No. 7: 面子

This image was taken very close to where I live, for those of you who know Shanghai, home is in Jing'€™An Si, very close to the temple - although, you are probably wondering where this photo was taken...For those of you who don'€™t€™ know Shanghai the Jing€'An area is busting at the seams with retail, hospitality and entertainment. There is no space unoccupied, whether it's built or nearly built. This international area is symbolically trying to juxtapose the original and traditional with the foreign and modern and in my opinion, is not doing too badly...

The reason I took this photo was to demonstrate how very surprising this city can be. On the other side of the lens, there are structurally massive elevated highways all entangled, the noise is deafening! Generally, things are not what they seem here...

In Mandarin Chinese there is commonly used expression: 有面子€™ or €˜you mianzi€™ €˜to have face; appearing one way, whilst feeling another.

Maybe it is possible to apply this concept to the city. It'€™s really interesting how at street level the city in one direction can look so different in another direction. Shanghai seems to be an architect's imagination come to life! All are on a mission to create the next big thing, whatever the context may be around it. Urban planner, Greg Yager described it nicely when he says:

"€˜Every building is shouting and waving, hey look at me!!"

But does it work as a whole?

I am not sure whether the city works in an academic sense, I still have a lot to learn about city planning. The only thing I can be sure of is that it feels amazing to look around here. It compares well to a piece of music; every note wants to be heard, the more different sounds there are the more interesting and enjoyable the music will be...

...but the notes have to harmonise...

It'€™s a tough one.