Learning from Places, as One of the Tasks of Urban Design

Michele Bonino

Professor, Politecnico di Torino, Italy

Keywords: Place, East-west comparison, Sense of community, Urban practices, Urban design tasks

Beijing lends itself to observation for its comprehensive urban elements: the grid, axis, infrastructural rings, the large zoning. In this essay, we will look at it in part, considering a specific place.

1. The Relationships between Home and Factory

In Europe, starting from the mid-19th century, the urban practice of building residential areas near to the factories was developed: the goal was mainly to ensure the stability and productivity of the workforce. These settlements, created on an entrepreneurial initiative, were located in extra-urban areas or were welded to the city fabric as industrial districts, in both cases maintaining specific autonomy regarding the context.

Observing its spatial structure, we can still today recognize a departmentalization of the functions and a symmetrical and closed spatial set up, typical to the industrial DANWEI of the new Republic. ChaoYang Road divides the productive area, made up of offices and workshops, from the residential fabric, made up of homes and welfare facilities such as schools and hospitals. The mixed fabric is divided along the sides of the north south central axis, along which the main gates of both functional units and the most representative buildings (the administrative offices and the auditorium) are set up. The walls along the boundaries of the DANWEI, still present in part, show an introvert and independent character from the urban environment, but indirectly strengthen the cohesion of the community and the unique character of the place.

The productive area has also been subject to great spatial and social change following the abandonment of the factory at the end of the 1990s. Between 2009 and 2011, the factory was reconverted into new sites for creative activities: the regenerated site of the Textile was occupied by a new community, without however building up interactions with the social fabric of the residential part to the north of the road. With the closure of the factory and the decline in the organization of the DANWEI, in fact, the link between residential and productive fabric dissolved for good.

2. The Relationships between DANWEI and the City

Originally, the No. 2 Cotton Textile Factory stood in a completely suburban area to the East of the Capital, called Ba Lizhuang. Its location outside of the city was not a problem, in that the “Textile city” as a DANWEI was distinguished by a full, functional autonomy, which only needed to be close to a waterway and railway in order for its industrial activity to develop. Due to rapid urban expansion, soon the city incorporated the industrial complex. The integration of the industrial DANWEI in the urban area was a challenge for the future development of this part of the city.

The regenerated areas were still not very accessible to the public, despite the introduction of numerous semiprivate activities, some commercial activities and the attempt to integrate with the urban space initially promoted by the requalification project. The landscape design — which was never completed — in fact planned the creation of a public park in order to encourage citizens to enter.

The dormitories and canteens were rented to citizens coming from other areas of the city. Even the functions along the district’s borders tend to change and services were subject to a gradual integration with the public spaces outside of the area. The rich articulation of the functional and social fabric of the industrial DANWEI allows integration with the urban space at the fall of the physical and mental barriers that still define it.

These soft, progressive and dialogical regeneration processes seem to be potentially useful models for the industrial DANWEI, with their very urban morphology and their sense of community.

3. The Relationships between Heritage and Memory

In 2009, the requalification project of the productive area of the No. 2 Textile was commissioned to Kengo Kuma, who would provide a concept that was then developed by a local Institute, whose realisation of the concept was never recognised by the Japanese architect. The masterplan divided the uniform configuration of the factory into 46 independent units from 300㎡ to 5,000㎡, broken up by pathways and gardens: in the large slab of sheds, a number of passages have been engraved, created a sort of internal “blocks”, giving the idea of a new piece of the city. The complete use of the areas confirms that the requalification intervention was successful, also guaranteed by the area’s proximity to the centre of Beijing. The project offers an alternative scenario to demolition and becomes an explicit model for other urban renovation projects in China.

4. The Relationships among the Stakeholders in Transformation

The process of transforming the No. 2 Textile Factory industrial area was led by political and economic reasons. With the support of the Beijing State-owned Asset Management Company and the Beijing Textile Holding Company, the Beijing Guotong Asset Management Company and the Beijing Jingmian Textile Group constitute a joint venture, known as the Beijing Guomian Cultural & Creative Development Company, to start up the project to renew the abandoned factory. More than preserving the historical memory of the place, the transformation aims to contribute to developing the Capital’s cultural industries. The new cluster contributes to strengthening the communities of creative industries called the International Media Corridor, promoted by the ChaoYang District government.

The Guomian Company is the investor and promoter of the development process of the creative district. The company commissions an internationally-renowned architect with the design of a single intervention, to end after just 16 months. The clear increase in the value of the land and the market value of the factory are just two of the economic advantages that result from the renovation.

References

1 Bray D. Social space and governance in urban China: the DANWEI system from origins to reform [M]. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2005.

2 ZHANG L. La naissance du concept de patrimoine en Chine, XIXe-XXe siècles [M]. Paris: ?ditions Recherches, 2003.

3 Whittick A. European architecture in the twentieth century [M]. London: Lockwood, 1953.

4 Abriani A. Villaggi operai in Italia [M]//Squarzina S. D. Villaggi operai in Europa nel secolo XIX. Torino: Einaudi, 1981: 83-108.

Figure 1. No. 2 Textile Factory, Beijing. Axonometric view of the residential area, in 1957, 1987, and today by Silvia Lanteri and Eudes Margaria, Politecnico di Torino

（文章来源：Urban Design #2015(1) excerpts）