N° PREGUNTAS BÁSICAS
4.1 Encuesta aplicada a los Estudiantes
5.4.1 Historical Geography of Taikang Road Area (1920s-1980s)
Historically, Tianzifang area was located in the south end of the central area in the 3rd
expansion zone in the former Shanghai French concession and the block was shaped in the 1920s(Figure 5-4), during which the Southern Taikang Road didn’t even exist; instead, it was merely an unnamed dead-end narrow passage before Taikang Road was officially built. At that time, the north and south land parcels were an integral whole and it extended eastwards to the range of the current Chongqing South Road. In the 1920s historical map (Figure 5-5), it could be seen that the block had still maintained the farming form in Southern Chinese riverside towns at that time. Many river-ways ran through the block and few residential buildings with typical Southern Chinese riverside settlement pattern were built along the river. It was not until the official construction of the Tiakang Road (which was named as Jiaxiyi Road when it was first built) in 1926 that the connected parcel was divided into three parts: southern and northern Taikang blocks and eastern Sinan block.
Figure 5-4 The location of Taikang road in the historical map of Shanghai concessions in the year of 1914: Taikang road (now in the Tianzifang area )was located in the south end of the central area in the 3rd Expansion Zone in the former Shanghai French Concession and the block was shaped in the 1920s (Source: Chen, Congzhou, Zhang, Ming (eds), Shanghai modern architectural history (1988), SDX Joint Publishing Company)
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Figure 5-5 The map of Tianzifang zone in 1920s (Source: The Album of Shanghai during the Past 150 Years,2003,Press of Shanghai Pictorial Publishing House)
With the increasingly deepening urbanization of the 3rd Expansion Zone in former French Concession, Tianzifang block had gradually shaped its unique property, namely the co-existence of various residential buildings and alleyway factories. The adjacent regions of the northern and western block were the dense area of the core upscale neighborhoods, the important justice institutions and municipal administrations and such institutions as universities, hospitals and medical institutions were gathered in the northern side, indicating that this region was situated in the border of the French Concession. The southern block was the border of former French Concession, which scattered a lot of makeshift areas and high-density residence and faced Chinese settlement across the river. Under this influence of layout, the residential buildings in Tianzifang area had obvious urban fringe and transitional characteristics and most of its southern residential buildings were alleyway houses. Affected by the adjacent architectural types, most of the residential buildings in the northern and western block were detached houses and new-styled alleyway houses. In the southeastern block, it had gathered many small and medium-sized factories and enterprises since the 1920s in order to pursue the convenient water transportation since it was close to Luojiawan-Zhaojia Bang River, the historical river in the border of the former French Concession. By now, the multi-type residence and alleyway factories had become two main functional buildings and the diverse constitutional features have extended until today. (Figure 5-15;
Figure 5-16)
According to the 1940s street map (Figure 5-6), we could see the characteristics of the industrial buildings in the block. Since it was far from the former French Concession,
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some heavily-polluted industries (i.e. the hardware industry and chemical industry) were located here in a certain scale. In addition to the residential buildings, most of the block buildings had been used by small handicraftsmen and factories in such industries as chemical engineering, food and hardware industry. In 1940, there were more than 20 factories in the block and this number fell to 17 in 1947.
Figure 5-6 The functional distribution map of Tianzifang block in 1940s (Source: LI Yanning, A sample of bottom-up regeneration for shanghai historical blocks, 2011（03）China Cultural Heritage)
After People's Republic of China was founded in 1949, the building function of Tianzifang had gone through huge transformation. In the early days of 1950s, the policies of public-private partnership11 and socialist transformation12 had discarded
the private workshops in this block one by one, while the original small industrial workshops had been changed as residential buildings and the previous detached alleyway houses had been turned into the public houses where lived several households later. And the existing middle- and large-sized alleyway factories had also gradually become state-controlled industrial enterprises. Having played a certain role in the primary stage of new China, the state-run factories in the block had gradually became the main economic power. However, with the development of the urbanization and the new industries, these factories had been abandoned since they failed to meet the
11 A public–private partnership (PPP) is a government service or private business venture which is funded and operated through a partnership of government and one or more private sector companies. See more in
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public%E2%80%93private_partnership
12 The early days of New China were a period of economic recovery. While developing production, China gradually established socialist public ownership of the means of production.
