China Residential blocks,"commie blocks"

two more question:it seems from pictures,that the average Residential highrises in china reach to 30 stories is it right ?,this is mean that it reach to 100m height if am not wrong ?
if the average buildings are 30 stories and 100m there are thousands and thousands of 100m buildings in china isn't it ? so the estimates in wikipedia and ctbuh are way incorrect.

They are all bad. Anything insular and cookie cutter is bad. You could like 6 Chrysler buildings grouped together and it would look like shit. The shiny new ones now will look like the crappy old ones in 20 years. I even noticed these places show their age on the inside much more than the outside.

As far as height, given China is known for high-rise living, its quite surprising that the tallest residential block in Mainland China is in Chongqing. Compared to Hong Kong, they aren't really that tall. Is that ugly thing in Wuxi all residental? If it it than that is by far the tallest.

Fujian

Putan

by CHENGUANGQIANG




Quanzhou

by cheikim11




Xiamen


by lienchihui





Nanping

by 白杨的照片





Ningde

by 黄色天地





Sanming

by lefine





Zhangzhou Zhi

by 麦田守望者庞

How are these ugly?

Its not that the individual buildings are ugly. It is the cookie cutter nature of it. Jin Mao is a beautiful building, but if all of Lujiazui was 10 evenly spaced out Jin Mao towers, it would look depressing. Also just imagining the streets below these buildings lined with fences and nothing else makes me nauseous.

Severiano said:

Its not that the individual buildings are ugly. It is the cookie cutter nature of it. Jin Mao is a beautiful building, but if all of Lujiazui was 10 evenly spaced out Jin Mao towers, it would look depressing. Also just imagining the streets below these buildings lined with fences and nothing else makes me nauseous.

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EXACTLY!! Haven't these guys seen other world class cities where each block has retail lined along it with overhanging neon signs? Do they really think cookie-cutter fancy commieblocks are better than Sheung Wan or Wan Chai?!? I bet some of these provincial city planners do, don't they? In fact, there is a right way to do commieblocks and a wrong way. People who built Chai Wan did it right. People who built 90% mainland china created catastrophic failures.

^^ because they want to have a clean place, and sunlight and trees, because thats what a city is about the trees. Also since China is so rich any small vendor can afford the rents in the new malls.blah blah.........

I have heard all the arguments. I can't speak for other cities but Shanghai which is a cool city seems to be hell bent on becoming 非常international. Which means taking everything remotely Shanghainese or Chinese and turning it into some cultureless boring block. The reasoning behind this is because that the international way. So what it becomes is some "international" place that has no identity and is just a bad copy of other "world cities". If you disagree go to Jinqiao in Pudong. I went there last week and I was sick. Miles of street lined with the fences of these huge complexes. Nothing to see or do anywhere near these blocks. All entertainment located in some shitty area full of Chinese and American chains called "Big thumb plaza". Big thumb plaza looks like a strip mall in Irving, CA. All I could think was this is where the Shanghainese culture has gone to die. BTW This is happening all over China.

Severiano said:

^^ because they want to have a clean place, and sunlight and trees, because thats what a city is about the trees. Also since China is so rich any small vendor can afford the rents in the new malls.blah blah.........

I have heard all the arguments. I can't speak for other cities but Shanghai which is a cool city seems to be hell bent on becoming 非常international. Which means taking everything remotely Shanghainese or Chinese and turning it into some cultureless boring block. The reasoning behind this is because that the international way. So what it becomes is some "international" place that has no identity and is just a bad copy of other "world cities". If you disagree go to Jinqiao in Pudong. I went there last week and I was sick. Miles of street lined with the fences of these huge complexes. Nothing to see or do anywhere near these blocks. All entertainment located in some shitty area full of Chinese and American chains called "Big thumb plaza". Big thumb plaza looks like a strip mall in Irving, CA. All I could think was this is where the Shanghainese culture has gone to die. BTW This is happening all over China.

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China's urban planning is based on Singapore's. In the 1980's when China started to make reforms Deng Xiaoping sent a bunch of Chinese officials to Singapore to learn about everything about how the country is run like, economics, urban planning, efficiency etc. China view Singapore as the model for China, even today many Chinese go to Singapore for training. Singapore is also one of largest FDI source countries and many of the real estate is built by Singapore real estate companies.

