2^nd Forum – “Urban_Trans_Formation”

For the opening ceremony of the Holcim Forum one could hardly imagine a more fitting venue than the Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Center on People's Square. In this impressive building is a huge, three-dimensional model that shows how Shanghai might develop.

Welcome addresses were conferred by Xiong Yang, Vice Mayor, Municipal Government of Shanghai; Dante Martinelli, Swiss Ambassador to China, Rolf Soiron, Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Holcim Foundation and of Holcim Ltd; and Zhiqiang Wu, Dean of the College of Architecture and Urban Planning at Tongji University, Chief Planner of Workd Expo 2010 and Member of the Technical Competence Center of the Holcim Foundation. 

Gang Wan, President Tongji University welcomed the more than 250 professionals from over 40 countries - architects, engineers, city planners, scientists, and representatives from business and government - to the 2nd Holcim Forum at Tongji University.

Rolf Soiron, Chairman Advisory Board, Holcim Foundation briefly introduced the Holcim Foundation its activities and initiatives to the plenum.

How can cities fulfill their diverse functions as sustainably as possible - today, and also in the future? What are the challenges they face with respect to urban transformation? An introduction into the topic of the 2nd Holcim Forum "Urban_Trans_Formation" was given by Hans-Rudolf Schalcher, Head Technical Competence Center, Member Management Board, Holcim Foundation.

In her keynote speech, Saskia Sassen argues that the consolidation of knowledge in urban centers has the potential to spur the political action that will be required to attain a more sustainable world.

Zhiqiang Wu, Dean, College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tongji University introduced the topics and sites of the 3 mobile workshop excursions which concluded the 2nd Holcim Forum.

With their PLUS project, Jean-Philippe Vassal and Anne Lacaton, in collaboration with Frédéric Druot, are transforming drab apartment buildings into liveable structures that enable interaction and improve quality of life. They believe every building has its own unique history, and advocate a strategy of adding chapters instead of starting a new book.

As mayor of Bogotá, Enrique Peñalosa demonstrated that it is possible to make cities livable for everyone. Pedestrians and cyclists must be given priority over cars, he believes. "Good public spaces also help to reduce crime and enhance the quality of life."

Contemporary urbanism is marked by convention, where the user is assumed to be a generic subject. What ensues from this condition is a tension between the norm and that, which is considered to be outside the norm. 

Moderator: Mark Lee

Contemporary cities are comprised of parallel forms of social alliance, some legal and established, others outside the sway of official purview. While often held apart, these competing orders share at times the same urban stage.

Moderator: Rahul Mehrotra

Contemporary urban agglomerations manifest generally unsustainable ecologies. The depletion of material resources, the accumulation of waste, the over-expenditure of non-renewable energy are direct consequences of the predatory expansion of urbanization.

Moderator: Fernando Diez

Tourism accounts for one of the largest industries, promoting a commodification of place across the world. Clean, safe, and attractive self-contained environments are created that by definition are generally segregated from local conditions.

Moderator: Rachid Benmokhtar Benabdellah

Where contemporary culture has increasingly become nomadic, place has become transitive. This condition stands in contradiction to the time-honored notion of the city as a sedentary entity.

Moderator: Eyal Weizmann

In the context of a thre-day conference, the broad theme of urban transformation had to be narrowed so as not to become lost in generalities. The focus of the pgroram was the five working groups in which contemporary urban challenges were handled in depth over a two-day period.

The Holcim Foundation supports many types of research pertaining to sustainable construction. At the Forum, Research Grants for doctoral projects were presented. Introduction to Research Grant program - Marc Angélil, Member Technical Competence Center, Member Management Board, Holcim Foundation.

The subject of sustainability always involves tomorrow. What we do today should not compromise the opportunities of future generations. For the Holcim Foundation it is therefore natural to include in its activities the forthcoming generation of architects, urban planners and engineers. for the first time, the Foundation also provided funding for Ph.D. research projects involving sustainable construction. At the Forum five such grants were presented - totaling USD 200,000. 
The grants went to:
Odair Barbosa de Moraes, Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil
Lei Pang, Tongji University, Shanghai, China
Rozana Montiel and Arturo Ortiz, Universidad Iberoamericana, Mexico City
Deane Simpson, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
Jörg Spangenberg, Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil

Hierarchical, or tree-like urban patterns are an indication that cities are losing their openness, observed Kees Christiaanse. He fears that the typical city is becoming a patchwork of disjointed, sterile, and partially inaccessible sectors, and argued for an understanding of the city as an open system.

In the context of a thre-day conference, the broad theme of urban transformation had to be narrowed so as not to become lost in generalities. The focus of the pgroram was the five working groups in which contemporary urban challenges were handled in depth over a two-day period.

Contemporary urbanism is marked by convention, where the user is assumed to be a generic subject. What ensues from this condition is a tension between the norm and that, which is considered to be outside the norm.

Moderator: Andreas Ruby

Contemporary cities are comprised of parallel forms of social alliance, some legal and established, others outside the sway of official purview. While often held apart, these competing orders share at times the same urban stage.

Moderator: Yung Ho Chang

Contemporary urban agglomerations manifest generally unsustainable ecologies. The depletion of material resources, the accumulation of waste, the over-expenditure of non-renewable energy are direct consequences of the predatory expansion of urbanization.

Moderator: Kaarin Taipale

Tourism accounts for one of the largest industries, promoting a commodification of place across the world. Clean, safe, and attractive self-contained environments are created that by definition are generally segregated from local conditions.

Moderator: Amer Moustafa

Where contemporary culture has increasingly become nomadic, place has become transitive. This condition stands in contradiction to the time-honored notion of the city as a sedentary entity.

Moderator: Reed Kroloff

A panel of four experts discussed the potential of politics to shape the fate of cities. Acknowledging the enormity of the task of making cities around the world more sustainable, they unanimously called for action, not only on the part politicians, but also on the part of industry and private individuals.

For Peter head, cities are "large and complicated entities full of conflict and contradiction." In order to negotiate differences, urban design requires collaboration among professionals, balancing the needs and interests of both the public domain and the private sector.

Posters by students from sixn of the world’s leading technical universities were displayed at the 2nd International Holcim Forum 2007. The posters encouraged stimulating discussions on approaches to urban transformation.

All Forum participants were eligible to vote in the Student Poster Competition. The prizes were handed over by Rolf Soiron, Holcim Foundation and Hans-Rudolf Schalcher, Academic Committee, Holcim Forum.

The farewell dinner took place at the famous Shanghai Grand Theater, where the participants had time to recap their experiences and exchange conclusions from the past three days.

North of the densely popolated center of Shanghai, at the mouth of the Yangtze River, lies Chongming - the world's largest alluvial island. Over the next dozen years, it will be developed into a laboratory for sustainable urban, agricultural, and ecological practices.

Often called "Venice of the Orient," Zhujiajiao lies in the midst of the completely modernized Qingpu district of Shanghai. Here, old and new complement one another, together forming a surprisingly coherent urban entity.

One can almost feel the rapid growth occurring in Shanghai's Pudong district. Skyscrapers seem to pop up overnight. In the tradition of infrastructural projects on the scale of the Great Wall, China's economic boom has spurred the development of a new deepwater prot located some 30 miles out to sea.