SHANGHAI'S TRADITIONAL WATER TOWNS: UNDERSTANDING URBAN STRUCTURE THROUGH URBAN PUBLIC SPACES

Abstract

Shanghai’s traditional water towns are known to many as ancient gems embedded within a network of waterways on the plains of the Yangtze Delta. Valued for their historical significance, economic relevance, and as vital linkages between the urban and rural spheres, these towns are an invaluable part of Shanghai’s regional network. Internally, its unique spatial structure, cultivated for centuries, has been successful in facilitating positive social exchanges. However, 20 years of unprecedented expansion of the city centre has led to extensive pressures exerted on its peripheral regions, and these water towns were not spared. Physically manifested as a collection of insensitive developments within and around the old town core, unchecked growth perpetuated careless spatial reorganisation. This has resulted in the fragmentation of the town’s spatial structure and the weakening of its distinctive characteristics and identity. Without an appropriate urbanism model or a cohesive regeneration plan, the future of Shanghai’s water towns are uncertain at best. In the context of this uncertainty, this paper seeks to provide a framework built upon the concepts of urban spatial structure and urban public space. The paper posits that by being a constituent of urban spatial structure, urban public space can be utilised as a litmus test to assess its condition. On-site observations of how urban public spaces were treated or rather, mistreated reflects the lack of consideration of structure upon which the spatial and social landscapes are based. In addressing the issue of spatial fragmentation, this study advocates the view that a good regeneration plan should stem from the treatment of urban public spaces as a network. It is with this thought that a set of possible network-based approaches were generated to ensure the sustainable growth of these water towns.