Most of Singapore looks like this, see the similarities?

I know they are copying Singapore or as I call it "Fascist Hong Kong". Deng was impressed how a country could achieve such great development while still banning anything fun. This is what the party sees as a good model for China. Singaporean businesses own half of Suzhou, you can go see their great urban planning in the New development zone. Make sure to bring a car, if you don't have one bring food and water its about 6 miles between malls.

Igor Antunov said:

How are these ugly?

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so beautiful
where is it?

Severiano said:

^^ because they want to have a clean place, and sunlight and trees, because thats what a city is about the trees. Also since China is so rich any small vendor can afford the rents in the new malls.blah blah.........

I have heard all the arguments. I can't speak for other cities but Shanghai which is a cool city seems to be hell bent on becoming 非常international. Which means taking everything remotely Shanghainese or Chinese and turning it into some cultureless boring block. The reasoning behind this is because that the international way. So what it becomes is some "international" place that has no identity and is just a bad copy of other "world cities". If you disagree go to Jinqiao in Pudong. I went there last week and I was sick. Miles of street lined with the fences of these huge complexes. Nothing to see or do anywhere near these blocks. All entertainment located in some shitty area full of Chinese and American chains called "Big thumb plaza". Big thumb plaza looks like a strip mall in Irving, CA. All I could think was this is where the Shanghainese culture has gone to die. BTW This is happening all over China.

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Yes that is exactly what I am saying. These guys who are trying to make a city international have no idea of what an international city looks like. Have they ever even been to an international city?! I'm sure they have as Chinese people are going everywhere these days but I find that they tend to go with an obscenely closed mind. These guys can tour the world and still be clueless as to how an international city is supposed to function. Chinese visitors see Mongkok or Wan Chai and disparage the place for having too cluttered and messy. How retarded...

Yes, the resemblance between Singapore and mainland China is uncanny. If you had not said that was Singapore, I might've mistaken them for a wealthy suburb of a develop coastal city in China.

VECTROTALENZIS said:

China's urban planning is based on Singapore's.

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ding ding ding

I'm guessing the detractors have never actually spent time in Singapore. If the Chinese planners can carry out their plans, Chinese cities will end up working like Singapore. The haterz can hate based on aesthetics or ideology or whatever other sort of prejudice, but Singapore is probably the best example of urban planning in this generation. Amenities are almost always within walking distance, public transit is efficient, land wastage is minimal.

Singapore, or Shanghai, or basically every other non-themed place looks "boring" to the haterz because the current level of construction technology results in a certain aesthetic. Nothing more, nothing less. Thus the editorializing over aesthetics is as meaningless as a hipster argument over retro breweries vs. designer coffee.

Also, Singapore looks this way because:

1. it was built with the current most cost-effective prefab
2. it requires maximum ventilation (on both the street level and in individual units) because it is a humid cooling climate
3. it was planned out by urban planners, not the real estate industry

Chinese cities are built in this era, and most of eastern China is also a humid cooling climate. Temperate/extreme cold weather/arid areas of China look different from the standard.

Schmidt hammer lassen architects, Tian Yi Town district, Wuxi, Jiangsu province,

Judging by the above pictures, that looks more like Brasilia than Singapore. If you say that Singapore development is, ameneties within walking distance, convenient public transport, and minimal land wastage. Well that is NOT what modern urban planning in China is. Land wastage is HUGE here, (and in the world's most populated country) Go to Beijing or Jinqiao in Shanghai, you could build twice the number of buildings on a plot. Also in these residential areas there is NOTHING on the side of the road except a wall (Chinese people must love walls) for miles! Its built for cars in a country where most people don't own a car. China is going the American route and building an economy based 100% on oil, this will not bode well for the future when oil production peaks, and there are no alternatives as effecient as oil left (wind, water, sun, etc will never be as efficent as oil)

A smart thing to do (so naturally the CCP isn't doing it) is maybe have different planning procedures for every city. HK style for some (SH, Chongqing, Wuhan, Guangzhou ) Athens charter style for others (Beijing, Chengdu, Shenyang) and then see which ones do better. Its much better than putting all your eggs in one basket.

^^
I don't understand,if you don't like China...why you live there?

skyridgeline said:

Fuzhou, Fujian Province

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Oh,thanks man!:cheers: