fascinating, and I'll provide a brief update on that next time as well as more photos and some recent adventures.

Visit to Nanjing and Pictures

I know I said last time I'd try to be a bit more frequent in posting, and here it's been the same amount of time since my last post. This time though it wasn't a firewall issue, just filling up my time with exploring Nanjing and Shanghai and having fun. As I said last time, I left last Thursday morning to head up to Nanjing to stay with Emma, also HMC class of 2010, for a few days and see the city there. Ian, another HMC grad, was also there--he had taken Chinese all throughout college and wanted to practice by living with Emma for two months. After Emma picked me up from the train station, I began my immersion into Chinese culture with a meal cooked by her mother at home. Not only is her mom a really good cook when it comes to authentic Chinese food, I got the full cultural experience by being the only one unable to speak Chinese at the table. Ian and Emma were doing their best to translate for Emma's parents (whose English is only slightly better than my Chinese) and me. It was fun to listen to them talk and contribute when I could by gesturing or using Ian and Emma to translate. This continued throughout my stay at Emma's house at breakfast and lunch each day. Unfortunately I didn't pick up more than one or two words of Chinese during these meals, but thanks to Ian and Emma we managed to have pleasant conversations.

After that first lunch, we partook in one of the favorite leisure activities in China with Emma's friends--karaoke. With a good mix of English songs (in which I participated) and Chinese ones (in which I did not), we had a great time. But that was not the end of my cultural immersion for the day. After karaoke, Emma and Ian took me along to their calligraphy lesson. Writing is an important artistic symbol in China, and the way a person writes says a lot about their education, their personality, and in old times could influence careers. Here, several flights of dark stairs above a mini mart in the small home of one of Emma's friends Ian and Emma were learning the ancient methods to create beautiful, balanced characters. The lesson took place in Chinese, so I sat and watched for most of it as Ian worked and explained the general principles of calligraphy. After he finished, I got an opportunity to try and realize just how much practice goes into making beautiful characters. And even once you have the brushstrokes down, understanding the nuances of creating balanced, harmonious characters that reflect their meaning takes even longer to perfect and may not be possible without knowing a bit about Chinese philosophy. After my attempts, the instructor demonstrated the art for us by decorating traditional fans with sayings in Chinese for Ian and me.

The next day, Emma took me to meet with a professor from Nanjing University who specializes in Environmental Impact Assessments for development projects in China to talk about transportation networks and their importance in city planning. I won't go into a lot of detail now on this conversation as I haven't yet typed up and given significant thought to my notes, but in my next post I'll talk about this meeting more as well as subsequent meetings. After this and lunch at Emma's, the three of us headed out to Sun Yat-Sen's Mausoleum and the Ming Dynasty Tombs. This was my first experience of traditional Chinese temple architecture and my first trip to famous cultural sites. Dr. Sun Yat-Sen is a key figure in China's independence and pre-Communist Republic, and a trip to his mausoleum seemed almost a pilgrimage of sorts for many visitors. You enter the compound through a gate above which the mausoleum sits on a hill and then climb multiple sets of stairs and ramps to finally arrive at the knees of a seated monument of Dr. Sun Yat-Sen.

The quiet of the hill which you must climb creates a reverent atmosphere--if not for tourists, the only sounds would be the wind in the trees and the cicadas in the bushes. Unfortunately, when you reach the mausoleum and prepare to pay your respects to this great man, the reverence is lost, killed by the caretakers of the monument. Though the architecture and interior decorations are kept immaculate, the building was not conceived with air conditioning in mind. As tourists pile into the small tomb room, the heat rises, and to counter this the caretakers have placed 3 large, noisy floor fans in plain sight. combined with the large number of loud tourists moving through the site every minute and it is hard to feel completely consumed by the monument. I thought as I was walking through how nice it would be to tastefully retrofit the building with air conditioning so as to at least remove the loud fans (two of which are on the sunken floor next to the tomb), but I suppose that isn't on the top list of priorities for the government. Despite the noise and visual intrusion of the fans, thousands flock here daily to pay respects to Dr. Sun Yat-Sen. Perhaps with other pressing concerns, a few floor fans are not a big deal.

After climbing down all the stairs, we headed over to an even more reverent spot--the tombs of the Ming dynasty. When Nanjing was China's capital, this was where government leaders were interred. Leading up to this monument requires walking over 1 kilometer down a tree-lined avenue guarded by 12 pairs of stone animals, each depicting different characteristics of the emperors and Chinese legend, and 8 pairs of civil servants and generals.

The walk is very pleasant, especially in the evening when the temperature is cooler and a nice wind rustles the trees overhead. Arriving at the end, you are met by a stone wall atop which sits the richly decorated tomb building. Passing through the stone wall and under the tomb is almost as if passing onto another life as you emerge from the perfectly manicured road to a forest growing over the pathway leading up to the tomb itself. The atmosphere here was much more peaceful than at Dr. Sun Yat-sen's memorial, and it was nice just to stand in the breeze and contemplate the history that took place on that hill.

Walking back, however, the reverent atmosphere disappeared once more as scores of motorbikes drove down the sacred road, nearly running over pedestrians returning from the monument. The road apparently is a shortcut to the nearby swimming pool and water park, so the caretakers allow bikers to ride through carrying their inner tubes (a funny site). Sadly, this disrupts the peace of the old road.

The rest of the evening was spent at Confucius Temple, the former site of the civil servant's college and testing center, now adaptively reused as a shopping complex. Here I noticed that the crowds were distinctly smaller than shopping areas in Shanghai. I guess compared to Shanghai (20 million+ people) Nanjing is a sleepy little town of only 8-9 million. A visit after that to a nearby bar allowed for some catching up among old friends, and resulted in some sleeping in the next day. However when we did awake, Ian and I took on the Presidential Palace for another lesson in Chinese imperial history.

