The Image Representation Evolutions of Shanghai’s Large Urban Projects
The end of the 20th century, with the advent of the Reforms, brought many changes for the city of Shanghai, especially in terms of urban development. Planning will become an essential tool for the city's development and the urban project will be the means to achieve the objectives of large-scale planning. From the Reforms until today, the city of Shanghai will undergo many evolutions. And this period coincides with a turning point in urban planning and design practice. It was from this time onwards that major urban projects began to be the subject of urban design competition. It was also at this time, at the end of the 1970s, that the tools available to urban planners and designers evolved with the emergence of computer technologies. This evolution of the tools of the urban planner and designer will then influence the image representation that he produces to make the urban project. The urban planners and designers live and work in the image society. Nowadays, Images are an essential component of the world, and image representation is one of the best tool of the professionals, the urban planners and designers, to make urban projects.
This Master’s thesis proposes to question the significance and role of those image representations produced during the preliminary stages of the urban project. By focusing on the image representations produced during Shanghai’s international urban design competitions. It aims to provide an understanding of how those image representations may be the witness, may reflect the city’s large-scale challenges and stakes evolutions.
The reflection carried out, aims to discuss the different types of Shanghai’s urban projects image representations produced during international competitions. It aims to discuss their role and significance as well as the tools available to the professionals for their creation. This Master’s thesis will take into consideration the image representations of three Shanghai’s urban design competitions case studies (the competition for the Lujiazui Central Business District development during the 1990s, the competition for the World Expo site development in 2001, and the competition for the redevelopment of the eastern banks of the Huangpu River in 2016). In addition, it attempts to provide an overview of Shanghai’s urban development trends and challenges, in order to understand the context in which those competitions are held.
By addressing all those aspects, and analysing the image representations of three significant Shanghai’s urban design competitions case studies, this Master’s thesis attempts to understand how the image representations produced by professionals can reflect the large scale stakes of the metropolis. And how the evolution of those image representations can reflect the evolution of Shanghai’s urban stakes.
