Megablock Urbanisms Symposium, Beijing
Megablock Urbanisms Symposium
Sunday, 15 March 2008 / 13:00 -17:30
Main Auditorium, CAFA School of Design, Beijing
Superblock developments, for both housing and mixed use, have become the de facto unit of urban fabric in modern Chinese cities. This symposium will investigate the phenomenon of large-scale development as "Megablock Urbanisms": spatial instruments with social, cultural and economic implications, operating between the scales of architecture and the city. The Megablock then becomes a laboratory for the consequences, opportunities, and potential global proliferation of Chinese urban models, reconsidered through the filters of ecology, economics, and ethics. In this first Megablock Urbanisms Symposium, scholars and practitioners, all actively engaging and observing the urbanization processes of Beijing, have been invited to collectively debate the expanded idea of the Megablock.
Panel 1: Realization 13:00 - 15:00
Moderated by Tat LAM (China Lab and PhD Candidate, UCL Bartlett)
WANG Hui (Urbanus Architecture & Design)
HUANG Yan (Beijing Municipal Planning Commission)
LI Hu (OPEN Architecture and Steven Holl Architects)
CHEN Yin (Modern Group)
Hann CHEN (Morphosis)
15:00-15:15 Break
Panel 2: Reflection / Projection 15:15-17:15
Moderated by FAN Ling (CAFA School of Architecture)
Neville MARS (Dynamic City Foundation, Beijing)
LÜ Xiaobo (Professor of Political Science, Columbia University)
SHI Jian (Architecture and Urban Critic)
Eric CHANG (OMA)
I-Shin CHOW (SciSKEW, Shanghai)
Sponsored by GSAPP and the Weatherhead Institute for East Asian
Studies, Columbia University
