A SOCIAL UTOPIA FOR SUPERCITY BEIJING

A SOCIAL UTOPIA FOR SUPERCITY BEIJING Sky – tian: In Chinese mythology, the sky has a lot of potential and power. Sky is holy. Powerful figures, like the monkey king, come from the sky. Ground – di: The ground is normal, representing lay people, growing food, mothers, nurturing and mundane every-day issues. Currently, Beijing city region is developed according to modernistic principles. In city centre’s old hutong areas, urban regeneration strangely resembles Haussmann’s work in Paris. But the city has out-grown these old recipes. Grey polluted sky is the symbol of failed urbanism. Citizens lack influence on their environment. PUBLIC SPACE IN THE SKY For Beijing Cityvision 2014 we propose to imagine public spaces in the sky. Future Beijing will pioneer a radical 3D spatial management, addressing the whole air volume of the city. Public space in the sky frees more natural ground to the use it is best suited: agriculture and nature. Buildings are not considered private and closed anymore, but are more public and shared. Real-estate, the economic driver of contemporary capitalism, has to carry its responsibility and provide multiple public spaces and infrastructures. Those become integral part of any project, leading to completely new building typologies. Between 10-30 % of all built volume is reserved for public purposes, more in the centre and big buildings, less in the periphery and small units. Over time, business will realize the opportunity, as they did with Parisian boulevards and modern urban parks. Closeness to the public space in the sky is both public amenity and economic asset. Gradually, playful public landscapes will be connected from building to building and area to area. A public agency will plan for temporary uses. The whole 3D cityscape is evolving and exiting. NEW URBAN CITIZENSHIP Supercity Beijing has to establish a new urban citizenship, which is about radical innovation, experiment and do-it-yourself attitude. Beijing city region’s population – about 120 million – resembles that of a continent. Rapid urbanization is expected to continue. In the future, each building complex in the sky is a “country” with own rules and culture. The city becomes a post-human laboratory, where people can experiment with technologies and cultural values. They can rise from the ground level, from Di, actively becoming more powerful by creating own connections to the sky, to Tian. Life in the supercity Beijing is active, communal and productive. Public space in the sky links a variety of worlds: different technological and cultural regimes. Citizens can alter their environment, sociality and body. Bio-technology, 3D printing, drones, growing new things designed on computers and many other yet unknown tools are in use. Down in the ground, very low-tech solutions and old-school living strategies are practiced. A nurturing ruralism thrives at the roots of supercity Beijing, making it truly rich socio-technical hybrid.