An attempt to regain Paradise

An attempt to regain Paradise: Urban regeneration of the largest residential community - Paradise Gateway in Beijing - from the inter-scalar perspective

Yang, Yuefeng (TU Delft Architecture and the Built Environment)

Sepulveda Carmona, Diego Andres (mentor)
Stead, Dominic (mentor)

Delft University of Technology

2017-07-10

Chinese cities are going through an intense transformation of urbanization, which the world haven't experienced before. Beijing, as the capital, is the first to be affected by both developments and problems through this transformation. The flow of people from rural to urban, and from small cities to large cities is dramatic. The phenomenon of Drifters, migrants in Beijing, started to draw the attention of the whole society since the 1980s. Economic and political restrictions made the life adventures of Drifters hard enough.

This project aims to find alternative solutions towards overcrowding densities and housing shortage crisis in Paradise Gateway, Beijing. Although my appeal is not as strong and influential as the Red political specialists, whose lifelong pursue is to prove how our people live in rejoicing based on imagination. I found it is my duty, as an urban planner, to work on a better future for citizens, instead of benumbing people with slogans.

Born in Beijing, the author personally experienced the poor traffic condition of the city. Congestion can easily happen anywhere, especially at the peripheral of the city center, which is a clear sign of the overcrowding. Various measures towards congestion have been carried out, from the license-plate lottery to odd-and-even license plate control rule. There are rumors about tolls on ring road are going to be charged in the coming 2017. 'The song for the fifth ring' gains huge popularity among Citizens in Beijing, expressing the mixed feelings about the city's infrastructure. Another part of the motivation of this project is the attempt to reveal the primary cause of congestion in Beijing.

In conclusion, the project will aim toward counteracting the quality effects of the mega-residential communities in Beijing. These communities are playing an important role in the settlement of immigrants, where living condition and traffic condition is bad. As density rises, living quality of local citizens goes down. Is there any possibility of revitalizing the giant communities?

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Student theses

master thesis

© 2017 Yuefeng Yang