Emerging Asian Cities
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“Global Architecture and Ethnic Enclaves: Reading Kampung Baru and Kuala Lumpur City Centre” by Mari Fujita explores the dialogue between a post-industrial center and a former colonial habitat in the center of Malaysia’s capital. The latter, Kampung Baru is a century-old settlement created by British administration, the former, Kuala Lumpur City Centre - centered on one of the world’s tallest buildings, the Petronas Towers - is a federal megaproject intended to demonstrate Malaysia's arrival to the global stage. This essay grounds an expansive discussion of how both have an active and persistent role in shaping the identity of Kuala Lumpur today.
With Asia having once again become the frontier for architectural and urban utopia, this chapter seeks to examine the promises and limitations of its ambitious emerging identities? Are they mere emblems of Asia’s globalizing aspirations, conscientious visions towards its social, economic and cultural progress, or colossal Towers of Babel destined for catastrophe and collapse?
Taken together, these studies suggest that modernism is no longer Eurocentrism, rather a global heritage. But what is the price Asia will pay for it: the erasure of historic landscapes, destruction of arable land, pollution, widening socio-economic gaps, the loss of tradition? Seen from the delirious heights of these post-industrial identities, the Asian city seems like Walter Banjamin’s reading of Paul Klee’s “Angelus Novus” – the angel who is looking towards the past where a chain of catastrophes keeps hurling wreckage at his feet. He would like to stay and mend what is being destroyed. But a storm from Paradise has caught his wings with such force that he can no longer close them. It irresistibly propels him into the future to which his back is turned, even as the pile of debris before him grows skyward. The storm is “progress”. There are many who argue that such cultural and ecological erasures are inevitable along the path of Asia’s globalization. But there are also those that see these emerging landscapes as opportunities to redefine the idea of globalization itself, not as a nihilistic but as an inclusive phenomenon that can embrace and grapple with the other extraordinary urban challenges that continue to grip the Asian city.
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“Building Utopias: China’s Emerging New Town Movement” by Zhongjie Lin examines how the increasing stratification of social structure, resulting from the market economy and changing demographic patterns, are making an imprint on new urban forms and social spaces. It examines if the growing awareness of sustainability is indeed a driving force for innovative ecological design, versus a political rhetoric for entrepreneurial governance. In so doing it forges a broader discussion on the impact of globalization on the processes of place making under specific local conditions.
“The Museum as Catalyst: Abu Dhabi’s New Cultural District” by Seth Thompson reflects upon the larger role of Asia’s emerging “international” civic monuments such as Abu Dhabi’s Guggenheim and Louvre museums. It posits that “non-vernacular” designs are appropriate for such buildings within the trans-cultural demographic and global aspirations of the United Arab Emirates. But its also argues that such monuments should not simply be elite destinations and global brands, but locally approachable and useful places, that can justify their colossal investments.
“Making Way for a Global Metropolis: Mumbai’s Rapidly Transforming Informal Sector” by Manish Chalana focuses on India’s economic capital, where vernacular informal habitats are being rapidly reshaped by the state’s increasingly neo-liberal urban policies. While these transformations appear to fulfill the city elites’ aspirations for globalization, their reliance on modernist planning and global aesthetics radically alters the fundamental socio-cultural and economic needs of these low-income residents. This work argues for the urgency in incorporating the informal sector in the vision of a world-class metropolis.
“From Handshake Buildings to Golf Villa Estates: How the Flash Cities of Manchester and Shenzhen Came of Age” by Nick Roberts examines the prospects of China’s rapidly urbanizing Shenzhen Special Economic Zone , by comparing it with another 19th century English “flash city.” It traces two parallel phenomena - the advent of new spatial typologies, and the eventual escape of the rising bourgeois to exurban estates. In so doing, it speculates the potential evolution of emerging Asian “flash cities”: from their beginnings as hybrid habitats, their transitions into luxury communities, and their eventual transformation into flourishing cosmopolitan centers.
“Vertical Urbanism, Horizontal Urbanity: Notes from East Asia” by Jeffrey Hou argues that vertical urbanism as architectural expression has dominated discourses of design and planning, often at the expense of other forms of urbanity that are equally, if not more, relevant. Through observations in China, Japan, Taipei and Korea, it critiques this narrowly focused urbanism and argues for a more multifaceted and inclusive view of urbanity in East Asia that embodies the full complexity and possibilities of its cities.
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“The Culture of Compactness: Dimensions of Density in Hong Kong” by Peter Cookson Smith provides a historical account of the successive legislative policies and development ordinances that have transformed Hong Kong into high-rise city. Using this political history to reflect deeper on its current trends in urban design and restructuring, this study suggests that Hong Kong’s hyper density needs to be seen not only in terms of the constant pressure on scarce land area, but also through the workings of a sophisticated financial model to which land use zoning and land mechanisms have significantly contributed.
“The “Dubai Effect: The Gulf, the Art World & Globalization” by Brettany Shannon analyzes how the phenomenon of globalization has been brought to bear through the Gulf region’s recent foray into cultural tourism. Even through its 2009 economic collapse, Dubai, contrary to mainstream perceptions, has been firmly establishing its ascendancy in yet another contemporary economic development tool: the contemporary arts festival. What do these festivals bespeak about its host city-state? How do they compare with Dubai’s exuberant utopias like the Palm and the Burj Kahalifa? Are they a desperate response to its real estate crises, or a critical self-examination towards a more thoughtfully future?
Transformations
The Book