Transcript

A tale of three cities | Chien Chung Pei | TEDxSanyiRoad

macroeconomic growth of China since 1949 Has Lifted the majority of the population from poverty to self-sufficiency at the same time some of China's cultural identity has been lost this is the sacrifice all societies face as they advance in China China because the growth has been so rapid the impact on cultural identity is more dramatic this is especially true in the cities when I first went to China in 1976 it was still a rural economy more than 75% of the population lived in the countryside developed economies of the West already typically have 75% of the population in the cities and only 25% in the countryside but in those economies the transition from rural to Urban took almost 200 years in China this transition is happening in less than 50 years moreover the urban economy of today is also dramatically different from that of 50 years ago when we compare Chinese cities of today most people will agree that the Chinese cities have actually gone well past the Western cities Chinese cities in infrastructure is new and more comprehensive than the Aging systems in the west so China will make in 50 years a transition that took over 200 years in the West in that same time nearly a billion people will move from the countryside to the cities but this has come at a cost accommodating and integrating the infrastructure of today new modern roads Subways sewers and so on means that buildings will be demolished and entire neighborhoods will disappear progress will often destroy the historical Spirit of the Cities this is the challenge that faces today's Architects and urban planners in China and the government as well how can we modernize without losing the cultural heritage of our past let's take a few examp that we are all familiar with New York Paris and Beijing when my parents moved to New York when I was two years old compared to Beijing and Paris New York is a young City originally native Indian tribes occupied this land and hunted and fished nothing remains of this period it was first settled by the Dutch in the early 17th century they called it New Amsterdam then the English gained control and the name changed to New York those early settlers created their small community at the South End of the island of Manhattan facing the Atlantic Ocean and Europe the city grew North but even by the end of the 18th century never went farther than about onethird of the way up the 20 km Long Island very little remains of that period except for a few churches and burial grounds After the Revolutionary War in 1776 the American economy started to grow more rapidly it was not until the design and construction of Central Park in the mid 19th century that New York's distinctive form was established while Lower Manhattan that dates from the Dutch and English periods still has winding streets typical of older European cities the middle and Northern parts of have the distinctive orthogonal grid of the modern city neighborhoods developed alongside major and minor individual buildings but in this city of immigrants the neighborhoods and individual buildings changed hands no one thought much about protecting the important buildings or even less so the neighborhoods their cultural identities changed and evolved if it was not until 1893 that a Civic organization called the municipal art Society was created to promote architectural quality in new buildings this was followed by the country's first zoning act in 1916 following the construction of a massive building on 23rd street that blocked light and air from reaching the ground in 1938 the City Planning Commission was created to further controled new construction but there was still no thought of protection for individual buildings it was not until 1965 that the landmarks preservation commission was established after the demolition of Pennsylvania station this architectural Wonder was one of the two major train stations of the city it was sacrificed to the power of the real estate Developers this alarmed concerned citizens who saw their cultural heritage at risk now historically or culturally important buildings can be designated and protected from Demolition in some cases the interior of the buildings can also be protected only 10 years later in 1975 New York's other train station was similarly threatened with demolition led by the Widow of President Kennedy Jack Kennedy Onasis the municipal arts society rallied public opinion to preserve the station Grand Central Station was declared a landmark and protected from destruction today other culturally important buildings can be designated as landmarks sometimes over the objections of their owners these buildings cannot be demolished or modified on the exterior when neighbors are designated neighborhoods are designated any construction that is proposed must undergo review to ensure harmony with its neighbors New York is a very young City but even still it has in the few hundred years of its existence acquired a cultural heritage that in many ways defines it and its people with the legislation in place they will be preserved forever Paris is the most beautiful city I know my wife is French and we try to spend a lot of time there compared to New York at 500 years Paris is over 2,000 years old it occupies a strategic protected Upstream location on the river s the Romans established a Garrison there in 52 BC and they called it ltia it has been continuously occupied ever since the first king of France Clovis arrived in the early 6th Century since that time every King of France has called Paris home the Lou was built as the Fortified residence of the King Philip August starting in the 9th century since that time every King of France has lived there and expanded the building now since the French Revolution in 1789 it is the most famous Museum in the world when my father was asked to renovate and reconfigure the museum it was perhaps after the Cathedral of notredam the most famous building in France it was part of the French identity like New York France has a well-established system to recognize historic buildings worthy of preservation but France's system predates to New York by over 