On February 19th, as one of the lectures in the series "Modern Urban Process: Paris Architecture Exhibition", the lecture "Shanghai vs Paris: Cultural Heritage and Urban Renewal" was held at the West Bund Art Museum. In collaboration with the School of Architecture and Urban Planning of Tongji University, this lecture explores in depth the gentrification movement and reflection in the heritage protection of france in the 20th century and the protection of french urban heritage, as well as the formation and development of the former French Concession in Shanghai.
"Paris Architecture: A Witness to the Urban Process (1948-2020)" is the first special exhibition in China to focus on the international urban development process. Boulevards, corner gardens, high-rise apartments, waterfront spaces, the same city on both sides of the same river, Shanghai's historical landscape projects the shadow of Paris. Professors Lu Yongyi and Shao Yong of the School of Architecture and Urban Planning of Tongji University led the audience to enter the urban development process of Paris and Shanghai in the past 100 years from the professional perspective of heritage protection in the form of keynote speeches and forums.
Professor Lu Yongyi, School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tongji University
With the title of "The Spatial, Structural and Cultural Imagination of the Centre Pompidou", Lu Yongyi tells about this typical urban renewal project of Paris after the war. At the beginning of 1976, the Centre Pompidou in Paris was inaugurated as a temple of 20th-century Western modern art, permanently residing in the heart of a historic city with a machine-like "reckless" image. How did this outrageous architectural proposal stand out from more than 600 entries? What kind of cultural imagination is involved in this? How was it built with the wisdom of engineers?
According to Lu Yongyi, the Centre Pompidou is located on the right bank of the Seine River, a historic district with a large number of cultural legacies, and across the road is the Le Marais (Marais) Reserve, which before World War II was listed as the first unsanitary neighborhood in Paris. Poor traffic, hygiene, and living conditions have sparked many architects' thinking, the most famous of which was Le Corbusier's plan for the renovation of the center of Paris, which was presented at the 1925 Paris Exposition, which proposed the demolition of a large number of old buildings, which Corbusier himself called a "major surgery" renovation. The French did not adopt this renewal method, experiencing a boom in post-war construction, and in the late 1960s, in the dispute between "building Paris" and "destroying Paris", then-French President Georges Pompidou announced the establishment of an art center in Paris, and in the international design competition for the Pompidou Art Center the following year, Italy's Renzo Piano and Britain's Richard George Rogers stood out.
"Underneath the radical appearance, it not only reflects the two young architects' pursuit of image, but also contains the meaning of space. Unlike the traditional image of public architecture, the Centre Pompidou has no high steps, the open ground floor blends with the street, and the architects try to make the building a 'giant framework where anything can happen', a 'flexible container', with openness to convey the idea that culture is not exclusive to the elite. ”
Sharing for the crowd is the design concept of the Centre Pompidou and the essence of the renewal of the city of Paris. The transformation of the old districts of the city center inevitably brings about social restructuring, and the purpose of the Paris government is to maintain the diversity of the social structure, so that citizens of all walks of life can enjoy the wonderful city life.
Shao Yong, entitled "The Way of Balance: Gentrification Movement and Reflection in the Protection of Urban Heritage in France", tells how to make urban heritage and urban centers a case shared by different classes of people in the process of urban heritage protection. At the beginning of the speech, Shao Yong first went back to the first round of renewal of modern cities - the 19th century Ottoman-led paris transformation, Ottoman transformation is not only displayed on the ground, such as connecting the landscape through traffic, and setting up public service facilities such as hospitals, churches, opera houses and other public service facilities in each district, and the city's infrastructure is more reflected in the infrastructure construction that cannot be seen below the ground, such as the sewer system that Parisians are proud of. However, it is worth reflecting on the destruction of the city's historical heritage from the Roman period to the Middle Ages, but also caused social unrest due to the displacement of some citizens due to land expropriation.
Shao Yong, Professor of school of architecture and urban planning at Tongji University
The second round of urban renewal was the transformation of the old city in the 1960s and the reconstruction after the war. Due to the lack of housing in urban centers due to rapid economic growth, and the grand urban dream of rebuilding national confidence after the victory of World War II, many cities embarked on a "bulldozer reconstruction" and slum clearance movement in the 1960s, while Paris chose a different path – such renovations proved to be only a diversion of slums, with heavy economic and social costs, and the city's culture was severely damaged.
Shao Yong called Le Marais, across the street from the Centre Pompidou, the Old Town of Paris – in the 12th century, philippe Augustus wall appeared here; in the 14th century, charles V's wall was built here; in the 16th century, it became an aristocratic area; in the 17th century, Henry IV built a royal palace here, with the "Place de Voges" in the center; In the 18th century, due to the decline of the construction of new suburbs, the inner courtyard and gardens became large courtyards; at the end of the 18th century, the Revolution completely reorganized the social structure and land tenure, and the area became an ordinary living neighborhood, with a large number of warehouses, workshops and office buildings; in the 19th century, the neighborhood became increasingly dilapidated, becoming a place for foreign immigrants, and the residents were degraded, becoming the most unsanitary neighborhood in Paris.
This place, which Shao Yong called "the most Parisian place", ushered in the restoration of heritage protection and value in the 1960s. In 1962, France took the lead in promulgating the Malraux Decree on the protection of historic sites, which not only protected the urban heritage in the form of legislation, but also provided another model for urban renewal, that is, the purpose of urban renewal is not only material renewal, but more importantly, whether it can improve the environment and bring new vitality.
It was in the context of the Marraux Decree that Le Marais began an "organic renewal": the renovation and revitalization of heritage buildings, the 17th-century ancient Serre mansion was converted into the Picasso Museum in 1963, the Place de Vož was transformed into an important public space in the city; the renovation of the neighborhoods of the landscape, and in 1972 began to implement the renovation plan of the village of Saint-Paul, which improved the quality of living and public service facilities by retaining and demolishing them, dredging space, building public passages, and introducing low-level commerce.
On the 1 hectare of land, 50 historical buildings have been preserved, providing 241 comfortable residences, 1 public service complex, almost 6,000 square meters of commercial area ... Represented by the village of Saint-Paul, while the historic district was being protected and restored and its value was restored, a new imbalance emerged - after the cultural industry settled in 1965-1990, the number of bookstores, antique shops and galleries surged, and by 2003, the chain of commercial expansion represented by clothing stores, jewelry stores, and perfume shops began, and the business of the Marais district began to be "gentrified", and Parisians found that the Marais district was no longer the Marais district they remembered.
After the building density was reduced, the social structure of the population began to change, with the proportion of workers falling from 35% in 1954 to 7% in 1999, and the proportion of civil servants and intellectuals rising from 5% to 46.6%. This demographic change, known as gentrification, was first proposed by the British scholar Ruth Glass, which refers to "people with higher economic and cultural levels who move into the old city where the working class is concentrated, resulting in the removal of the working class".
People from all walks of life in France have made various attempts to bridge the new "imbalance" derived from the transformation of old districts. In 1975, the famous economist Nora criticized the renovation model that excluded craftsmen and workers in the "Nora Report", and proposed public policies such as the "Housing Improvement Plan", that is, to help private owners repair old houses through government subsidies, etc., so that the city's middle-income people could continue to live in the protected and improved urban center of Paris.
Finally, under the auspices of Jiang Jiawei, assistant professor of the School of Architecture and Urban Planning of Tongji University, Lu Yongyi and Shao Yong discussed the questions asked by the audience in the form of a forum. They believe that the romance of Paris lies in both tradition and innovation, and its experience in cultural heritage protection and urban renewal is worth learning from Shanghai, so as to achieve the purpose of sustainable development.