New City Chronicle | Shanghai to recreate a new business card: the world's first-class design capital

Design, shape human modern civilization; creativity, drive the sustainable development of civilization. As a super-large city in the world, Shanghai is taking a big step towards a new height in the creative design industry.

On the morning of February 17, the Shanghai Construction of a World-Class "Design Capital" Promotion Conference was held in the Friendship Hall, and Shanghai multi-departmental jointly issued several opinions on Shanghai's construction of a world-class "Design Capital", proposing that Shanghai will basically build a "Design Capital" with a prosperous design industry, excellent brand, active ecology and a strong atmosphere by 2025, and a world-class "Design Capital" by 2030.

The goal is very clear, the time is not far away, Shanghai has such strength and confidence.

Architecture and Landscape: A Physical Vehicle for Creative Inspiration

In the construction of the design capital, Shanghai has actually been on the road.

Strictly speaking, since joining the United Nations Creative Cities Network in 2010, Shanghai has spent 12 years preparing to build a "City of Design". Of course, in a larger dimension, since the reform and opening up, countless times of first-mover experimentation are all laying a foundation for the city's creative design.

In Shanghai, there is a design beauty that is visible to the naked eye. When it comes to Shanghai, many people will think of Lujiazui and the Bund.

On the west bank of the Pujiang River, the International Architecture Expo Group records the historical features of the city; on the east bank of the Pujiang River, Lujiazui "three-piece set" and the Oriental Pearl tower witness the rapid development of the city. Across the river, two architectural styles; one city, two imprints of the times. This in itself is a different kind of era design.

Strolling along the Pujiang River, there is another flavor. At the end of 2017, the entire line of 45 kilometers of public space on both sides of the Huangpu River was completed, embroidering lace for Shanghai's mother river.

This narrow shoreline condenses the unique creative design of Shanghai's districts: Yangpu preserves and develops old industrial relics; Xuhui creates the largest cultural carrier community in Asia; Pudong builds an "oxygen reservoir" on the east bank; Huangpu Riverside relies on the Bund building complex to become a "window of the world"; and The North Bund of Hongkou has become a popular punching place for citizens and tourists to choose during holidays.

The landscape design of public spaces is not only reflected in the main artery of the Huangpu River, but also in the large and small "blood veins" of the city.

For me twenty years ago, the closest park to home, a must-visit park, was Century Park, four kilometers away. Even if you don't have time to travel because of your busy schoolwork, just lying on the windowsill and watching the high-altitude fireworks that are sometimes set off in the park is already a pleasure.

Nowadays, the streets on both sides of the community have been transformed into miniature parks, with walking paths, seats, and greenery. Walk for five minutes, walk through two intersections, and run and fitness in the more spacious cultural park in front of your home. "Step by step, step by step", the writing style that often appears in textbooks, truly exists around me.

Building a "Capital of Design", Shanghai has built a physical vehicle for creative inspiration with readable buildings and multi-purpose landscapes.

Culture and fashion: the humanistic atmosphere in design

Shanghai was once known as the "Paris of the East".

The analogy between the two cities is intuitively reflected in the connection of urban landmarks: the Seine River corresponds to the Huangpu River, the Champs Elysées correspond to Nanjing Road, the Eiffel Tower corresponds to the Oriental Pearl... But the superficial analogy is both rigid and ignores the real similarity between the two behind the landmarks - the humanistic atmosphere of the city.

The fragrance of the Champs Elysées, the luxury of the Louvre, and the elegance of Notre Dame combine to compose the romance of Parisians; in Shanghai, the patchwork of cultural venues, colorful fashion events, and even the cafes embedded in the streets and alleys make the city fragrant and dazzling.

Shanghai strives to build an international cultural metropolis, and needs a number of iconic cultural facilities carriers with international standards and reflecting Shanghai's characteristics, which provide strong support for the "Shanghai Culture" brand, the "dock" of culture bigger and stronger, and the "source" of excellent culture.

In recent years, from the Guangfulin Cultural Site that "covers the thousand-year history of Shanghai", to the reopened Shanghai Great World, to the Pudong Art Museum, which opened not long ago, as well as the East Library of Shanghai Library, the East Hall of Shanghai Museum, and the Shanghai Grand Opera House under construction...

Shanghai is driving the cultural industry through architectural design, illuminating history into reality, and promoting Shanghai culture to the world.

Cultural venues have risen from the ground, cultural industries have risen vigorously, and Shanghai is located in the center of global cultural integration, attracting guests from all over the world. The Annual Shanghai International Arts Festival, Shanghai International Film Festival, Shanghai International Fashion Week, and numerous art exhibitions bring together top artists and works, absorb cutting-edge art design concepts and ideas, and set off a fashion storm in the magic capital.

At the same time, the enthusiastic participation and positive feedback of the public also set off the city's strong literary and artistic atmosphere on another level, so that the spark of inspiration for creative design can be endless.

Industry & Information: Design-Enabled Scientific and Technological Achievements

In the high-speed development of the information age, design is not limited to art, but rises to a higher level, with multiple functions.

"Several Opinions on Shanghai's Construction of a World-Class "Design Capital"" points out that Shanghai should empower the leading industry with industrial design and digital design, strengthen integrated circuit design, focus on the design of products and technologies such as biomedicine and medical devices, break through the core algorithm design of artificial intelligence, lead key industries, and promote the overall improvement of industrial design capabilities such as electronic information, life and health, automobiles, high-end equipment, and new materials.

This is actually empowering technology with design and leading the industry with creativity. The perfect integration of design and technology is also a consistent pursuit of Shanghai in recent years.

Every May, the Shanghai Science and Technology Festival kicks off as scheduled. The science and technology festival, which has lasted for 30 years, has now become a conference of innovative achievements, a display hall of scientific and technological products, a festival of scientific and technological workers, and a public science and technology carnival.

Every year in the autumn, the World's Top Scientists Forum is held in Shanghai. The winners of the world's top scientific awards and academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Sciences gathered on the banks of the Pujiang River to discuss the important propositions facing the world at present, and to provide suggestions for the development of science and technology in China and even the world.

For four consecutive years, the China International Import Expo was held as scheduled, and Shanghai became an important display platform for the outstanding achievements of advantageous industries in various countries...

Holding science and technology festivals, scientist forums and expositions is to gather scientific consensus, stimulate design inspiration, share scientific and technological achievements, and also to undertake the spillover effect of festival exhibitions, turn exhibits into commodities, put ideas into reality, and drive the development of science and technology with talents.

To build a world-class "design capital", Shanghai has three specific goals – a more beautiful environment, a more trendy atmosphere, and cooler products. Of course, to be more beautiful, more fashionable, and cooler, Shanghai needs a stronger brain.

We often use "embroidery needle-like work" to describe Shanghai's urban governance, which is because Shanghai is large, populous, densely populated, and rich in factors, and to systematically solve any urban problem, it is necessary to come up with a sufficiently meticulous plan and adopt a sufficiently precise approach.

Building a building needs to consider the safety hazards of each foot of height; the layout of the landscape, you need to think about the use value of every inch of land; industrial development, you need to calculate the assembly parameters of each part. Every foot, every inch, every inch, is a product of design, and it is also the masonry of the "capital of design".

Sigh at the size of Shanghai, but also feel the details of Shanghai. In the coming years, we may wish to pay attention to and participate in the "Design Capital" attack road.