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requirements in the new era. By the end of the 1980s, no big changes had ever occurred in the fundamental form and layout of the various parcels in the area and what had been changed was that the industrial buildings in this block had became obsolete and vacant.
5.4.2 The Transformation of Alleyway Factory Area: From
Industrial Decline to Rebirth with the Help of Artists (1990s-2004)
Since the end of 1980s, the story of Tianzifang went vividly and dramatically, huge changes had begun to take place in the peaceful mixed state of the original residential function and industrial production in this block driven by the Reform and Opening-up13.
From 1994 to 2003, some municipal industrial enterprises in Luwan District had adjusted their industrial structure, capital structure and layout structure gradually and merged with or shifted to other functions on a large scale. Among them, most of the shifted enterprises had turned to the service “third industry enterprises”, as evidenced by all the industrial enterprises in Tianzifang area, where the original industrial workshops had been obsolete and vacant in quantity. For example, many factories in this block had finally changed to provide workshop rental service since these industrial enterprises had transformed as service “third industry enterprises”. The transferring reform of these enterprises had promoted the comprehensive transformation of Tianzifang area functions and most of the previous industrial factories and small industrial workshops had been torn down and left unused, providing opportunities for the entry of new-typed industries. This period could also been seen as the eve of the rebirth of Tianzifang.
In addition to the influence of the “merger with or shift to others” of the alleyway factories, the building functions in the block changed because of the development tide of the surrounding real estate. In 1992, Luwan district government began to reconstruct the old areas in a large scale and Tianzifang area gradually implemented the local real estate development of “dismantling the old buildings and constructing new ones.”14
During this period, the previous Taikang Vegetable Market had successfully moved in the abandoned factories（Figure 5-7）, bringing a new thought to Luwan Government as well as the relevant functional administrative departments. It formed far-reaching influence to the utilization models of the vacant factories in this block. This reform was proposed to use the abandoned factories instead of the national investment to improve the supporting facilities in this area.
13 Since 1979, China has pursued a policy of reform and opening to the outside world, a policy which was initiated by Deng Xiaoping. Major efforts have been made to readjust the economic structure, and reform the economic and political systems. http://www.chinadaily.com.cn
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Figure 5-7 Taikang Vegetable Market had succesfully moved in the abandoned factories in1990s （Source：by author）
In early 1999, Luwan Government proposed to bring economic benefits with the featured agglomerative economies effect by enhancing the street culture characteristics. Previously, few stores dealing with the transactions of antiques as well as calligraphy and painting collection had emerged at the intersection of Taikang Road and Sinan Road in the 1990s and formed agglomerative effect. Afterwards, Luwan Government had started to expand Taikang art-ware characteristics and bring in creative artists, painters and designers at home and abroad through the assignment and replacement of old factories and warehouses in order to build Taikang Road as a street with distinctive art-ware features. This work plan had started to introduce flexible commercial activities for Taikang Road.
Later on, the utilization model of creative industry had begun to appear in the alleyway factories in this block: in December 1998, Yilufa Cultural Development Co., Ltd was founded in this area; Chen Yifei Studio was established at No.2, Alley 210, Taikang Road in August, 1999; in May, 2000. Under the support of Shanghai Municipal Economic Committee and Luwan Government, Taikang Road had conducted an overall reconstruction; in early 2001, ER Dongqiang, a photographer, had set up Hanyuan Cultural Art Center at No.2B, Alley 210, Taikang Road; in October, 2001, the 5th floor of the previous Shanghai Food Machinnery Factory located in No. 3, Alley 210 had been transformed as an art creation center; in 2001, HUANG Yongyuan, a painter had named Alley 210, Taikang Road as “Tianzifang” with the spoonerism of “TIAN Zifang”, a name of the famous ancient painter, suggesting that this was a settlement for the artists.(Figure 5-9) By 2002, Tianzifang Cultural Art Street had been primarily formed. After the continuous reconstruction to the old workshops, Taikang Alley 210 had turned from a messy and unknown alleyway factory areas to an area with artistic celebrities and cultural activities and its city status and image had begun to change. During this period, the old factories with an area of 20, 000 square meters had been reused, attracting more than 70 enterprises from 18 countries and districts to be opened
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in this area and forming the characteristics of interior design, visual arts and industrial art. From the transformation of the entry of the road vegetable market to the primary formation of Tianzifang art cultural street, Tianzifang had gradually formed a utilization and operation model of the “obsolete space” and a “from bottom to top” regeneration pattern also made its first appearance.
