End the skyscraper craze and build China’s cities around its public space
Architect Peter Schubert says China’s decision to move away from showpiece tower blocks creates an opening for the reinvention of the public square. A space that pairs commercial activity with cultural exchanges would find favour with its rising middle class
As China outpaces the rest of the world in the volume, scale and speed of architectural development, the country has an opportunity to build a lasting civic and cultural legacy.
Today, China’s cities are unprecedented in their rapid growth. Skyscraper construction is booming in many major metropolitan areas, and vast infrastructural projects and malls sprawl through neighbourhoods.
The high-rises that dominate the skyline are typically standalone buildings. They are meant to be admired from a distance as urban landmarks, representing the country’s transformation into a modern nation and global power.
For better or worse, America’s skyscraper expertise and its singular contribution of the skyscraper as an urban icon was a leading factor in the past 20 years of urban development. Sadly, the Western notion of a civic piazza or square as a community gathering space has not been one of our contributions.
In contrast, during America’s own skyscraper boom 80 years ago, New York’s Rockefeller Center created a new paradigm for tall buildings. At that time, skyscrapers were single-purpose commercial towers competing to be taller and more audacious than the one that came before.