This structure was used both by emperors and revolutionary leaders in the 20th century and thus is an interesting mix of ancient Chinese architecture and Western design. The whole compound has lavish and beautiful gardens intermixed with temples and distinctly modern state houses and residences. It was an interesting window into the evolution of China's history from the Ming dynasty until Mao. From this, we headed to Xinjiekou, a modern shopping mall in the heart of Nanjing for our "last supper" together before calling it a night.

Sunday Ian and I packed up and left Nanjing. He was leaving China altogether, heading home to prep for grad school while I was just returning to home in Shanghai. Below is a view from my apartment in Shanghai.

Well, that was a long post too, and doesn't even cover my first couple of project-related interviews. I'll write again soon and cover those topics for those who are interested. (And this time I promise it will actually be soon!)

Greetings From Shanghai!

Welcome to my blog about my Watson Fellowship trip to study Sustainable Buildings and Eco-Cities worldwide. I've made it safely to my first stop here in Shanghai, China, and thanks to the VPN service run by HMC have successfully thwarted the Chinese firewall so I can update everyone on the trip (apparently blogs are a disallowed form of social networking here, along with Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube). This blog will primarily be a record of my adventures, trials, triumphs (hopefully), and a bit about the research I'm conducting during this year. Feel free to post comments and questions and I'll do my best to be diligent in responding, or feel free to IM or e-mail me at rob.best13@gmail.com.

For those who don't know much about why I'm here, my trip is sponsored by the Thomas Watson Foundation in New York. Through the Watson Fellowship program, the foundation "offers graduates of 'unusual promise' a year of independent, purposeful, exploration and travel--in international settings new to them--to enhance their capacity for resourcefulness, imagination, openness, and leadership and to foster their humane and effective participation in the world community." My particular project is to examine the challenges, benefits, and strategies of creating sustainable buildings and cities in different climatic, cultural, and historical settings. What I ultimately want to gain from each place I visit is an idea of the challenges facing sustainable city development in that location, what is necessary to overcome these barriers, an idea of any indigenous technologies or cultural practices which lend themselves particularly well to the creation of a sustainable city that can be replicated elsewhere, and a sense for how sustainability is perceived within the nation. To me that still seems a bit broad for just a year, but as I progress I'll see the direction the interviews and research take me and go from there.

It was quite a whirlwind turnaround returning from Kenya on July 21 (if you want to read about our work there, check out www.hmckenya.blogspot.com) only to go camping from July 22-25 and then get on a plane out of LAX early morning on July 29 to arrive here in the evening on the 30th. Landing in Shanghai I couldn't help but be reminded slightly of home by the brown haze setting over the city and the massive amounts of urban sprawl radiating from the city center. However all similarities to L.A. were quickly wiped away as I entered the airport to find myself surrounded by a language written in characters I couldn't even begin to recognize. Not that I didn't expect this, but it was a completely new experience for me. Navigating the metro to my hostel for the night turned out to be easier than expected due to the existence of English subtitles on all metro and street signs and so with little trouble I was able to get a good night's sleep.

Since then, I've had the chance to explore some of Shanghai's distinct areas including Hongkou and the New Bund, formerly the Jewish District, People's Square, Jing'An Temple, and the Bund. I plan to spend more time in each of these places and so will give more details when that happens. The primary focus of my first few days was just getting settled, which can be difficult when you don't speak the language of the country. Luckily, HMC junior Eric Zhang and his wonderful family helped me find a phone, find an apartment, and showed me around a bit. Now I can say I'm happily in my own apartment overlooking the Suzchou River and looking out on other apartment buildings exactly the same as my own. It is a nice sight at night when lights along the river illuminate and change colors over time and colored spotlights atop the other buildings provide a light show in the sky which is reflected below in the river. Yet during the day I am a bit taken aback by the homogeneity of these developments. They are called "superblocks" and are infill developments of approximately 30 story high rise apartments which all look exactly the same. The buildings are connected by winding, picturesque gardens (perhaps an attempt at making the eco-friendly?). But what is astounding is the number of these developments around Shanghai. They seem to have overtaken certain areas of the city, providing a bland cityscape which contrasts greatly with the dynamic and unique skyline of Pudong, the city's up and coming business center. In my opinion, it's a disappointing solution to the problem of burgeoning population--a cheap, quick fix that likely will not last more than a few decades.

Some more first impressions of China. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that a city of 20 million people is always bustling and busy. At times the metro is so crowded that all you can do is move with the mass of people and hope to wriggle your way out at your stop. Even in what Eric said were lean (not busy) times, the streets seemed crowded to me. But I'm realizing that I like that about the city. There is always activity and life and you don't feel alone, even when you are as different from the multitudes as I am. Speaking of different, it's been fun to try and communicate across languages using just gestures and the bits of broken Chinese I'm learning and the bits of broken English street vendors know.

I guess my biggest complaint thus far is that it is too humid here. Heat I can handle (and there is plenty of it) but humidity is another thing. Just standing in the elevator down from the 24th floor where I live my shirt begins to stick to me. When there is a nice breeze through the apartment it's not bad, and at nights when I run the A/C it's great, but aside from that it's pretty uncomfortable. I'm getting used to it, but after a few days I was already missing the dry heat of Africa and LA.

Well that's about it for now. I know this has been a long post, so I'll try and be more frequent with the posts now that I have a workaround for the firewall to keep them shorter. Tomorrow I'm off to Nanjing to visit a couple of fellow HMC grads and meet with a professor about transportation in China, so I'll write about that when I return.