Integrating heritage assets in large commercial complexes

Integrating heritage assets in large commercial complexes: de-contextualization and re-signification of memory in Shanghai

den Hartog, Harry (TU Delft History, Form & Aesthetics; Tongji University)
González Martínez, Plácido (Tongji University)

2022

Since early this century, multiple large-scale commercial projects in Shanghai and other Chinese cities incorporate heritage assets for the creation of new identities after de-contextualisation trough demolition of complete city blocks. This tabula rasa approach resulted in a discontinuity of the meaning and use that local communities gave to these heritage buildings and a re-appropriation by new users in a context of consumerism. This paper studies two cases in Shanghai city center: Jing An Kerry Centre and Greenland Bund Centre, where heritage buildings related to the memories of Communism, trading societies and Christianity are incorporated into high-density high-end commercial redevelopment. As we argue, the study of heritage conservation methods and urban design approaches reveals profound discontinuities in the position and meaning of heritage assets, which respond to important political and economic performance requirements. This paper puts forward two main arguments. Firstly, that the choice of heritage conservation methods and design approaches aligns with the new official narrative of the desired image of Shanghai as a prosperous global city rooted in Communism. Secondly, that the de-contextualisation of heritage assets within a new corporate urban context motivates specific heritage-related landscape, urban and architectural design responses, that contribute to their re-contextualisation in a new sanitized urban environment.

Beautification
City branding
Heritage conservation
Narratives
Re-signification
Tabula rasa
Urban redevelopment

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:764c4adf-132e-4d16-932f-f735911b8e88

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.habitatint.2022.102601

2023-07-01

0197-3975

Habitat International, 126

Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository 'You share, we take care!' - Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.

Institutional Repository

journal article

© 2022 Harry den Hartog, Plácido González Martínez