Buildings
Shanghai City Planners Release Plans to Save Historic "Alley-Houses"
(archrecord.construction.com - 06/08/04)
By Jen Lin-Liu
City planners in Shanghai are introducing
a plan to preserve the city's remaining historical buildings
called "longtangs," or residential alley houses.
The plan, which was proposed by local officials of one of
Shanghai's wealthiest districts and the city's land bureau,
aims to restore the alley houses, rather than demolish them,
and reduce the density of the neighborhoods by more than 50
percent.
The alley homes, three-story dwellingsthat
often have Chinese-style stone gates and courtyards but use
European building materials like brick, were originally meant
to be single-family residences when the buildings were built
in the 1920's and 1930's. The Communist government squeezed
more families into the homes under the socialist state planning
model used in the 1950's and 1960's, which has resulted in
crowded conditions where several families often share a communal
kitchen and bathroom.
The plan wants to make the longtangs
single-family residences once again. Renovations on the buildings
may take up to two years, during which all the families will
be required to move out, says Wu Jiang, the deputy director
of the Shanghai Urban Planning Administrative Bureau. Once
the renovations are complete, families will be given the option
of being able to move back in at a discounted price, which
will be subsidized by the government.
Architectural preservationists in Shanghai
are encouraged by the recent city-planning proposal. "You
can still find examples of flaunting the rudimentary historic
preservation laws but you see far more awareness," says
Patrick Cranley, a founder of the Shanghai Historic House
Association.
But architectural preservationists in
Shanghai face an uphill battle. Since rapid real estate development
began in the mid 1990's, more than four-fifths of Shanghai's
longtangs have been demolished to make way for new high-rise
buildings, according to local news reports.
About 400 homes have been put on a "municipal
preserved building" list that prohibits then from being
torn down, but even making the protected list doesn't guarantee
that they will be spared from the bulldozers. In March, a
local real estate company demolished a protected villa on
one of Shanghai's main streets. The real estate company claims
that the building collapsed accidentally while construction
crews were trying to renovate it. The local government, in
a move lauded by preservationists, may fine the developer
up to $12 million.
A further problem remains: though the
plan will give families the option of moving back into the
historic buildings, many residents - who survive on incomes
of a couple hundred dollars a month - will not be able to
afford to pay the estimated $625 per square meter, about 25
percent of the estimated value of the homes. "About a
third of residents don't want to leave but they also don't
have the money to pay even at subsidized rates," admits
Wu.
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