The multiple dimension of water in the designing and governance of public spaces. The case of Shanghai West Bund Project compared to other Western Waterfronts renovations

Abstract

In 2010, the municipality of Shanghai started the "Huangpu River Comprehensive Development Plan", a large regeneration initiative including the Expo site, targeted to revitalize the river banks and generally the urban environment, making Xuhui waterfront one of the six key construction areas of the 12th Five-Year Plan in Shanghai. Formerly one of the largest industrial districts, the so-called West Bund area has experienced a process of substantial transformation, currently still ongoing. Particular attention has been paid to the rehabilitation of the riverside, as a source of landscape enhancement, providing a system of open spaces and public facilities able to meet the dweller's demands and to attract touristic fluxes. For this reason, the West Bund Project represents one of the most relevant regeneration initiative currently taking place in Shanghai. This paper aims to investigate, starting from this specific case-study, the role of water in the definition of cultural and natural elements, revealing new perspectives for the revitalization of the urban environment.

Citizen Perspective on the Development of Sustainability Indicators—A Case Study based on the West Bund, Shanghai

“…It is located on the west bank of the Huangpu River in the east of Xuhui District, Shanghai, including the entire 11.4𝑘𝑚 waterfront and its surrounding areas (Figure 2.). The core area of this long and narrow space, which served as an essential industrial base in Shanghai in the last century, has undergone an ambitious regeneration after the 2010 Shanghai World Expo (Semprebon, 2018). Since the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015), the West Bund has been included in the city's significant development areas (Xuhui Government, 2022).…”

“…The development of SIs is also challenging in Shanghai, the mega city with the third largest population in the world. On the one hand, this city has incorporated SIs into policy planning through Five-Year Plans (FYPs) (Li et al, 2019a) since the slogan of "Better City, Better Life" was proposed at the 2010 World Expo (Semprebon, 2018). On the other hand, due to the conventional domestic top-down governance structure (Guttman et al, 2015), the effectiveness of participatory governance was questioned, and citizens were considered to lack substantial influence in SI development (Li et al, 2019a).…”