100 years each recognized building now even has a specialized architect assigned by the government to oversee any modifications the French are justifiably proud of their cultural heritage they have some of the oldest buildings and cities in Europe the identity of the French people is tied intimately to those buildings and cities they want to preserve this Heritage when my father proposed to build a glass pyramid in the courtyard of the of the Lou some French people were a gast while his proposal was shocking nevertheless there was a process for review and with the support of the president of France it was built while the French are naturally conservative when it comes to protecting their cultural heritage they also love change in 1879 they protested the Eiffel Tower built to celebrate the Centennial of the French re ution but today it is the symbol of the City of Paris now the Lou glass Pyramid built exactly 100 years after the Eiffel Tower competes with it for the number of visitors and the number of postcards sold I am reminded of a meeting my father and I once had with the mayor of the ancient city of Fez in Morocco The Old City Medina is the major tourist attraction of that City but the mayor told us it was impossible to service except with horses all the streets were too narrow and often too steep for any other means of transportation there were no modern conveniences the tourist loved it but no one wanted to live there it was dying but just as the narrow streets of Fez prevented the habitability of the ancient Medina the streets that emerged as Paris grew made that City vulnerable to disease because there were no sewers in the mid 19th century the baron hosman proposed to build wide boulevards cutting through these old new neighborhoods to improve traffic and especially sanitation hundreds of buildings were demolished and he created a park in every neighborhood almost singlehandedly he changed the image of Paris the lesson we must take from this massive interv vention is that change is not always bad when it represents progress now Beijing like all cities has also constantly been changing Beijing is a much older is much older even than Paris going back over 3,000 years as the city grew as was the case in Paris successive walls were built to protect the increasing population even before the fall of the Dynasty in 1911 parts of the wall were demolished to allow rail connections and other modernizations but the most dramatic alteration was the demolition of the wall after 1949 to make the city more livable this certainly eased the modernization of the city but today most people would agree that the loss was a mistake liangang argued at the time against the demolition in retrospect he was right but at the time the cultural value was not prioritized over the expediency of freeing up the land Chinese cities with their ancient walls intact like naning and Xian see them as cultural assets to be protected at all costs for many years now there has been widespread support to preserve beijing's traditional hutong neighborhoods I have been in many of these Hong and have visited some of the beautiful traditional Beijing Courtyard houses suan inside them unfortunately most of the original residences built in the Ming and Ching dynasties have been modified beyond recognition as in Fez the quain Alleyways can no longer accommodate modern vehicles so while I would support the preservation and Rehabilitation of some of the remaining few authentic houses I am afraid that I do not support preserving the whole neighborhoods still they represent Beijing life from Life from before and are an important part of beijing's cultural history and tradition in recent years beijing's planners carved wide streets that divided the city into Super blocks that in my opinion have destroyed the purpose of the city cities grew up to encourage enourage interaction and commerce of its people of its people each super block has become more like a small walled City for the sake of convenience especially of cars and trucks the people are physically separated from each other president Xi Jinping himself has complained about this in many ways the spirit of the city has been badly compromised so what lessons do we learn from these three very different cities New York is by far the youngest of the three yet it has perhaps the most well defined rules on historic preservation because New York is Young it is easier for new skyscrapers to coexist next to the older buildings still residential neighborhoods remain residential France has its but no one questions the importance of preserving established monuments such as notredam or Shar Cathedral at the same time once the M Paras Tower was built in the center of Paris the people objected and no further toll buildings were allowed Paris created a new sector Lon at the outskirts for the tall buildings in reaction each of these cities has developed its own way to preserve its historic culture but Beijing still needs to balance the needs of modern society with the need to preserve the past in New York and Paris the movements to modernize the city came in parallel with the desire to preserve the culturally important buildings and neighborhoods these were obviously in Conflict but the commonality was economic Prosperity culture is both a necessity and a luxury I've said many times that when one looks at history what one remembers about a society is the culture it has left behind this applies to literature music painting and sculpture and to architecture and so on it is not an accident that the periods when New York and Paris recognized the importance of architectural preservation coincided with times of great economic Prosperity with the exception of the great Imperial monuments in Beijing little has been done to preserve its architectural Heritage now that China can see economic Prosperity it is time for Beijing and other Chinese cities to seek out those culturally important buildings and neighborhoods for recognition and preservation Beijing can look to the examples of Paris and New York for ways to protect its Heritage without sacrificing progress the people of Beijing and China will be forever grateful sh [Applause]