Figure 5-8 Photographer Dongqiang’s Hanyuan Cultural Art Center at No.2B, Alley 210 (left)and Chen Yifei Studio at No.2, Alley 210, Taikang Road(right) (Photo: Li Yanning)
Figure 5-9 The alleyway Factories area in Tianzifang: in 2001, HUANG Yongyuan, a painter had named Alley 210, Taikang Road as “Tianzifang(田子坊)” with the spoonerism of “TIAN Zifang”, a name of a
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famous Ancient Chinese painter, suggesting that this was a settlement for the artists. By 2002, Tianzifang Cultural Art Street had been formed. (Photo: Li Yanning)
5.4.3 The Transformation of Residential Area: From the Threats
of Dismantlement to the Spontaneous Reuse (2004-2007)
Together with the increasingly deepening reconstruction of Tianzifang factory area (Alley 210, Tai Kang Road), it had gained increasingly popularity. Meanwhile, affected by the surrounding real estate development, alleyway houses in the central area (Alley 274 and 248, Tai Kang Road) （Figure 5-10）had been classified as the demolition of the old urban transformation. After 2000, with the development of Dapuqiao Commercial Zone and the favorable news of World Expo 2010, the commercial value of the surrounding areas of Taikang Road had became prominent one more time. In the Regulatory Detailed Planning of Xinxinli, Luwan district government15released in
2004, it was reported that Tianzifang should be built as a comprehensive community dominated by commercial, residential and cultural leisure activities. In the detailed planning published in 2004, it was clear that the real estate development would be tear down the old buildings and construct new ones, according to which, all the previous alleyway houses and detached houses in the south shall be replaced by high-rise buildings.
Figure 5-10 Analysis on the structure of alley space in 2010 (Source: by author. According to GUO Chunbin, “Research on the Spontaneous Rehabilitation of Old Residential Areas,” in Urban planning conference 2011, 2011, pp. 7413–7425.)
15 http://daj.luwan.sh.cn/lw2005/10.html
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In 2004, Alley 274 and 248 of Taikang Road had been listed in the dismantlement areas and Taiwan Advanced Real Estate Co., Ltd would be the developer of this region, which was also the developer of Southern Taikang Road. After the release of the dismantlement notice, the residents of these two alleys had been prepared to move to other places. Some of them had moved away before the formulation of the dismantlement agreement, while those who stayed there were mostly senior residents. Plenty of alleyway houses in the central block remained non-occupied and the life order in the alley became gradually chaotic. However, due to the infrastructure of the rail transit in the southern Taikang Road, the over-ground development had been constrained and adjusted in various forms, increasing the difficulty in the dismantlement and development of this block. Besides, the dismantlement of the northern Taikang Block also fell behind the schedule. Under this circumstance, from the year of 2005, the vacant residences in the block were rented out rapidly, maximizing the use value before the dismantlement. Alleyway houses also introduced many service contents thereafter.
During this time, the residents in the alleys improved their living standards by letting out the houses. For example, ZHOU Xinliang, a resident in No.15, Alley 210, Taikang Road first thought whether he could leased his house to the design companies relevant to creative industries just as the old factory workshops in order to win higher rent. It was hard for him to live in Shanghai since his retirement pension was only RMB 507. Therefore, he rented his 32-square meter room in the courtyard in the 1st floor to a costume designer at a monthly rent of RMB3500 and he spent RMB1000 to live in the 2nd floor. In this way, he could have a net income of RMB 3500 every month on account of a single room, 7 times higher than his retirement payment, thus, greatly improving his living standards and his worn-out alleyway house had also been renewed by the designer and became a characteristic art room.16
Along with the construction of Taikang Alley 210 creative agglomeration as well as the simultaneous operation of residence dismantlement and short-term renting of the central block, Shanghai had strengthened its calls to protect historical blocks and historical buildings. In as early as 2003, according the Regulations of Shanghai Municipality on The Protection of The Areas with Historical Cultural Features 17,
Shanghai Municipal Government had determined the 12 Historical and Cultuaral Scenic Areas in the central city, among which, HengshanRoad-Fuxing Road Historical and Cultural Scenic Area was just close to northern Tianzifang area. The attention of the public had been attracted to the functional changes the new and old alleyway houses, detached houses and alleyway factories in central Tianzifang and the resulting social response. However, the preservation and renovation of the historical blocks would inevitably come down to the governmental leadership and investment, which was also a problem in front of Tianzifang area. Without the dismantlement, the development of the block would lose the capital investment resources.
16 LI Yanning, “A Sample of Bottom-up Regeneration for Historical Blocks in Shanghai（in Chinese）,” China Cultural Heritage, 2011, 38–47
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In 2004, Taikang Road established Taikang art street management committee, which was responsible for the investment attraction of Tianzifang as an administrative body of the street committee, taking charge of the factory reconstruction in Alley 210. With the expansion of the spontaneous renting behaviors, the residents of Taikang Road organized and built Tianzifang Shikument Owners Management Committee, dealing with the statistics of the percentage of the non-residential function in the alleyway houses and owner contacts in 2005.(Figure 5-41)
From 2004 to 2008, the Street Committee and Taikang Art Street Management Committee proposed to the municipal government and district government by various means of the National People’s Congress and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, demanding to give up the original dismantlement-construction development mode and promoting Taikang Road area to expand the utilization model to the entire neighborhood on the basis of the flexible use of the resources in the alleyway factories.
Figure 5-11 The daily life in alley 248,Taikang road, in the year of 2004 (Soure:LI Yanning, “A Sample of Bottom-up Regeneration for Historical Blocks in Shanghai（in Chinese）,” China Cultural Heritage, 2011, 38–47)
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Figure 5-12 Proliferation of non residential uses into Shikumen alleyway housing area (Source: Hiroyuki Shinohara and Architect Lecturer, “Mutation of Tizifang,Taikang Road,Shanghai,” in The 4th International Conference of the International Forum on Urbanism (IFoU), 2009, pp. 749–752.)
5.4.4 Discussions on the Regeneration Approach: From
Spontaneous Transformation to Government Management (2007-2008)
As more and more residential buildings in the dismantlement residential areas in Taikang Alley 274 and 248 had been rented, the residential buildings in this block had attracted the attention of the creative industrial zone in Taikang Alley 210. On one hand, the stores increased in the alley and the renting modes diversified, leading to “principal tenant” or “secondary tenant”. On the other hand, numerous residential buildings had changed its residential functions after the renting into the functions such as catering, entertainment, leisure and clothes. On account of the uniqueness of the architectural space and location convenience, the commercial atmosphere in here warmed up quickly and the popularity increased greatly.
In accordance with the statistic data of 2007 Luwan district Jianzhong Committee, as of August, 2005, the 28 residents in the ground floors in northern Taikang Alley 210 had gradually rented out their houses. They contributed to repair the pavements, street lamps and environment of the alley and bought public leisure tables and chairs well as umbrellas. The regional rent increased from RMB 3500 per room in 2004 to RMB 4471. By the end of 2005, keeping the renting momentum of houses in Taikang Alley 210, the residential buildings in the central block had also accumulated a great number of non-residential stores. Instead of totally copying the industrial features dominated by the original interior design, visual art and industrial art in Tianzifang, the stores in alleyway houses increased the supporting service contents such as leisure, entertainment and catering around the requirements of Tianzifang industrial characteristics. The consumers here were most the groups working in Tianzifang or nearby.
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The residents here had a variety of voices to the changes of the residential function and got differentiated into several conflicting groups, whose conflicts and contradictions mainly focused on benefit distribution and non-residential disturbance. On one hand, the problem of benefit distribution was manifested on the residents in the 2nd and 3rd floors, whose houses had no independent passages, making the rents far lower than those of the ground floor; on the other hand, the non-residential disturbance mainly included the various noises. With the introduction of bars, restaurants and design workshops, numerous air conditioning outer machines had been installed in the exterior walls, generating noises from day-and-night operation. Additionally, the bars and restaurants located in the ground floors had extended their business scope to the