Shanghai’s Regenerated Industrial Waterfronts: Urban Lab for Sustainability Transitions?

In China, Shanghai often serves as a place to introduce and try out new ideas. This is certainly the case with experimental urban planning and design solutions and sustainability transitions. This article identifies and evaluates the role of pilot projects and demonstration zones along the Huangpu River. These clusters and zones are supposed to guide the urban regeneration of the former industrial waterfronts and to accelerate innovative development in Shanghai and the wider Yangtze Delta Region. The Huangpu River as a whole is considered an urban lab and a showcase of ecological civilisation policies, with a strong ‘people oriented’ focus on improving the overall quality and attractiveness of urban life. Following three decades of rapid urban expansion, Shanghai’s urban development model is shifting toward one that emphasizes densification and the reuse of existing elements. The motto of Shanghai’s latest master plan is “Striving for an Excellent Global City.” One of the pathways to realize this expectation is the creation of thematic clusters for creative industries, financial institutes, AI, and technology, media and telecommunication industries. These clusters are high-density investment projects meant to support and accelerate the transformation of Shanghai into a service economy. There are important similarities between these projects in Shanghai and the role of urban labs in theories of sustainability transitions. Drawing on these theories and those of ecological civilization, this article examines how these so-called ‘experimental’ urban megaprojects along the river contribute to Shanghai’s effort to take the lead in developing sustainable urban transitions.

Urban Lab as a Tool for Joint Management in Cities

The Urban Lab concept is aimed at creating innovations and expanding citizens’ participation in decision-making processes. This article presents the main premises of this concept, the specifics of its implementation in the conditions of Polish cities, the structure, objectives and types of activities of Urban Labs as well as functions they may perform in stimulating cooperation of the city with enterprises, scientific institutions and non-governmental organisations.

Embedding Higher Education into a Real-World Lab: A Process-Oriented Analysis of Six Transdisciplinary Project Courses

Since the early days of the emerging research format of Real-world Labs (RwLs), higher education plays a vital role in them. Examples have been presented on teaching activities in RwLs, but the reasons for and evidence of their inclusion stays limited. To start a systematic discussion on the embedding of higher education in RwLs, this paper presents the case of six Transdisciplinary Project Courses carried out in the RwL “District Future—Urban Lab” in Karlsruhe/Germany. The paper presents the discourses on the role of learning in RwLs and compares it to those on Transition Labs and Urban Living Labs. To offer a new approach to address this aspect, the paper introduces a social practice perspective to map out the interrelations between an RwL and higher education therein. The detailed analysis of the processes is used to identify the potential of the RwL to support learning. It shows that all dimensions of social practice can be identified in the interplay between Real-world Lab and Transdisciplinary Project Courses, even though to a very different degree and in different phases. The text closes with lessons learned for teaching project courses in RwLs and similar labs.

CIDADE NASCENTE: PROPOSTA DE PROJETO PARA O CONCURSO BID URBANLAB BRASIL

O artigo apresenta a proposta de intervenção de urbana para bairro da Ribeira de Natal, RN, desenvolvida durante o concurso de projeto BID Urban Lab, 1º edição nacional Natal Brasil, identificada com o conceito "Cidade Nascente". Foi adotada para o projeto uma metodologia baseada no processo de Design Thinking (Brown, 2010) de modo a usar estratégias de estimulo à criatividade, propondo ideias acessíveis à realidade local e refletindo as necessidades dos usuários. O Rio Potengi é o grande orientador da identidade do projeto que denominado “Cidade Nascente”, conceito de projeto que informou os caminhos de intervenção no sentido de desenvolver um plano que se propõe na escala do bairro da Ribeira, mas que exerce influência também nos bairros vizinhos. O projeto está estruturado em três setores que abarcam o bairro da Ribeira e áreas circunvizinhas, e engloba intervenções em escala de bairro, proposta de equipamentos e de redesenho urbano. O diferencial da estratégia adotada pelo grupo está na priorização do incentivo à qualidade de vida e de trabalho da comunidade local e aos projetos sociais e econômicos originados da auto-organização destes moradores. O desenvolvimento deste potencial local figura, neste contexto, como principal ponto de atração para o investimento privado. A proposta sugere a adaptação de projetos sociais existentes na área às perspectivas contemporâneas de empreendedorismo social, buscando retorno cultural e educativo, aliado ao desenvolvimento de grandes e pequenos negócios.

RIBEIRA CONECTADA: CIDADE INTELIGENTE E CONSERVAÇÃO INTEGRADA EM PROL DE UMA SUSTENTABILIDADE SOCIOAMBIENTAL

O conjunto de intervenções urbanas arquitetônicas denominado "Ribeira Conectada", apresentado ao concurso BID URBAN LAB Natal 2017, teve o objetivo de promover a vitalidade, a habitabilidade e a ambiência histórica ao segundo bairro mais antigo de Natal, capital do Rio Grande do Norte, Brasil. O conceito do projeto remete ideia de REDE e articula princípios da conservação integrada do patrimônio cultural e das cidades inteligentes em favor de uma sustentabilidade socioambiental para o bairro. A Ribeira, lugar que outrora foi um dos principais cenários de vivências culturais, políticas e sociais da cidade, a partir da segunda metade do século XX, passa gradativamente a sofrer um processo de esvaziamento, abandono e degradação do ambiente construído. Hoje, uma porção da Ribeira está inserida em poligonais de tombamento e entorno do Sítio Histórico de Natal por concentrar edificações de valor histórico e arquitetônico, contudo segue aguardando alternativas de intervenção que efetivamente promova a preservação e o desenvolvimento do bairro. As referidas problemáticas motivaram as seguintes estratégias projetuais, respectivamente: reabilitação; habitabilidade; conectividade. Buscou-se conciliar passado, presente e futuro, valorizando as potencialidades da região, como a diversidade de modais de transporte existentes e sua vocação como polo cultural e boêmio da cidade, além de atrair novas dinâmicas e demandas da sociedade contemporânea. Entre as propostas apresentadas destaca-se a preocupação principal com a reabilitação do patrimônio material e imaterial do bairro; e a importância do desenvolvimento de projetos por equipes multidisciplinares.

Asian architecture in the new millennium: A postmodern imagery

The author, a graduate of the Architectural Association (AA) London , with further studies at the Department of City and Regional Planning, Harvard University, USA , has since 1960 been professionally involved in architecture , planning and development economics , as principal architect at Malayan Architects Co-Partnership, Design Partnership (later renamed DP Architects) and until 2002, William Lim Associates. In addition to his role as Co-founder and Chairman of the Asian Urban Lab and President of AA Asia, Dr Lim was President of the Singapore Heritage Society and President of the Singapore Planning and Research Group (SPUR). Presently, he is Adjunct Professor of the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT), Australia - where he was conferred a Doctor of Architecture Honoris Causa - and Honorary Professor of La Salle-SIA College of the Arts (Singapore). Mr Lim is a member of the World Society for Ekistics. His numerous writings and lectures on a wide range of subjects relating to architecture, urbanism and culture in Asia as well as on current issues relating to the postmodern, "glocality" and social justice, are compiled in nine books, some of which have been translated into Japanese and Thai. Furthermore, he is co-author with Tan Hock-Beng of Contemporary Vernacular: Evoking Traditions in Asian Architecture (1997), co-editor of vol. 10, Southeast Asia (1999) of World Architecture: A Critical Mosaic 1 900-2000, and Editor of Postmodern Singapore (2002).