Summary
- Shanghai has the largest metro system in the world, and it couldn't have achieved this without good planning. The museum showcases how to build a city that caters to both humans and nature, making it arguably the best museum for city planning.
- The Expo site in Shanghai is massive and features absolutely stunning architecture that cannot be found in other places.
Highlights
City Planning Museum
- This museum is free and open to everyone, featuring about five floors of exhibitions.
- There is a giant curved display at the entrance, along with a holographic video on the upper floor. It's a high-quality video and absolutely worth visiting. The design of some exhibitions is modern but also inspired by traditional painting styles.
- There is also a miniature city, and the actual version is much better than the photos. Roughly 20 miniature cities are displayed, along with a VR 360 video.
- This museum explains the history of the city, the metro system, land use, and more. We can learn about Shanghai from many aspects.
CCP's First Congress Place
- That area features unique architectural styles and is very crowded with visitors.
- There's also a luxurious shopping mall with a unique shape.
Expo Site
- Some buildings have been preserved and have now become parks or museums.
- It is a really calm place, and the unique architecture from many countries is quite impressive.
- Outside the park, there are a concert hall, an art museum, and a shopping area. Each building is massive, and I can feel their presence even from the opposite side of the road.
- The funnel-shaped sunshade is really beautiful, but unfortunately, there were not many people around.
- Unfortunately, most buildings are there only as large monuments.
Food
- Chinese food is a little bit oilier compared to Japanese food but absolutely more delicious than the Japanese version.
- The cuisine famous even in Japan is definitely delicious, but the other one is not always suited to Japanese people's tastes.
Conclusion
- Some parts of the expo site were not crowded because they were not connected to populous places. People sometimes go to malls to cool down while heading to their destinations. However, this commercial building did not connect to any famous destinations, and the area outside the park didn't provide a place to cool down. I believe I need to design something that considers how people would react and interact with it.
- Shanghai has experienced countless trials and errors through an enormous amount of iteration, and we can learn from the mega construction projects in China.
- The artistic style of this exhibition is great, and I want to explore a modern style that somewhat feels traditional and calm.
- The exhibition is quite optimistic about the future and something that is missing from the conservative Japanese economy. I want to find opportunities abroad to utilize my design skills.
